Robert Darrell writes:> .. I have little reaction to stings,  > even the odd one to myface; Anne asks, I'd be curious to know how many stings it took for you tostopreacting.

Anne

Like Robert, I've also kept bees for over 40 years, and I have little reaction to stings.  Even a sting close to my eye rarely does anything more than make me look a bit sleepy.   As to how many stings it takes to stop reacting - in my case, it was 'several years'.  

The first noticeable stage, the stings stopped itching the day after. Then my hands and forearms stopped raising welts.  I used to say - I don't react much, but the stings always hurt.  Then one day, I looked at my hands and forearms and saw stingers hanging out that I hadn't felt.

There are some places that I still feel stings or that raise a small welt.  Ear lobes are tender - feels like a burning coal, and they get red for a couple hours, although they don't swell.  

Wrists and ankles were the last places to stop reacting - especially if I got several stings.  I assume its a matter of lots of blood vessels close to the surface and blood in extremities slow to clear venom.

If I've gone a long time without getting stung (e.g., over winter), I'll react a bit more to the first stings of the season - I may get a small welt.  Since I've retired, I let the crews do more of the day to day grunt work.  A week ago, I was helping the crew and I got stung several times.  I felt the stings a bit more, and one to my upper lip puffed a bit.  I don't want to go any long period of time without getting stung - I have lots of allergies, and I took desensitizing shots for years as a kid (although none for bee stings).  I'm afraid that if I go for a long period without getting stung, my body may reset, and not in a positive way.  I've seen that happen more than once.

Allergies are funny things.  Some change with age - some develop, some disappear.  Some get worse with continued exposure.  Some get better.  Beekeepers tend to fall into two camps - those who progressively react more and more, and if they are smart, either take shots or get out of beekeeping.  Then there are those  of us who get less sensitive, but every so often, that unexpectedly changes.  A good friend of mine worked bees for nearly 30 years, came to UM in the summers to work with us.  Then one day, one sting laid him out unconscious in less than 10 minutes on the lab floor.


 


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