>After several years of bee stings, I recently suffered a sudden anaphylactic
>reaction to bee venom from just one sting - in the neck. I'm now undergoing
>de-sensitization therapy, being injected with increasing quantities of
>bee-venom
>every week and should be OK to work with bees again by the end of the year.
>I'll carry my adrenaline syringe everywhere 'though.
>
>I've spoken to many, many beekeepers and bee scientists all over the world
>who've had similar reactions and it seems more common than one would like to
>think - to me at least, this phenomenon appears to occur much more frequently
>than the suppositions and various hypothetical models would predict.
>
>
>Perhaps not all beekeepers report an adverse reaction to their doctor?
>
>It really must be good advice for all beekeepers to have adrenaline or
>epinephrine doses handy just in case.
>
>Does anyone on the list have or know of any actual data on the prevalence of
>reaction to bee venom amongst beekeepers?
 
>______________________________ Reply Separator
>_________________________________
 
>  REGARDING           Immune Reactions to Stings
>
>So much has recently been written on this topic that I'll follow up with a new
>post title.  On Tues, 9/24, Dave Cawley reported on a large swelling of his
>forearm following a sting to his wrist, and wondered what could have caused
 
snip
 
>suddenly develops it out of the blue.  One must act prudently, of course, not
>giving an Epipen injection whenever a small local swelling occurs, but one
>will rather quickly known when a sting reaction is getting out of hand, and
>Epipen is the single treatment of choice for this situation.
>
>Ted Fischer
 
--------------------------
I'm only a beginning beekeeper and still have some local swellings after
bee stings, but about two months ago a skilful bee managed to reach into
the nerve above the end joint on my left ring finger.
 
As a result I have lost a lot of sensation up that side of my finger tip,
and it shows no sign of improving. It doesn't prevent me doing things, but
it's a bit sensitive. Has anyone else experienced this?
 
Thanks for all the tips. There must be hundreds of years of experience
coming through this list!
 
Bruce Laidlaw
 
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