On Fri, 25 Jul 1997, Michael Reddell wrote:
 
> I have discussed bee stings at length with a very good allergist in Seattle, where I used to live, and he assured me that people who have a local swelling reaction are NOT at increased risk for anaphylactic shock.  You have the same potential to have a severe reaction as someone who doesn't swell.  To illustrate this, I swelled extensively for years and have never had a systemic reaction.  My son doesn't swell at all and his most recent sting sent him to the hospital with a severe reaction.  (I posted in detail about this earlier in this thread.)
 
> For about a dozen years I swelled intensely with every sting.  Sometimes the swelling migrated, especially when the sting was on the top of my head.  It would migrate to my eyes.  My swelling usually lasted for a week or more and itched like crazy.   Finally last year the swelling pretty much stopped.
> I discovered a way to reduce or in some cases eliminate the swelling though.  I found that if I took an over-the-counter antihistamine BEFORE going to the bee yard my swelling from stings was very minimal.  Taking the medication after the sting was totally ineffective.  The trick is to find an antihistamine that doesn't make you too drowsy.
 
Sorry for the major quote, if it appears...I cant seem to trim the quotes
on this reply.
 
What antihistamine DOESN'T cause drowsines?
 
Also:  I agree... the Benadryl that i took this time, and last time seemed
to me to be useless...  just put me to sleep...
As i said before.. I wonder if the Prednisone I took 24 hours after the
multiple stings in May was of any value ... It took a week for the
swelling to go down!
 
The swelling has barely increased, by the way, since I wrote my original
post, but its pretty achy!...
 
In reply to billy bee,  Well... I dont want to give up... I want to
expand, if anything...
I hope to build up resistance to stings.
 
Robbee