How should a bee sting be treated?

Answer 1

If a bee has left its stinger in the skin, remove it (this may require tweezers). If the person who was stung has a bee allergy, he or she may suffer from anaphylactic shock and will have to be treated with an epi-pen (which hopefully they carry as a precaution). Otherwise, it's not that serious.

Obviously a person will not be aware that they have a severe allergic reaction (i.e. anaphylaxis) to a sting until they are stung for the first time - so they will not have an epipen. Symptoms are any or all of: difficulty breathing, increased pulse rate, face flushed &/or swelling, nausea.

If you suspect anaphylaxis then do not hang around wondering whether it will pass: phone for an ambulance immediately and tell the despatcher the problem.

Meantime keeping the patient's airway open is critical. As long as they are able to breathe, lay the patient down with their legs raised 45 degrees - as for any case of shock.

Answer 2

First of all, if the sting has been left behind, remove it by scraping it out with a thumbnail, or the back of a knife or the edge of something like a credit card. The longer it is left in the worse because the sting can continue injecting venom for up to two minutes after the bee has gone.

Then, if the person stung has excessive swelling, feels faint, or has any difficulty breathing get medical attention immediately. Otherwise, the best cure is time. The pain will pass within a couple of minutes and any swelling will go down in a day or two.

If there is any residual itching, something like calomine lotion will help.

----

Use a couple pinches of baking soda, then mix it with water, and lastly wrap it in ceran wrap and leave it over night, and it will draw out the poison, and in the morning simply rinse and remove the ceran wrap.

Note: This also applies for spider bites, wasp bites, and almost anything, etc.

Answer 3

For bee stings, you put an ice pack on it then put a copper penny on it.