A 46 year old father of four was sitting in his yard here in Mequon when he got stung by a bee or a wasp. HE DIED VERY QUICKLY! His neighbor was a physician and rushed over to try and save him. He was described as a big healthy guy that had been stung before without suffering any reactions. So how do you, all of a sudden, die from anaphylactic shock?

Systemic reations like that are, unfortunately, common. How a person's body reacts is a very funny thing as I have done alot of research into this subject since I am a beekeeper and teach on the subject. The only constant I have found is that it is never the first sting that gets you. Your body has to have at least one exposure the the foriegn substance, in this case bee venom but it also applies to food and chemical allergies as well, for your body to become sensitized. Basically an anaphylactic reaction is the body's extreme overreaction to a previously experienced antigen. The sad fact is that the first exposure rarely if ever gives cause for concern so there is little to no warning when the bad reaction will occur. Also a bad reaction can hit totally out of the blue after years of repeated no ill effect exposure. I've known beekeepers of many years experience and multiple per year stings all of a sudden develop severe reactions to the point that they had to give it up. The reverse can happen as well but it is not advised to get stung to see if you still are allergic.
Paul, each time I suit up to go to my bees I do so knowing it could be my very last. Not likely but a very real possibility. I do keep on hand at all times a full bottle of childrens strength benadryl since consuming the entire contents at one time will not over dose an adult but has more than one or two adult capsules. I also have a scrip for an epi-pen.

Didn't know that. I'm alergic to pennicilin, had a reaction to a shot as a kid, but, I had never had the stuff before?? How did I get the reaction then?

What sre these benadryl melts i've heard about ? ...there suppose to get into your system quicker

BigBob, I do not know. It may have been a systemic reation which is different from anaphylactic. Systemic is usually the hives, swelling, itching reaction and can be indicative or not of future anaphylactic reactions. All I can say from all my reading is that there is no hard and fast and if a reaction is shown ever to consider yourself sensitized and do not take the chance.

With the penicillin it could have been a similar antibiotic or even something with a similar protein makeup as it is the proteins or even a single protein within the venom that the body reacts to.

I get some of those symptoms and worse whenever I'm around democraps. It starts with a muscle spasm that makes my hand extend palm up, then I have an uncontrollable urge to stand in a welfare line. The worst symptom is a complete loss of commom sense. That last one is fatal!

My Grampas neighbor just died not to long ago
From a wasp! Worst part was he felt like he was
Having a reaction and went to the wausaukee
Clinic and they just told him to go home
take some Benadryl and
Lay down! Had the pills in his hand when he
Crashed his stiener into a garage!

Warrior is exactly right.This is what we find at the fire station every day. Warrior is full of useful knowledge. Its normally the second exposure that will do you in.

Just want to put this out there as well. The benadryl is not a cure or antidote but it can buy you the time to get medical help. I am not a doctor and can only advise what I intend to do for myself if I ever feel the tightness in my chest and breathing gets difficult. I also highly recommend having an SOP for when you expect to be working in or around things that may cause a reaction. We should be doing this anyway when were on ladders or roofs.
One of the things I do is that I never work the bees without letting a rtesponsible party knom where I am and what I am doing. I really like having a second person on site as well. You might also may want to have a heart to heart with your doctor and determine if a scrip for an epi-pen is a good thing as well. Be advised though while it may save a life it can also kill so do your homework and decide for yourself.

Good point Warrior, Id hate to hit the ground for any reasion at a job when nobody is there to call 911.

David, your knowledge of this subject is first class. I just thought that I would mention that according to the article in our paper, death from insect stings is really quite rare in Wisconsin. We will get more insight on this in the near future, I'm sure, but the paper could only find three other cases since 1995. This certainly would have been the most likely year for this to happen in my lifetime. We had stinging insects everywhere this year.

Question; what do you guys carry in the line of sprays for wasps and hornets?

I hose em down before I crack a calk tube with anything cheep that goes a long way. It gives em time to die and the roof wont be so slippery any more. I realy like the foam stuff that encapsulates them!

I use a contact insecticide. Like an aerosol flying insect killer. It goes out in a fog. They die in less than a minute. The best part, it doesn't stain! Some of the instant kill wasp sprays, that shoot a pinstream 15 ft, will leave a residue. My local phone company had to re-side a whole house. The fog also keeps them away from you.

WOW

1st, ya, when they came to my house to install my phone line out to my poleshed we got talking about bugs. Since I am a bugman he asked what I use for wasps. I told him the same as I said here. Well, one of their guys opened a phone box, and out came the wasps. he did what they had always done. When he tried to wipe off the overspray, the siding was discolored, they tried to match it with new, but it was too faded. The only way to satisfy the customer was to reside the whole house. And NO wasp spray for ANY phone tech. The new wasp "freeze" doesn't have the oils the old stuff had. It is "supposed" to be non-staining. I ain't taking any chances. I have used Ace Hardware Flying Insect Killer, but prefer, PT 565. If you have a Lesco dealer they carry it in their pest control area. It doesn't HAVE to say wasp killer to kill wasps or hornets.

Thanks, boy that dong give that stuff away do they !

Bee's and Wasp's are really thick this year. Havnt had one bat job where I havnt had to deal with them. Always have a can of spray on my side when going up the ladder. Had one get behind my sun glasses just as I peeked over the eaves trough. Being 25' up a ladder with a wasp stuck behind my glasses is something I don't want to experience again.

OWWWWIE!

Got nailed by a wasp friday after I had sprayed the eves of my house. Normally I wear a baseball cap but I didn't have it on at that time. A dieing wasp hit my forehead and fell behind my glasses, my glasses flew across the yard, but the wasp still got me on the cheek. Sting was ok on Saturday but a little swollen this morning.

I always tell my son not to spray from right below the nest because they tend to fall on you before they are dead. And 2 days ago I am messing with a soffit right above me, and get a piece of dirt right in my eye! To make matters worse, I rubbed it enough to scratch my eyeball. Then the next job, My eye was watering, my nose was running snot, and I wasnt real sociable to the customer. I made it through though and maybe Ill learn to take my own advice.