Have you ever been stung by a bee, a hornet, or a wasp?

A beautiful wasp landed on my wrist, when I was a small child. Then it stung me and flew off. Felt like a quick pinch then it got swollen.

Got stung by a Bee once when I was younger. Just put cold water on it and the swelling went down after awhile..but it was itchy.

I have been stung by a yellow-jacket three times in my life. Once on my arm when I was a kid, once on my hand several years ago, and a year after that on the underside of my thigh because the yellow-jacket had flown up my pant-leg, hung out there for a few minutes without me knowing, and stung me later, after I went inside. Hard to forget standing in my room and suddenly feeling a searing pain in my leg that seemed to be coming from nowhere (the pain stings and burns for hours). Needless to say I hate yellow-jackets. I got my revenge, though—poisoned that nest that evening and they were all dead by the morning (some summers are worse than others; 2018 and 2019 were especially rife with them. Haven’t seen as many in the last couple years).

@Demosthenes I placed a glue mouse pad where the wasps land to enter the hive. They landed neatly one next to the other to their death’s.

I’ve been stung by a bee.

In college, I worked at this cafe. And if you’re working the last shift, you’ve got to close. Which meant you had to take in the outdoor tables and chairs. And close up all the umbrellas.

As I was closing one of the umbrellas, I inadvertently grabbed a bee. He stung me and then died.

I honestly don’t remember it hurting that much. I think it was partly due to me being so sad that I had more or less killed or caused this poor bee to commit suicide. Poor bastard was just minding his own business and trying to enjoy some sun.

Also, I pulled out the stinger and squeezed out some clear liquid. That probably helped too.

It’s probably been more than twenty years. But whenever I see a bee, I still think about that particular bee and say a little apology in my head.

@raum, how tender-hearted you are. I can relate, though. I apologize to little spiders that I accidentally drown in the shower. If I see them first, I scold them gently, telling them they shouldn’t be there, and then scoop them into an empty prescription bottle and escort them outside. In the kitchen I usually transfer them to a potted plant and tell them to stay out of sinks.

Big spiders and daddy-long-legs, I just scoop quickly and toss out the door. Big, thick, black ones, though: no mercy.

They love me. A wasp only once. I was just sunbathing and it came up and stung me. That really hurt, and kept hurting for a while.

Stung 6 or 7 times by bees. Mostly, as a kid, but a couple of time as an adult. My husband didn’t believe that stinging things love to come after me. One time we were on vacation, we were standing talking to a woman, and a bee chose to sting me, we were all three just standing there.

In my teens I learned human beings can outrun bees so now I bolt. Staying still does not work for me, they still sting me as you can tell by my first two paragraphs.

I love living in Florida because so many patios and pools are screened in and I can stay in my bee free bubble.

I was weed eating one day and didn’t realize there was a yellow jacket nest in the ground. Yes, I pissed them off. Thankfully they only sent out a few soldiers to deal with me and only one of them was persistent. He stung me on the back of my leg and again on my back and he chased me 100 yards down the hill before he was satisfied.

I have been stung a few times, and it hurts but I don’t have any lasting effects from them.

I was about 8 or 10 and was swinging on my swing in the backyard. I felt something on my arm under my short sleeve shirt. I thought it was a dry leaf and tried to brush it off and… Wow! I got punched in the arm! It was a wasp!
There was a small drop of blood oozing my arm.
I’m sure there was plenty of crying and screaming but I only remember that drop of blood.

Decades later, my kids were playing in the woods alongside my lawn when one was attacked by yellow jackets in a ground nest. He was stung 4 times. It was so pathetic. After tending to him I found the nest and revisited it in the evening to make sure this never happens again.
I nailed it with Sevin, followed by some squirts of gasoline and a tossed stick match.

Yes. I have been terrified of them ever since.

Twice. The first time was when I was around 11, I was in the front seat of a car, in the middle, and the window was open. We were driving to the Delaware Water Gap to go canoeing. A bee or wasp (not sure which) flew in and landed on my arm. I looked down and gasped, and it stung me and flew away. I remember the area being red and slightly swollen, warm to the touch and itchy.

The second time was about three years ago in the summer, visiting Williamsburg VA. We were in a timeshare resort, at the pool. A bee or wasp flew down and stung me. Same as last time, area was warm and slightly swollen and itchy, for a day or two.

Probably 20–30 times by all of the above. Y’all must stay inside a lot or live in areas that are free of them. Worst time was when I ran over a yellowjacket nest with a lawnmower. I did not know what happened at first but I was inundated and was stripping clothing off as I ran into the house. They hit me five or six times. I only count that as one occurrence though. I’m not afraid of them, generally if you leave them alone they will leave you alone.

Yes, several times when I was young. Walking barefoot in grass with clover.

Mowing my father-in-law’s grass 50 years ago, in rural Vermont with a walk behind rotary lawnmower, Clipped top of their nest. MIL stopped counting at 25 bites, she was a RN and called neighbor (four miles away) a Family Doctor. Ice and laying down with feet elevated I was okay. Doctor had a “black bag” with epinephrine but wasn’t needed.

@Tropical_Willie, I feel your pain.

When I was about 8, I was playing outside with my cousin when I stepped on a nest of yellow jackets. I was immediately covered and stung and stung, my cousin tried to help by sweeping them off of me with a branch. My aunt immediately soaked a rag in ammonia, and applied it to all the stings, which soothed me immediately. After a few more minutes large welts and bruises appeared, but that was from the big stick my cousin was valiantly (considering how close that brought her to the swarm) smacking me with, to get rid of the attackers.

Six decades later I am still totally freaked out by yellow jackets.

Too many times to count, as a country kid. From stepping on sweat bee’s, to mud dobbers.
It’s only bad the first few hours, but soaking in witchhazel helps.

I was walking around the house barefoot and accidentally stepped on a bee who promptly stung me. It hurt but I didn’t have a reaction of any kind, thankfully.

I wasn’t even mad about it because had someone 1000X my size stepped on me, I’d fight back too.

I have stepped on bees barefoot and gotten stung a couple times. Hurt like hell but no serious reaction.

I was riding a bicycle at high speed and approaching a traffic light controlled intersection and was focused on what I was doing. Had my mouth open to breathe and a bee flew in and stung the back of my throat. I damn near crashed. Fortunately, the stinger didn’t stick in my throat.

Wasps yes. Bees / hornets, no. Go figure. Stung like hell for a bit, otherwise no big whoop. Yellowjackets are the worst, and they always seemed to get me when I wasn’t wearing a shirt.

@Tropical_Willie: A few years ago, not far from here (in Greenburgh NY), there was a guy mowing the lawn and I think the lawnmower went down into a ditch in his yard and he hit a bees’ nest. Long story short they attacked him and he couldn’t escape because he was down in the gulley, and he died. It’s bad news, these stinging insects!

@jca2 That is terrifying. That poor man. Now, Africanized bees are more north in Florida, years ago they weren’t here. I try not to think about it. It’s very unusual to see any bee where I live.

@JLeslie: This is why I don’t do yard maintenance – this and poison ivy. My mom used to pull weeds in her yard, and now and then she’d get poison ivy. I used to ask why she was doing it herself since she could easily afford to hire a landscaper. I understand some people like doing it but it seems the potential negatives outweigh the positives.

@jca2 It’s really relaxing for me. I have hired out big jobs though.

@jca2 I don’t enjoy gardening, and part of the reason is the flying and stinging bugs. Since they spray pesticides here it’s not as bad as some places, but not everything is dead. My garden is very small now, and I don’t need to do much, so I do it myself. It’s like an hour every month or two between treating my law, cutting bushes, and killing weeds. Ten minutes yesterday was the latest.

A friend of mine almost died from poison oak. She was hospitalized for over a week. Got into her lungs or something. We don’t have poison ivy and poison oak where I live now, but in TN we had plenty around the property. My husband and I never had a rash, but my neighbor had it bad almost every year.

@Jeruba Ha! I also scold spiders in the shower before scooping them up and putting them outside. (Though I guess daddy long legs aren’t technically spiders?)

Most spiders (ie chillin’ in a corner minding their own business) in the house get caught in a giant pickle jar and put in the garden. My 6yo loves to do this and loudly announce “This is your new home, spider! Not inside the human house!”

However, invasive spiders (ie found in the kids’ bed) are crushed. Not always a conscious decision. Mostly instinctual.

Yes. Severity depended on location. Being stung on the chest or arm wasn’t too bad.

But once I was stung right between two of my fingers, and it didn’t seem too bad until the next morning, when my whole hand had swolen up and I had to get medical attention for it.

Also, some people are allergic, which makes stings much more serious for them.

Sure, all of the above.
My wife was attacked by a swarm many years ago, when she unknowingly got close to a hive (she is deaf).
A few years later, while we were driving North, a wasp flew into the car, and got lodged between her butt and the seat. It repeatedly stung her, to the point that she opened the car door to jump from the car. She was driving. On the freeway.
I had to hold onto her arm to keep her in the car with one hand, while the other was on the wheel. I got the car pulled over, and we cleared the wasp away.
My kids remember this well, because they were stuck in the back seats, watching their Mom trying to jump out of a fast moving car. They also remember that The Doors’ “Let It Roll” started playing on the radio, and I began singing loudly “Keep your eyes on the road, your eyes upon the wheel!”

In answer to a different Fluther question recently asked, this was a moment of synchronicity.

When I was about 8 we were at the University Morgan Horse Farm, sitting on the beautiful grassy lawn. I leaned back on my hands and was stung on one of them. That was my first experience with a sting. Since then, if I or someone I’m with gets stung, I quickly make a paste of baking soda and a little water and put it on the sting. It draws out the stinger and poison and makes it quit hurting very quickly. If I’m out in nature without baking soda, I use dirt and spit and make a mud paste.

I was stung by a bee on my foot when I was in my mid teens. Thankfully I am not allergic, but it hurt pretty bad, and felt almost exactly the same as when I accidentally stepped on a lit cigarette that someone had tossed. I screamed both times. The cigarette burn blistered and left a scar. The bee sting did not. Both times, I initially thought I had stepped on a piece of glass.

Yes, a few times. My FIL had many many bees and jarred honey that was sold all over the county. He wouldn’t sell it outside the county as he was a firm believer that you need to live in the same area the honey was produced to get the medicinal benefits. I was never a fan but I cooked with it a lot and substituted any recipe calling for syrup with honey. One must be careful because it is sweeter than sugar. But honey on chicken and pork (while it’s cooking) is great. I used it in some other recipes like pecan pie and baklava.

Oh, I almost forgot, stings do indeed hurt for a bit. My grandpa would always chew a little tobacco to get it wet and put on our stings. Almost instant relief.

I describe the feeling of the initial sting as that it feels like you’re getting poked with a hot needle.

Countless times.
One of my earliest childhood memories was sitting in a close basket when I was 2 and my mother was hanging clothes up on the line outside. I was eating an apple and got stung on the hand. (I’ll ask my mom if it was a bad reaction)
Another time I was stung in the knee and I immediately fell over because my leg/knee just gave out.
And another memorable one I was on a ladder 20 feet in the air painting the side of my house. I didn’t see the small wasp cone in the ladder rung. I was stung on my stomach through the t-shirt. Glad I didn’t freak or fall.

Yep. We were 9 year old neighborhood kids throwing rocks at an active hive that was hanging from a tree branch. It was basically free pinata….

Shockingly….more bees started trickling out, so we ran….but it was too late.

As we’re sprinting away, I feel a sting right between my middle and index finger.

It ended up being fine, we basically ran away fast and got inside and laid low, but we just ended up leaving a bunch of angry bees outside. I hope someone did something about that…