What helps a yellow jacket sting?

[Dave McClung]

It has been years since I was stung by a yellow jacket. This afternoon I was cleaning some salmon. The yellow jackets were attacted to the fish. I killed a bunch of them, but when I reached for a towel, I failed to see that a yellow jacket was on the back side of the towel. It stung my index finger. After two hours, it is swollen and hurts like crazy. It it gets worse, I will have to type with one hand. Does anyone have a suggestion about what one can do to stop the swelling and the hurt?

[Ray Hendrix]

On the mission field I learned to soak it in eppsin salts. The locals had some other cures but I can't remember them.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

benedryl ---cream and liquid.

i was always told vinegar and baking soda- but it never helped mine.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

Look and see if the stinger is still in ........if it is - pull it out.

[Anne and Dwayne Hood]

Tobacco helps wasps stings, but I don't know about yellow jackets.
A couple of times someone has given me a cigarette or two, which I put in an envelope, wrote it's purpose on it and put it in the medicine cabinet. Take the tobacco, and moisten it. Apply to sting, after removing stinger, and put a bandaid over it to hold it on.

[Dennis M. Scott]

Earlier this summer one got me, and the vinegar and baking soda thing did the trick. I was a little surprised that it worked, being a sceptic. We were near the kitchen, so we were able to use it within literally a few seconds. Not only did it aleviate the pain, but seemed to draw a little liquid as it dried. Don't they call that a poltrice? We used a blob about half an inch in diameter, and half that thick.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

Earlier this summer one got me, and the vinegar and baking soda thing did the trick. I was a little surprised that it worked, being a sceptic. We were near the kitchen, so we were able to use it within literally a few seconds. Not only did it aleviate the pain, but seemed to draw a little liquid as it dried. Don't they call that a poltrice? We used a blob about half an inch in diameter, and half that thick.

ah - perhaps, my blob wasn't thick enough - -

Isn't it interesting that somethings work for one person and don't for another.

Cool - glad it worked.

[Marsha Gupton]

It has been years since I was stung by a yellow jacket. This afternoon I was cleaning some salmon. The yellow jackets were attacted to the fish. I killed a bunch of them, but when I reached for a towel, I failed to see that a yellow jacket was on the back side of the towel. It stung my index finger. After two hours, it is swollen and hurts like crazy. It it gets worse, I will have to type with one hand. Does anyone have a suggestion about what one can do to stop the swelling and the hurt?

Dave, hope you get some relief soon. I have a severe allergic reaction to any type of sting and am "suppose" to carry with me an emergency adrenilin kit. So, anytime I get stung I have to get to my doctor or ER quickly.

[Ray Hendrix]

Tobacco helps wasps stings, but I don't know about yellow jackets.
A couple of times someone has given me a cigarette or two, which I put in an envelope, wrote it's purpose on it and put it in the medicine cabinet. Take the tobacco, and moisten it. Apply to sting, after removing stinger, and put a bandaid over it to hold it on.

Just think--Dave will have to explain that nicotine stained finger. :)

[Dave McClung]

It has been years since I was stung by a yellow jacket. This afternoon I was cleaning some salmon. The yellow jackets were attracted to the fish. I killed a bunch of them, but when I reached for a towel, I failed to see that a yellow jacket was on the back side of the towel. It stung my index finger. After two hours, it is swollen and hurts like crazy. It it gets worse, I will have to type with one hand. Does anyone have a suggestion about what one can do to stop the swelling and the hurt?

Thanks for all of the suggestions. Other suggestions were to crush an aspirin, put the crumbs in a little water and spread it on the sting or take a benidryl.

I decided to "tough it" out. The swelling is going down, the throbbing has stopped and my headache is gone. I guess the passage of time is still a good healer.

[Dennis M. Scott]

Glad it's dissipating. I'll be curious to see how it is in three or four days. While my pain and swelling were gone very quickly, the area immediately around the sting hardened and I could still detect it a couple weeks later. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of experience along these lines, but was a little surprised at how long the "mark" lasted.

So, where are the pictures of the salmon? Where'd you catch them?

[Dave McClung]

Glad it's dissipating. I'll be curious to see how it is in three or four days. While my pain and swelling were gone very quickly, the area immediately around the sting hardened and I could still detect it a couple weeks later. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of experience along these lines, but was a little surprised at how long the "mark" lasted.

So, where are the pictures of the salmon? Where'd you catch them?

They were caught in the Columbia River. Unfortunately, I didn't catch them. A man that goes to our church is a fish wholesaler. He is a native American, so he is entitled to buy fish that are not available to those who are not native American.

He "presells" his salmon to resturants all over the country, but when he buys extra fish he makes them available to friends, like me, on a "reasonable basis." Today's catch fixed us for salmon for the rest of the year.

[Dave McClung]

Glad it's dissipating. I'll be curious to see how it is in three or four days. While my pain and swelling were gone very quickly, the area immediately around the sting hardened and I could still detect it a couple weeks later. Thankfully, I don't have a lot of experience along these lines, but was a little surprised at how long the "mark" lasted.

So, where are the pictures of the salmon? Where'd you catch them?

They were caught in the Columbia River. And if I had caught them, I would certainly have taken a picture. Unfortunately, I didn't catch them.

A member of our church is a fish wholesaler. Today, he sold us three beautiful silver salmon -- about 30 lbs. That will fix us up for salmon for the rest of the year.

[Mark Metcalfe]

Q: What helps a yellow jacket sting?
A: A barb at the posterior end of the insect. (Nyuk nyuk nyuk)

(Hope your finger feels better. Those guys are getting ready for winter and
will be more aggressive anyway.)

[Gina Stevenson]

Q: What helps a yellow jacket sting?
A: A barb at the posterior end of the insect. (Nyuk nyuk nyuk)

(Hope your finger feels better. Those guys are getting ready for winter and
will be more aggressive anyway.)

Actually, this is also how my mind was working when I read the post title. Tho't of asking, "Why would anyone want to help a yellow jacket sting, when what you want to do is try to keep this from happening!" And, "Whatever it is that will help them sting, you want to do just the opposite, so they won't."

Glad your finger's feeling better ... envious, hearing about that salmon, tho'!!

Love to fix fresh fish ... marinate ... fix with onions and maybe some peppers ... use lime juice, not lemon ............ getting HUNGRY thinking about some good, fresh fish. ;)

[Diane Likens]

I killed a bunch of them, but when I reached for a towel, I failed to see that a yellow jacket was on the back side of the towel.


The next step will be to locate the nest and have it removed by a capable pest removal company. I don't normally recommend killing anything, but yellow jacket nests can be quite dangerous, especially if there are children or pets in the area.

A few years back, we had several instances here in Florida where people were severely injured by multiple yellow jacket stings -- even had two children killed by them.

Removing a nest can be expensive, but it's worth the peace of mind.

[Dennis M. Scott]

Sorry to be a little late with this, but it might help someone else.

http://www.rescue.com/Insects/YellowjacketStings.asp

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

Sorry to be a little late with this, but it might help someone else.

http://www.rescue.com/Insects/YellowjacketStings.asp

Very interesting, Dennis. Thanks for the link. i didn't know that a yellow jacket sting was different from other stings. i have been stung by many of the flying critters - including hornets....

Thanks again.

[Gina Stevenson]

Whoa! Didn't realize ... it sounds a bit more serious than some stings.

Thanks.

[Dave McClung]

Whoa! Didn't realize ... it sounds a bit more serious than some stings.

Thanks.

One of the difficulties when advising about stings is to realize that different people react differently to stings. Some people just brush them off and go on with what they were doing, others have extreme reactions.

It is also a fact that people have different degrees of tolerence for pain. Linda accuses me of being "numb" because I often don't feel or notice pain in circumstances when she would be crying.

In this case, the stung finger is still "tender" but it won't prevent me from doing anything today.

[Belinda Y. Edwards]

One of the difficulties when advising about stings is to realize that different people react differently to stings. Some people just brush them off and go on with what they were doing, others have extreme reactions.

It is also a fact that people have different degrees of tolerence for pain. Linda accuses me of being "numb" because I often don't feel or notice pain in circumstances when she would be crying.

In this case, the stung finger is still "tender" but it won't prevent me from doing anything today.

Well said - -

i assumed - shouldn't have but did - -

That since you were typing to us - you weren't having respiratory issues (difficulty in breathing)

And - since you didn't describe it with any other descriptions- i assumed that it was a sting that hurt but wasn't giving any other problems.

*******
*grins*

i need to be more thorough, instead of assuming - thanks - -

edited to add - and the location of the sting makes a difference. (eg - with the recent sting ray horror)

assess or impliment - - --

i needed more assessment.