Thursday, November 12, 2009

Wasps--don't freak out it's just a bug

I've been lucky that I haven't had to deal with wasp or bee stings at all with my kids up until now. I have been stung enough times in my childhood that it's not something I would wish on anyone. It's simple to handle if you know what you are doing and you can research a few home remedies on the web.

Well yesterday my darling daughter got stung by a wasp,



and I'm sure it was a wasp because I killed the little bugger after she ran away screaming.

Stings are painful and I didn't expect her to be rational through the event but I had to be. Through her screaming and jumping up and down, I screamed back to get it under cold water and go to the bathroom tub.

So she did and I followed close behind. The very first thing I did was to get some allergy medicine in her and watch her closely for the beginning signs of an anaphylactic reaction. If her tongue is swelling up, or she experiences odd reactions like dizziness it may be life threatening. Otherwise I can probably handle it on my own. I expect the worst because my husband has severe allergies, but was lucky in this case she did feel tingling on her throat so it may be worse next time.

First thing you have to do is inspect the sting site to see if the stinger was still inside or not. It's important to remove it if it is because there may be more venom still being released.

I applied an anti-itch cream for bug bites from my first aid kit but you can also use vinegar to help stop the burning sensation. Then you want to keep any open wound dry and clean, so we applied a cool camouflage bandaid (in honor of Veterans Day) and then got a bag of ice.

The bag of ice helped the most, but what she wanted the most was just to be held and comforted. To know that everything was going to be alright and that pain was going to go away eventually.

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