If you haven't been stung by a bee or haven't in a long while let me throw a bit of advice your way. If you have been so unlucky to have been stung by a bee and are able to see or reach the spot where the bee stung you don't panic. The pain you suffer initially is nothing compared to the pain you will feel later if you don't do what I suggest here... In the past several years, I have been stung in places that are unreachable or not visible. In the middle of my back or top of my head where I'm not apt to make a mistake after the bee stings me. Once stung, I usually ask someone to help out by taking the stinger out. In those cases, those individuals must have known what to do in these cases. First of all, never use your fingers to pull out a stinger. After reading the different techniques to remove a bee stinger and post bee sting preparation I realized I did everything you shouldn't do and that which could cause the most damage from that initial bee sting. I used my fingers to pull it out, apparently causing as much "bee venom" to be squeezed into my left quadracept. I can tell you from experience that this muscle does more for a bike rider than any other. I continued to ride my bike for another 25 miles or so spreading the poison deeper into the muscle tissue. By mid morning yesterday, my left quad was twice the size of my right quad muscle. It hurt to stand on as I could feel all the blood rushing to that spot of my leg. It was physically warmer compared to my right leg and harder from the swelling. I have never had this type of reaction from a bee sting, but wanted to warn those of you who inevitably will get stung by a bee and how to remove a bee stinger. The steps are pretty simple really. You take a credit card or drivers license(something everyone has on them at any given point in time) and scrape the stinger off with the edge of the credit card. This will minimize the amount of venom that is released into the muscle tissue and blood stream. If you have available an antiseptic cleaner or insect bite cream apply that asap and cover with a bandage for 20-30 mintes and remove so that the bite area can breath.
I've learned my lesson. I will be carrying with me some bite cream and antiseptic, which doesn't take up much space at all.
I am sidelined from a bike ride today simply because I don't know how my leg will react to swelling once I elevate my heart rate. The swelling seems to be subsiding today, but reports that I have read say 48 hours to one week before swelling subsides. It has been about 40 hours since the sting. Im really anxious to get out and ride, but want to play it safe. I will update tomorrow and hopefully will be reporting on how great the ride was in the morning.
