[pct-l] Yellow jackets and EpiPens on the PCT

[miles brown]

That's very helpful, thanks.
Do you think most are napping (preparing to nap) around this time of year?

On Tue, Sep 11, 2012 at 2:07 AM, Maxine Weyant <weyantm at msn.com> wrote:

> Lots of stuff about bees:
>
> If you are stung--always make sure the stinger is out!  (look at the
> contour of the sting, it can look like a tiny bristle.  Use your teeth if
> you have to.)  Also, try to get ice or cold water on the sting ASAP to keep
> the swelling down and slow the spread of allergen or the intensity of the
> local tissue reaction.  You can use an alcohol swab or a wet piece of
> cloth, and keep shaking the cloth to cool it down.  Take Benadryl right
> away if you're prone to allergic reactions, especially with hives.  Take an
> epi-pen along if you have to, but plan to use a 2nd one if necessary.
> People in serious trouble often need to repeat the epi-pen injection about
> 20 minutes after the first. So, always carry 2 if you are someone who has
> had a serious reaction in the past.
>
> You mentioned you have a strong reaction to bees, but didn't mention what
> your reaction was.  There's a local tissue reaction, like pain, swelling,
> and later itching, and then there's a more serious systemic reaction like
> hives, wheezing, throat swelling, itching and swelling of the eyes (when
> the sting was nowhere near the face,)  and sometimes a person just
> collapses and goes into anaphylactic shock.  You can have a really bad
> local tissue reaction that doesn't necessarily mean you'll have a worse
> reaction next time or that you're really allergic.   And yes, some bees are
> more allergenic than others.  I believe yellow jackets are among the worst
> in terms of producing an allergic reaction, and they certainly are
> aggressive.  I don't think they are responding to fear, as someone
> suggested, but they're really going after whomever tore open or stepped
> into their nest and whomever is waving and running the most vigorously.
>
> On the PCT between Campo and Hauser Creek during the Kickoff this year
> (April) there were 1 or 2 swarms of bees.  I heard what I thought was a
> spring coming out of a rock and turned my head to locate the sound when I
> saw a huge airborne swarm several feet from my face.  I just turned on my
> heel and never looked back to see what type of bees they were.   Most
> likely honeybees, which do that when they're gathering to relocate to a new
> nest.  I did hear that someone got stung that day.   I also saw hundreds of
> bees during the peak of the wildflowers on Mt Jefferson and Mt Hood 2 weeks
> ago but they didn't care about me even when I sat down right among them to
> eat lunch and take photos.  At other times, I have been chased by wasps or
> hornets on the trail. It's usually just one or 2, often on a road.  They
> seem really persistent and I find that if I swing my poles high in opposite
> directions while I'm walking, they decide I'm a hazard and go away.
>
> I've also observed that I am more likely to be chased and stung by bees
> and wasps if I'm wearing white, or if i've used a hand lotion containing
> lanolin.  For years I wore a white sun shirt and I was always the one who
> got chased or stung.  Now I use a grey one and it's made huge difference.
>  I don't use any scented products on the trail, but I would often get stung
> when wearing lanolin-containing unscented lotion.  I'm sure there are many
> products and lip balms and fragrances and colors that attract some bees
> more than others. Yellow jackets of course are attracted by food and one
> quickly grows tired of eating "bees and cheese."  Bald-faced hornets are
> nasty, mean SOB's that are also attracted to food and will chase you.
>  White face, black body.  Some bees also will bite you, not just sting.
>  Something bit a little divot out of the back of my neck on the Muir Trail
> a few years ago.  It felt just like a bee sting, and started to swell
> immediately.   Fortunately a man I was ta
>  lking to had a liter of snow in his water bottle from the last pass, so I
> could ice it, but it still swelled into a 4 inch wide welt and itched for
> days.
>
> I've had some weird encounters with bees and have sometimes had bad local
> reactions.  I once rappelled out my window to trim a huge thorny hedge and
> disturbed a bumblebees' nest.  By the time I could get back inside and out
> of my harness I'd been stung several times and it hurt worse than average
> bee stings.  I had huge red painful welts which hurt for days and then
> itched, but nothing more serious.  One summer I was stung on trails in WA 3
> times within 2 weeks.  I think they were all the same type of bee, can't
> remember the specific type.  The 3rd sting occurred on my wrist and by the
> next day my whole hand was swollen and pink and my arm swelled up to above
> my elbow. The itching drove me crazy and I couldn't wear a sterile glove on
> that hand at work for a few days.  Some sources recommend that if the local
> tissue reaction extends beyond 2 joints, one should take greater
> precautions in the future.  So for a few years I carried an ANA Kit or,
> more recently, 2 epi-pens.  I hav
>  e since had several more stings from a variety of bees and have not had a
> serious problem so I finally stopped carrying the epi-pens, which are heavy
> and bulky.  I do carry diphenhydramine (Benadryl) but I haven't had to use
> it much.  There is a topical Benadryl you could also apply to the sting but
> it's not worth the weight.  I always make sure the stinger is out, and I
> always put ice, snow, or cold water on the sting as long as possible to
> keep the swelling down and slow the spread of any reaction that may be
> happening.  When I do get stung, I also try to sit calmly for awhile and,
> since I often hike alone, if someone happens along I tell them what's going
> on and ask them to wait around a few minutes.
>
> Dys-feng shui-nal
>
>
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-- 
Miles

*Find your passion.  **Pursue it with fervour.  *Have something to fall
back on.
(Like, your ass.)