bee sting?! help! | Imamother

mama-star

Sun, Nov 22 2009, 9:13 am

my son got stung by a bee (or something) on shabbos and his hand got all puffy. we gave him benadryl orally. today his hand is REALLY puffed up and we gave him another dose of benadryl. what should I be doing? should I take him to the doctor? how long will his hand swell for?

HELP!!!

Mommy3.5

Sun, Nov 22 2009, 2:57 pm

the world's best mom wrote:

It sounds like he's allergic to bee stings. I would call the doctor and ask what to do..

No It doesn't. Bee stings swell, that's normal, a true allergy is not localized swelling (I almost died from a bee sting a few years ago.)

Swelling all over the body, shortness of breath and hives, are a sign of an allergic reaction. Swelling around the sting itself is not a reason to panic.

If this was your sons first sting, make sure to keep an eye out on the second and third stings, most allergic reactions happen on the second sting. When I was stung as a child I was fine, it wasn't till 20 years later that I had an anaphalctic reaction to the sting. I had not been bit anytime between the two stings.

NativeMom

Sun, Nov 22 2009, 3:41 pm

The severity of the reaction depends on your sensitivity. If his whole hand is swollen (which is what I got from your post mama-star) after the sting- that can be a sign of a mild allergic reaction. Some swelling around the sting site is a normal reaction. In the future, if he gets stung again, monitor for signs of allergy.

You can put ice on the area to reduce swelling

Tell him not to scratch it! it wont help the swelling, make it more itchy and increase his risk of infection (as with any insect bite)

mama-star

Tue, Nov 24 2009, 1:02 pm

hi, just wanted to give the update. when I spoke to the dr. on sunday morning and he gave his advice, I asked him for any red flags or concerns I needed to watch for. he said if it got really red. meanwhile, night-time rolls around and ds's hand started to blister!! I thought, "gee, the dr. didn't say anything about that." so I called the dr. (BH I have his cell phone), but he wasn't answering at that time. so I told my dh, "you know what, just take him to the dr." so dh took him and the dr. (my regular pediatrician wasn't there) and the dr. gave him a shot of some kind of anti-inflammatory. the dr. said to come back tomorrow for it to be re-examined. this was sunday.

SO...last night we took him back to the dr.'s office and guess what? my regular pediatrician was there. he looked at the hand and all the blistering and said it was infected, and put ds on an antibiotic.

meanwhile, here's the kicker: when my regular pediatrician saw ds's hand, the swelling and blistering had already GONE DOWN from the anti-inflammatory shot ds was given the previous night. in other words, IT LOOKED BETTER! and the pediatrician still said it was infected and put him on an antibiotic!

now isn't it funny that pediatrician #1 didn't have that opinion and didn't give my son an antibiotic?? goes to show that dr's have different opinions...

Mommy3.5

Tue, Nov 24 2009, 8:59 pm

The infection might not have been there right away. Touching/scratching can introduce bacteria to the bite and cause the infection over night.

Does he have impetigo? That was the infection I got from my first sting, It originated at the bite area. I would definitely watch him VERY carefully in the event of a second sting. Ask your ped for an epi pen script as a precaution. You don't want to find out the hard way.