Survivors of, wasp/bee swallowing, even Bumble bee?

dohouch

I been stung in the mouth twice, inside lip, not sure if bee or wasp. Last week got hit on the upper lip by a bumble bee. Seems to me if one of these b-ggers got into your wind-pipe you'd be in serious trouble, maybe fatal if it swelled up enough to block air-ways. I live in a place, West-Kerry, that from August on has lots of bees. Last summer thought I was well protected with glasses and my hair covered, and b-gger got stuck between my head and the arm of the glasses.

smacl

Got a bumble bee in my helmet coming off the sally gap a few weeks ago, and didn't really notice the sting until after I'd stopped, which I managed with only a minor tumble. (Stopped ok, forget to unclip and fell into a heather ditch, real idiot moment). A bit freaked afterwards as I'd been going quite fast (~50kph), and it was my first emergency stop at speed.

When the insects are about I try to breathe through the nose, unless really jaded, when I try to breathe through my teeth. I've still swallowed a fair number of small flies and ants over the last year, but reckon you'd want to be gasping hard and very unlucky to swallow a larger insect. Short of getting something like a fencing mask, there's not much you can do. If you could cycle with a scarf, you're probably breathing through your nose anyway.

Hasn't been too bad in Wicklow this year, but the Burren was manky with insects over the Easter. Mouth needed to be firmly closed all the time.

Lumen

dohouch wrote: »

I been stung in the mouth twice, inside lip, not sure if bee or wasp. Last week got hit on the upper lip by a bumble bee. Seems to me if one of these b-ggers got into your wind-pipe you'd be in serious trouble, maybe fatal if it swelled up enough to block air-ways.

If you're allergic to bee stings then you'd be carrying an epiwhatever anyway, right? Otherwise, even if you're unlucky enough to find the Luke Skywalker of bees that is capable of targetting your windpipe at 30kph ("I used to bulls-eye cyclists in my T-16 back home"), it's not going to kill you.

langdang

Got one down my jersey once - surprised a few tourists when I came to a rapid stop, whipped off the jersey and started waving it around! I can see why mesh is a good idea in the front vents of helmets tho. I reckon your instinctive reactions are good enough to prevent anything that big getting in your eyes or mouth tho.

Had an ol labrador once that had a party trick of snapping bees out of the air and swallowing them - she lived to a ripe old age!

jimm

smacl wrote: »

I've still swallowed a fair number of small flies and ants over the last year, but reckon you'd want to be gasping hard and very unlucky to swallow a larger insect.

As a child, I remember hearing about a cure for this complaint. The case involved an elderly lady.

What you do next is to swallow a spider.


EDIT. WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please ignore the above advice.

I have just read the coroners report. It ended very tragically.

tomasrojo

langdang wrote: »

Had an ol labrador once that had a party trick of snapping bees out of the air and swallowing them - she lived to a ripe old age!

My cousins had a labrador who snapped bees out of the air too.

smacl

jimm wrote: »

EDIT. WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please ignore the above advice.

I have just read the coroners report. It ended very tragically.

And that's why I always keep my mouth closed when passing horses, you just never know

dohouch

Already had one sting under my top this year..

Spent a day or 2 in bed once after being stung by a bee/wasp that had got into a beer I was drinking. Tip if there are bees/wasps around keep your thumb on or cover bottle/ can your a drinking from. Crazy headache, cramps in my feet and a great t rash over my chest and stomach. Been stung a few times since then, mostly cycling and not had the same reaction. In fact the first time it happened after the above reaction, I stopped and went into a country hotel , sat by the reception and told them I might need emergency help. Waited a while and as no reaction came after 10 minutes I cycled on.

Khannie

Lumen wrote: »

If you're allergic to bee stings then you'd be carrying an epiwhatever anyway, right? Otherwise, even if you're unlucky enough to find the Luke Skywalker of bees that is capable of targetting your windpipe at 30kph ("I used to bulls-eye cyclists in my T-16 back home"), it's not going to kill you.

I don't think so on the epiwhatever it's called. When I was a kid a wasp or bee flew out of a can of coke and went into my mouth. My mouth was closed to swallow the drink and I was like "wtf is that in my mouth?", then it stung me on the tongue. I had to be taken to the doctors for a shot to stop the swelling. I think your tongue can swell up fairly severely even if you're not allergic to bee stings (I am not). All it would take is swallowing a bee or wasp for it to potentially sting your throat (the stinger is shaped in such a way that the insect doesn't need to be alive to do the damage AFAIK). If you get stung on the tongue or windpipe you should seek immediate medical attention IMO.

I like the star wars reference though.

petethedrummer

You should contact the S.O.W.B.S.E.B.B. support group.

Lumen

Khannie wrote: »

If you get stung on the tongue or windpipe you should seek immediate medical attention IMO.

For people who are actually allergic to bee stings, I don't think it matters where they are stung (woman dies after being stung on the face, although unfortunately it's from the Wail).

Anyway, the only way to be sure of your reaction is to do a dry run. Go into A&E with a jam jar full of bees and an explanatory note. Inhale bees. Pass over note to receptionist. Wait on trolley.

dohouch

Lumen wrote: »

Anyway, the only way to be sure of your reaction is to do a dry run. Go into A&E with a jam jar full of bees and an explanatory note. Inhale bees. Pass over note to receptionist. Wait on trolley.

Just installed, a 9.5Kw Electric Shower, looking for someone to test it out before I use it myself.

Hermy

Lumen wrote: »

Wait on trolley.

What trolley?

dohouch

Khannie wrote: »

I had to be taken to the doctors for a shot to stop the swelling. I think your tongue can swell up fairly severely even if you're not allergic to bee stings (I am not). All it would take is swallowing a bee or wasp for it to potentially sting your throat (the stinger is shaped in such a way that the insect doesn't need to be alive to do the damage AFAIK). If you get stung on the tongue or windpipe you should seek immediate medical attention IMO.

I like the star wars reference though.

When those "Jaws " movies were putting the wind up around the world, it was generally said that there were more people killed by bee stings each year than by sharks.. The only way I can see a bee sting sting killing you is if stings u in the tongue, throat etc, thereby blocking airways.

el tel

I was riding along once and thought i could hear a strange, faint noise which sounded like letters of the alphabet being buzzed.

I noticed it was coming from a bug that had Landed on my jersey.

It was a bee...





... a ****ing spelling bee!

aquanaut

Sneezed a honey bee out of my nose a few weeks back after 10 minutrs of trying to cough it out of windepipe on a steep enough downhill!

Khannie

dohouch wrote: »

When those "Jaws " movies were putting the wind up around the world, it was generally said that there were more people killed by bee stings each year than by sharks.. The only way I can see a bee sting sting killing you is if stings u in the tongue, throat etc, thereby blocking airways.

Agreed (for non-allergic people). I started watching a documentary about sharks before. I think elephants kill a load more people each year than sharks. The statistics were shocking. Just goes to show what a brilliant film Jaws was.

Victor

Hermy wrote: »

What trolley?

You have to bring your own. Or use a cargo bike.

I think I've only swallowed one large fly, but once cycling through the park I heard a thud on my helmet and while wondering what that was, I felt some slime trickle down the back of my shirt.

I can only assume that a thrush was preparing lunch by dropping a snail on the path and was now wondering where lunch had gone.

Needed a shower after that.

Hermy

Victor wrote: »

You have to bring your own. Or use a cargo bike.

Fncking joke really but I'm going off topic - apologies.

bcmf

Just to completely side-topic this for a min:

I watched a great documentary on BBC4 last Wed about the decline of the Honey Bee in rural areas. Apparently in both the US and the UK beekeepers in the countryside have returned to the hives after a winter to find every single bee dead. One beekeeper in the US said that the problem in the US is so severe and so regular that US honey bee's are not far from the point of becoming so low in numbers that the possibility of extinctsion is now a real threat. We are talking hundreds of thousands of bee's dead in the hives or they simply do not return from foraging for pollen.This also has a knock on effect of flowers germintaing etc....
But in the city beehive's they are thriving as they said gardens/flowers/weeds are way more are more plentiful then wild flowers/weeds in the wild.

smacl

bcmf wrote: »

they simply do not return from foraging for pollen

That's all those b@stard cyclists swallowing them. I'm off to write an indignant letter to the times on the subject...

Mr November

Khannie wrote: »

I started watching a documentary about sharks before. I think elephants kill a load more people each year than sharks. The statistics were shocking. Just goes to show what a brilliant film Jaws was.

... and how sh*t Dumbo was!

I got stung by a massive bee last summer flying down a hill at the end of a spin... the thing flew into my mouth... I thought it was a huge stone that flew up into me initially... but then I realised that stones don't 'buzz' violently!!... que immiediate panic... it stung me on my lip on the way back out... got home and it was swollen to bits... ruined my Saturday night, had to stay in cause I looked like a gimp! :mad:

tomasrojo

Khannie wrote: »

Agreed (for non-allergic people). I started watching a documentary about sharks before. I think elephants kill a load more people each year than sharks. The statistics were shocking. Just goes to show what a brilliant film Jaws was.

Mosquitoes kill more people every year than elephants or sharks do.

cdaly_

aquanaut wrote: »

Sneezed a honey bee out of my nose a few weeks back after 10 minutes of trying to cough it out of windpipe on a steep enough downhill!

Sweet!...

aquanaut

tomasrojo wrote: »

Mosquitoes kill more people every year than elephants or sharks do.

Mosquitoes kill more elephants than sharks do

daragh_

Never swallowed one but have been in a Bee related accident.

I got a Bee caught in my helmet 7 or 8 years ago going home through Phoenix Park on a Friday evening. This was an ancient hybrid which wasn't in great nick. Swerved off the road and landed on the curb in an attempt to dislodge the buzzing little fecker.

He flew away happily. I got up, went home, had a few beers, went to bed and woke up an hour later with a swollen hand. Not stung, but had landed on my hand and was very sore. Turned out to be a fracture in my wrist.

Off to St. James's for a nine hour wait. Nine hours in there is like a lifetime in purgatory.

frant2

Years ago - I was on a motorbike tipping along a country road and noticed what looked like helicopter in the sky a few miles away - fraction of a second later I realised it was actually a huge bumble bee a few yards away, it hit me in the gob at 100kph (visor on de helmet was up) - Remember Father Ted and Doogle ''These toy cows are near and those cows are far away''
Anyways on the push bike now so wear glasses and keep the gob closed

on_the_nickel

*one for the parents*

I think we could all take a lesson from this book.

http://www.walker.co.uk/Bee-Wigged-9781406319323.aspx

blorg

tomasrojo wrote: »

Mosquitoes kill more people every year than elephants or sharks do.

I kill more mosquitoes than mosquitoes kill me. Even if they get me, there is only one of me and I'm ahead already.