Things You Should Know About Stinging Insect Allergy And Treatment

Health & Medical Blog

You and millions of other people look forward to warm weather when you can engage in various types of outdoor activities. Unfortunately, stinging insects look forward to the warm weather too, and those stings can be painful, especially when they cause an allergic reaction. Most insect stings do not cause a reaction, but you could suffer a serious reaction. An allergic reaction to stinging insects causes a remarkable number of deaths each year in America.

Insects That Cause Symptoms

Stinging insects are classified as being from the Hymenoptera class, which includes bees, wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets. Stinging symptoms include pain, redness, itching, and swelling at the sting site. Swelling symptoms can be reduced with the use of ice packs, but you should seek immediate care when there is a severe stinging insect allergy reaction. Stinging insects that are responsible for causing severe allergic reactions include bees such as bumblebees and honeybees. Wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, and fire ants also fall into this category of stinging insects that cause severe allergic reactions.

Testing For Allergic Reaction

Blood tests and skin tests are used to determine a diagnosis of allergic reaction. A sample of insect venom on or under your skin's top level can be performed. The area will be observed for signs of an allergic reaction. Radioallergosorbent test (RAST) blood testing determines how many IgE antibodies to a particular substance are in your blood.

Immediate Treatment You Can Do

Honeybees leave their barbed stingers in your skin after initially stinging you. There is an art to retrieving the stinger without forcing more venom into your skin. Very gently remove the stinger by lifting it with your fingernail or use a knife edge to lift and extricate it from your skin. Epinephrine is used for an allergic reaction. If you've experienced an allergic reaction to an insect sting before, this is the treatment that requires you to carry this injectable epinephrine with you at all times and use it. Sometimes the epinephrine you carry may not be enough if you have a serious allergy reaction.

You must seek immediate medical treatment even if you've injected epinephrine because epinephrine has the ability to wear off. In that kind of scenario, you might need intravenous fluids or other treatment. Call a doctor or head for the emergency room.

Immunity To Insect Stings

You can undergo immunotherapy allergy shots when you have a sensitivity to insect venom. Your allergist can administer the venom over a period of time and then start you on a maintenance treatment thereafter for several weeks. The shots are usually discontinued after about three to five years. Try to keep out of the way of insects by avoiding common haunts such as large trees and logs and by covering up while you're taking a walk or running in wooded areas.

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10 May 2019