How To Relieve the Pain of a Bee Sting in Under 30 Seconds
Simply make a paste using Baking Soda and water and place it on the sting.
(According to Wikipedia, Yellow Jackets are actually wasps and not bees.)
Background
Two summers ago while I was outside on my deck, I got stung by a wasp for the very first time after accidentally placing my hand on it. The pain was intense. I noticed right away that it was Yellow Jacket as it fell to the floor and crawled away (until I smashed it).
In pain, I ran into the house and quickly made my baking soda and water concoction and rubbed it on my wrist. I looked at my watch to see how long it would take for the pain to go away.
The pain was gone in ten seconds. I couldn’t believe how well and fast it worked.
They now sell at your local pharmacy or drug store After Bite sting relief. The main ingredient: Baking soda. I bought one since I don’t usually carry around a box of baking soda.
Some important facts:
- Yellow Jackets have straight stingers and can sting repeatedly whereas Honey bees have barbed stingers and can only sting their victim once.
- Before treating a Honey bee sting make sure to remove the embedded stinger. Do not pull out the stinger either with your fingers or tweezers as this will cause more venom to be squeezed from the stinger sac into the sting. Rather, knock out the stinger by scraping the surface of the skin at a 45 degree angle with a credit card.
- Honey bee venom is also acidic and can be treated by applying a baking soda paste as well.
-Update July 18, 2007-
For futher reading on treating bee/wasp stings check out this Wiki page: Bee Sting
The page discusses the various treatments for stings and mentions that these remedies have not been proven to be effective in scientific studies. This Wiki page cites this article published in the Journal of Toxicology.
-Update July 29, 2007-
If baking soda doesn’t work for treating the pain of the sting try either lemon juice or vinegar. This update is a result of one of the comments below from Robin.
July 29th, 2007 at 12:21 am
Actualy i just got stung by a yellow jacket. Vinegar worked- baking soda didn’t. So it seems yellow jackets conform to other wasps - alkaline venom.
My response was as follows:
I am absolutely sure the sting was from a yellow jacket. I first tried lemon juice but it had no effect. The baking soda worked.
Here is an interesting article I found that discusses the ingredients of both Bee and Wasp stings and respective treatments: Are wasp and bee stings alkali or acid?
It seems that they contain more stuff than just acid and alkali which might explain why we both had different results.Upon further research, it seems that Yellow Jacket venom is indeed alkaline and not acidic. However, many websites recommend baking soda for treatment.
In fact, as I mentioned in the post, the product After Sting which is designed to treat both Bee and Wasp stings has Baking Soda as the main ingredient.
This post has been submitted to the July 16 issue of the Carnival of Family Life hosted over at Be A Good Mom and the July 28 issue of the Carnival of Healing hosted over at Wisdom of Healing.
July 16th, 2007 at 11:16 am
[...] Ellen presents How To Relieve the Pain of a Bee Sting in Under 30 Seconds posted at [...]
July 16th, 2007 at 11:41 am
Great article! My ds is petrified of any stinging insect after being stung 5 years(!) ago. It’s enough to make him go back inside if he even SEES one. Maybe I should get some After Bite so he at least knows I’m INSTANTLY prepared!
July 16th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
Hi Karen, thanks for the feedback. Unfortunately, no amount of baking soda paste would help my 6yr old daughter. She would scream even more with the paste on.
She becomes completely irrational when she gets hurt. Anything, bandaids, polysporin, pain relief, no matter what she’ll scream louder once the stuff is applied.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:20 pm
This is great info! My youngest was stung at a zoo last Monday and aside from tears and a little swelling was fine. When I was stung in elementary school I remember someone putting chewing tobacco? on my arm. Anyway, I thought a compress was right. The folks at the zoo just gave me a wipe
Next time I’ll say please pass the Baking Soda.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:22 pm
BTW, witch hazel is FANTASTIC for stopping itching from mosquito bites. Unbelievable, cheap and plentiful stuff.
July 16th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Thanks for the feedback HowToMe.
From fire extinguishers to wasp sting relief, its crazy the amount of uses for baking soda.
Witch Hazel? I’ve never heard of it but I’ll definitely give it a try. I never found the after-bites to work well for misquito bites.
July 16th, 2007 at 6:44 pm
Did you mean honey bee venom is alkaline? You wouldn’t use lemon juice to neutralize acid…
If it were acidic, baking soda would work also.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:01 pm
Hi Joe,
You are right. I just looked it up. My First Aid book confused me.
“Wasp venom is alkaline, so apply vinegar or lemon juice.”
But a Yellow Jacket is a wasp and yet its sting is acidic so this would mean their information regarding its classification is incorrect.
I have made the appropriate changes above.
July 16th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Wow - this obviously isn’t CNN!
July 16th, 2007 at 9:10 pm
Sorry to get off subject, but Witch Hazel is an astringent, good also for getting rid of acne if you use a cotton ball and wipe it over the affected areas like you would with medicated Stridex pads.
July 17th, 2007 at 3:57 pm
Great post! I’ve been lucky that my last sting was about 17 years ago.
July 17th, 2007 at 8:50 pm
Almost as lucky as going 32 years without getting stung. This is a good example of a good thing coming out of a bad experience. Because I got stung I was able to tell whether or not the procedure worked.
July 19th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Way to find a silver lining, Eric!
JT, I have tried Witch Hazel for the purpose you mentioned for several months and wow, it works great! Several Frugal types said it works as well as Proactive. Additionally, I’ve heard it is the main ingredient in aftershaves and hemorrhoid wipes.
Eric, Witch Hazel works on nearly every insect bite I’ve gotten since moving to the “woods.” It is really impressive to be in such a blah looking bottle and so inexpensive. I’m glad you are willing to give it a try
Enjoy!
July 29th, 2007 at 12:21 am
Actualy i just got stung by a yellow jacket. Vinegar worked- baking soda didn’t. So it seems yellow jackets conform to other wasps - alkaline venom.
July 29th, 2007 at 4:23 am
Hmm… Interesting. I am absolutely sure the sting was from a yellow jacket. I first tried lemon juice but it had no effect. The baking soda worked.
Here is an interesting article I found that discusses the ingredients of both Bee and Wasp stings and respective treatments: Are wasp and bee stings alkali or acid?
It seems that they contain more stuff than just acid and alkali which might explain why we both had different results.
Upon further search, it seems that Yellow Jacket venom is indeed alkaline and not acidic. However, many websites recommend baking soda for treatment.
In fact, as I mentioned in the post, the product After Sting which is designed to treat both Bee and Wasp stings has Baking Soda as the main ingredient.
Regardless, I think I should add your comment to the post so people are aware that baking soda may not work in all cases. Thank you Robin
August 9th, 2007 at 8:25 pm
I stepped on a bee once and got stung. Hurt like a bitch too. If they had this stuff when I was younger I wouldn’t have had to wait for my mom to make the baking soda.
August 10th, 2007 at 6:06 pm
Yeah the foot could be a really painful place to get stung although not as bad as anywhere on the face.
August 22nd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
Honey is a natural antidote for stings!! My mother was told about that when my brother, who is VERY allergic to stings, was a kid. His head would swell and have to be rushed to the ER. She tried the honey and the result was minimal swelling and no trip to the hospital. I recommend this to everyone……I even brought a bottle of honey to my children’s preschool after a child got stung and they used it for stings after that!!
August 22nd, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Thanks T.G. for the comment. I guess the only down side to using honey is that it would attract more bees.
August 26th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
It’s bee for bicarbonate and vinegar for ‘vasp’ (wasp)!
May 15th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
[...] This article was originally published on my parenting blog at Husbandhood.net [...]
July 14th, 2008 at 2:24 am
I’ve never tried vinegar or baking soda. I always use Meat Tenderizer and a little water. This has worked for myself, my kid and neighbors kid and kills the pain inside of 5 seconds for Yellow Jacket Wasp stings.
August 4th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
[...] How to Relieve a Bee Sting in under 30 Seconds. [...]
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:13 am
These are great discussions. So glad you all shared. Almost forgot my early learnings since have not been stung for awhile. Thanks. Going out to buy Witch Hazel, and grab a box of baking soda for my grandchild and her new 1st grade teacher. ( local honey is supposed to help for allergies).
January 9th, 2009 at 10:49 pm
hi
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good luck
August 8th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
I just tried the vengar & baking soda neither worked I got stung 6 times by a yellowjacket. I know tobacca works I used it as a child. I just don’t have any.
August 19th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I was stung on the bottom of my right foot. Hurts with pain considerately. Continual pain all day after also. The pain will not go away! I iced it for the swelling which helped the swelling but not the PAIN! It was a yellow jacket that some how got in my shoe and carried it into the house. Please help! What do I do? I’m older like in my 5o’s.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Got stung by a yellow jacket this morning. Baking soda did nothing. Read on another site to use WD40. It was stinging so bad that I tried it. Instant relief! Now swelling, just a large ugly red patch. Will was the WD40 off before leaving for work and then try some vinegar. It’s starting to feel a bit sore, but the mind-numbing sting is gone.
August 20th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Lynn - I’m in my 50s as well. Try the WD40. You’ve probably got some in the garage. Spray directly on the spot or onto paper towel then dab it on.
September 6th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
i was stung an hour ago in the hand by a wasp… imediately iced it, applied some Benadry spray, took Benadryl and then rubbed it with baking soda paste… Took two Motrin..PAIN was the same as the moment it stung me…Husband just put the vinegar on and this is the first relief I’ve had from the pain…Perhaps different types of yellow jackets have different types of venom?
September 6th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
scratch that…it hurts like h-ll again…
September 7th, 2009 at 7:03 pm
Hi Candace,
I am beginning to get the feeling that there are different types of venoms and treatments for yellow jackets. I guess the order should be baking soda paste, lemon juice, vinegar, honey, witch hazel, wd40, ice, …
Its also possible that the baking soda people are using is from an expired box that has been sitting in ones fridge for over a year.
September 8th, 2009 at 3:25 pm
My daughter got stung by a wasp today and the first response at school was water on a cotton wool ball…..didn’t work. But baking soda did the job. Will have to try the witch hazel too.