Medical professionals notice uptick in bee-related injuries

Local medical professionals at Howard Young Medical Center, emergency department supervisor Jodi Rohaley and emergency department nurse Lori Goff, say they’ve definitely noticed an uptick in patients coming in with bee-related injuries this summer. 

“Without having statistics … I would say yes,” Goff said. “Sometimes people don’t exactly know what has bitten them, but I feel like we are seeing quite a bit more of that, and people having more reactions than they maybe normally would.”

Generally, there are two types of reactions Goff said she notices — those who have a “local reaction” and those who have an “anaphylactic reaction.”

The local reaction, Goff explained, will cause redness or swelling in the immediate surrounding areas of the sting. 

She said an anaphylactic reaction is cause for more concern. These bee sting reactions, she said, are more of a “generalized body reaction” where someone will encounter hives, swelling to the face, trouble breathing, tightness in the chest, feelings of not being able to swallow or feelings of a racing heart.

Both Rohaley and Goff said if a person feels uncomfortable or is encountering unusual symptoms, they should seek medical attention right away. 

“Anything that feels different or something unusual … even if it’s on a lesser scale, those would be signs that you need to go in and get checked because things can get bad very fast,” Goff said. “If you have a local reaction, like let’s say you get stung on your arm and you’ve put ice on it and you’ve maybe taken over-the-counter medication like Benadryl … but now it’s a day or two later and thinking ‘Wow, this is really swollen’ … then that would be a reason to maybe have that looked at to make sure there’s nothing else that’s going on that needs to be treated other than the local reaction to the bee sting.”

Rohaley and Goff’s recommendations for self-treatment — if a person doesn’t feel a particular sting warrants a visit to their local medical center — include getting the stinger out first (usually with a tweezers), applying ice and making sure “it is just a local reaction.”

“It is a good idea to always have Benadryl in your house just in case something would be turning into something further,” they advised.

Goff suggested people could always talk to their pharmacists, too, for over-the-counter recommendations; like certain ointments or a “bee sting stick.”

She also added that if a child is stung and a parent wants to give them Benadryl, they need to know that the medication is indeed weight-based and parents can figure out the dosage size for their child by contacting their pediatrician. One other thing Rohaley and Goff said is very important with regard to bee stings is the use of epinephrine injectors (typically referred to as epi pens).

“It’s very important if you have a known bee-sting allergy where you get the full-body anaphylactic reaction, you need to be very proactive,” Goff said. “If you carry an epi pen because of that, you need to be sure that your epi pen is always with you.”

Persons who have known allergies to bee stings should also have Benadryl on hand in case their epi pen is not readily available, she added.

“And if you use your epi pen because you had a reaction like, you need to be seen at the ER,” Rohaley said. “It’s always better to be safe than sorry and be checked out and have it be nothing than not come in and have it be something serious.”

Goff said some people have told first-responders they’ve used other people’s epi pens when they’ve encountered an unusual bee-sting reaction, but this practice is not recommended.

“If you’re uncomfortable after a bee sting with how you're feeling, you just need to go to the closest emergency department,” Goff said.

Trevor Greene may be reached via email at [email protected].