I'm so sorry to hear that your Mom had to experience that! How horrible. And what a huge scare for you!

Gloves are so important when weeding..you never know what your hands will come into contact to!

I can't think of anything in particular to do, other than be watchful for them. They tend to congregate around certain areas. Make sure she has the benadryl in an easily accessible location, not hidden in the back of a pill drawer or something.

Is she getting stung on her hands/arms? Is she gardening near one of their nests and doesn't realize it?

I hope this doesn't happen again, you must have gotten the poopers scared out of you!!!!!!!!!!

And make sure she calls 911 next time! That's so scary you weren't home and she was just sitting there waiting!

Hope she feels better soon!

How about putting up one of those wasp traps. I think they work
pretty good,.

Lavender Lass, so sorry to hear this, moms are precious! The idea of keeping the meds close by sounds like a good one. I'll bet she has no intentions of not going in the garden because of this, I feel the same way!

As we get older it seems like we have different reactions to things that would only be an irritation when we were young.

Take care of your mom!

Oh LL! I am so sorry to hear this...it must have been so scary for both your mom and yourself! I agree, she needs to keep that epipen (sp?) within easy reach.

Maybe she should also consider re-doing a few things in her garden to make it safer. In my garden, there are always certain plants that attract bees and insects more than others. Perhaps she could either get rid of these or move them to a spot that is farther away from walkways, seating areas, etc.

I sure hope your mom feels better soon- and that this doesn't happen again!!
CMK

Lavender Lass, sorry to hear that your Mom has developed an allergy to bee stings. No one that I know has one, so I have no personal experience to share. I can't remember the last time I heard of anyone getting stung either. I haven't been stung, [knock on wood] since I was in my twenties and I evidently mowed the lawn in an area where there was a ground nest. I don't seem to have any nervousness around bees and I don't expect to get stung. I do have more concern when I see wasps or yellow jackets and I do keep my distance.

I think I am in the garden early and late in the day and not so much during the day. Trying to avoid the heat, may be keeping me away from the busiest times for bees. I work in the garden before they are out there or after they've settled down. Or maybe I am working in an area where they are not abundant that day.

I only mention this to show that even being out in the garden every day for over 30 years, I have managed not to get stung. Now it could be that you live in a more rural area and there are more nests around your garden. I never see a nest. I wonder how many other gardeners get stung on a regular basis? I don't think I am being particularly cautious. I don't even think about it.

To be a gardener and be allergic to bees, that's a tough one. I wonder if there is anyway to get a series of shots to reduce the seriousness of the allergy? I think she will have to get used to the idea for awhile. I guess they didn't make any suggestions at the hospital? What does your Mom think?

I would think I would carry the benadryl every time I went into the garden maybe. It might be that the sooner you take it the better off you would be. Maybe always have a couple of the epipens and keep one in the house and take one outside with her when she is in the garden. Have someone in the family do a careful search of the property to locate any nests so they can be avoided or removed.

you can develop allergies at any age. I'm glad your mom is alright. The thing is - if she gets stung again, the reactions might be a bit more severe and she should be prepared for that. Carry that epipen all the time. It's expensive btw and it has an expiry date. She should be aware that this thing is a not an antidote to the venom but rather it buys you time. About an hour only. So its important to phone 911 even if no symptoms are showing up yet. -- Does she know how to use the epipen? She should be taught on how to use it. It's like a pencil with a spring loaded needle. Others apply it on their thigh muscle. I learned this from a first aid course some years ago.

Also -- the meds she was given - if it's benadryl, that's just anti allergy meds. It's just to keep the histamines at bay. My daughter uses it for hayfever.

I've never been stung by wasps or bees. Best put up a fake wasp nest to scare away those wasps or put up a trap. I find the trap in my yard to be effective.

ianna

Thank you all so much for your kind comments and concern! A lot of great ideas, too :)

After typing this, I started thinking that maybe we should redo some of the garden. She has some cement block raised beds that have GOT to go! The yellow jackets love those.

Gardening in the evening...that's what I have to do, because of work. Now that my mom's retired, she's outside all times of day. I think going out in the morning and evening to weed and water is a good idea, both to avoid the yellow jackets and the heat.

Weeding seems to be the big problem. I was already trying to think of ways to reduce her work load in the garden, so she had more time to sit and enjoy it.

Shrubs and bark may be replacing some of the annual beds...but it's such a pretty yard, I don't think she'll miss them too much. We just got a bunch of shrub roses this year for her, so they'll be easier to keep up...I hope.

She's been wanting to consolidate the gardens, to save on water, so it shouldn't be too hard to convince her.

Lavender Lass--This was a scary time for all of you. I have had experience with this and have developed ways of living and gardening with the problem. I have had to go for emergency medical help twice but have been stung many times.

My first problem sting was a paper wasp and it happened in our house, in the living room. We live in an 1830 country house. The sting was on my neck. I had loosened my waist tie and kicked off my sandals before I realized that I had general swelling, not just local irritation. I went through several years of desensitising shots and then I was tested and found not allergic to any insect for which antitoxins had been developed.

The second time I headed to the emergency room, I was gardening in a blue denim jumper with very little underwear and I dug into a ground bee nest (yellow jacket??) About 18 of them flew up under my skirt. I didn't even wait to see if I had symptoms, I just headed out for the Adrenelin shot.

I practiced on an orange with the epipen but I never felt I would have the nerve to use it on myself. I've developed a regimen for myself.

1.Wear dull or dark clothes while gardening--not skirts!
2.Do not wear perfume or use scented soap before gardening.
Leave the garden area if you are perspiring heavily.
3.When stung, take a Benadryl capsule IMMEDIATELY (or two if multiple stings)
4.******NOTIFY SOMEONE THAT I'VE BEEN STUNG AND TAKEN A BENEDRYL. If my husband is not home, I call a friend or neighbor.
5. I usually go inside, sit or lie down, use a cold pack if
the immediate site is irritated. Two Benadryls often put me to sleep.
6. Seek medical help if symptoms occur beyond the immediate
site of the sting.--for me that would be general body swelling or irritated or inflamed areas away from the site of the sting.
7. Keep Benadryl with me when I travel, even just around town.

With these precautions, I am an avid gardener working outside several hours every day.

Another side note: two of our 5 adult children have had incidents with severe reactions to insect stings. One was stung on the lip at his outdoor wedding in the park (1982)
and our daughter had to seek medical help when stung while motorcycling on her honeymoon!! (2008) I don't know that this is an inherited tendency but they both live with it also.

I don't even think about it until I hear something like your mother's experience. It will get much less scary as
time moves along.

Good wishes to you all.

Chris

Oh my im so glad to hear shes ok! I dontreally have advice about how to reduce the risk of stings, i think the advice others have given is helpful..i just wanted to say im glad shes fine!

that's good advice about perfume of any kind and bright colors, especially yellow. Gloves, and a long sleeve white or very light cotton shirt. It sounds hot, but is not...remember the Middle Easterners and how they dress.
Cotton pants, cotton anklets. The more skin is covered, the better.

The last time a wasp stung me on my finger, it swelled to where I couldn't bend it within seconds. I figure I have developed allergies to them and have Benadryl in the medicine cabinet at all times.

I am glad she is OK, but she needs to be prepared.

I have lots of red wasps in the garden and they are evil stingers!

My gosh!
That was an awful scare. Thank goodness she is going to be okay.

I have personal experience with this. I developed an allergic reaction to Bumblebees - deadly. I no longer have it, but for years I carried Benadryl with me everywhere I went.

My daughter has a long history of pissing off insects and getting stung and bitten by them with horrible results.

When she was just a toddler she and her older brother were in the back yard swinging. I was getting another load of the wash to hang out so wasn't going to be gone long. But I suddenly heard her screaming and ran to see. She was covered in fire ants. She saw their silvery wings and thought they were pretty, so went to investigate then. She was standing right on top of their nest. I put her in the shower and washed them off or her, gave her some Benadryl (it was prescription only back then) and rushed her to the doctor. She had bites all over her. They looked and felt like burns with little white blisters.
Her eyes swelled shut, but she recovered. I thought I would lose her!

Years later she got in front of one of my beehives when I was out robbing them one Spring. She had been told to stay in the house. I would smoke the hove and then break the wax seal on the hive lids and begin carefully prying them up. I would smoke them again and maybe again if they got a little too agitated so it would calm them down. I never got stung when doing this chore. Well, just as I lifted the lid, my daughter came running out and got right in front of the hive box. About 20,000 bees came out right in her face and got tangled in her long, thick hair. Boy were they pissed off. She had bees in her hair, on her eyelids, on her lips, inside her mouth, up in her nostrils, and all over her. She ran screaming to the house and swatting them, which of course caused more came to help in the attack. She ran inside the house with a third of the hive engulfing her and following her and I ran after her and pushed her into my bathroom and into the shower. Bees were all over in the house by then and in the bathroom with us. She was hysterical and screaming and they were flying into her mouth and hanging off her lips. It was like some horror flick! I turned on the cold shower and made her stand in it while I removed her clothing and bagged it - they were full of bees too. I opened the bathroom window and shooed te bees outside and closed the door. She had over 200 stings. (She had been told never to come out there when I was robbing the hives, but never ever unless she tied up her thick blonde hair and covered it with a hat or doo rag. She was 14 and I still cannot believe she did that! I rushed her to the doctor and he treated her and prescribed some medications. We had to stay in his office for an hour until her blood pressure went back to normal. Then we went next door to the pharmacy to get it filled, and that girl started monkeying around with the self-defense sprays and got Mace on her fingers. She reached up and just touched her nose and immediately went into repiratory distress.
For gosh sakes! SO I rushed her back to the doctor. I didn't think we would make it in time and it was only 50 feet away! The doctor asked her is she was on a suicide mission or something. Her blood pressure went through the roof. What a scary day.

Several years later we were at a local lake with several of her friends and after swimming, I called everyone to the picnic table for some refreshments. Suddenly Kate started screaming. I looked at her and her throat was swelling. It was incredible. I asked her if something had bit her and turns out it was an ant that had bitten her toe. I rushed her the 20 miles back to town to the hospital. From that point on, she had to carry an epinephrine shot with her everywhere. She nearly died! Her entire head swelled and was so misshapen that she was unrecognizable. Her throat swelled close and her bronchial tubes closed shut, so her lungs shut down. She turned blue and then purple. God that was so freaking scary!

Come to find out that bee stings and ant bites are in the same class since they are related insects. So if you are allergic to one, you can be allergic to the other.

She is no longer allergic thankfully, but I tell her to keep Benadryl in the house, just in case.

One thing to know about bees of all kinds - everything that bothers you about weather, bothers them. If it is hot, they are very irritable. If it is very cold, they are very grumpy and crabby. Windy days can make them easily irritated too. That is why it is best to work in the garden early or later in the day when the weather is hot. They are not as likely to sting.
Also Bees actually do fly in bee lines. They do not change their pattern once it is is established, so if you walk into their flying lane, they will fly right into you, and then of course, they blame you if they get tangled in your clothing or hair!

If you hurt one, accidentally or on purpose, they emit a scent that immediately signals an alarm to the other bees or wasps. So you will often get also attacked by others. You can actually smell their attack scent. It is very pungent.

If you have a lot of bees (which included wasps, bumbles and etc) in your gardens and your hair is long, tie it up or braid it. Wearing a hat helps too.

Wear LIGHT colored clothing and avoid wearing reds or bright yellows. It pisses them off. White, green & especially blue is calming and makes them more passive. They may buzz around you, but they will not sting. Gloves are a good idea in any case.

I used to rub mint leaves on me when I worked with my honeybees. It masks the human scent. If you are afraid of them, and especially if you are sweaty, you emit a scent that they can detect and it puts them on red alert. They take it as a threat. Fear = attacks. They are right too.

The worst thing you can do is swat at them or spray them with water.

Hope all this helps.

Best wishes for your Mums recovery.
~Annie

Lavender, just a suggestion but see if you can get your mom allergy tested - just to be sure about what else she could have developed an allergy to.

Annie - that reaction your daughter went through - My mom had it but with food allergies. Sometimes I also get swelling of my lips due to monosodium glutamate. Thankfully I don't have that problem now.

eeek, that's scary. I have no useful advice, I just hope you find a good solution for attempting to prevent it in the future.

Mom started getting itchy and getting the hives again, early this morning. I called the hospital and they said to increase her Benadryl from one table to two. So far, she seems to be doing fine, since she started taking the extra Benadryl.

Thanks again for all the good suggestions and well wishes. I'm going to print this off pretty soon and give it to my mom to read. I told her about all of you being so nice last night...and she almost cried. She thought it was so wonderful that you would all take the time to wish her well and offer suggestions. Thanks again :)

Ianna- I've heard that MSG can be a problem for some people. How did you overcome that?

Annie- Your poor daughter. That must have been horrible!

lavender - I just continued exposing myself to the stuff. I also have reacted to mango which to my surprise is a relative of the poison ivy and so no wonder I have had such reactions. I was never in a position of having breathing problems though and so I would never recommend self medication or therapy.

You might be surprised about what else I had allergies to. I had allergies to sudden temperature changes and broke out in hives. For instance if I fell in cold water I would break out instantly or if it got too hot - I would also break out. thank goodness I no longer have this allergy as well.

You also might be surprised that sometimes an allergy is caused by a virus. My parents and a disabled uncle who was living with them at the time, all developed the same kinds of allergies some time after being sick with a kind of flu. So strange because shortly after, all of them couldn't tolerate eggplants, potatoes, tomatos (nightshade family) and had sensitivies to MSG. They all would break out in hives. It was a very trying period but after gradual exposure, they overcame the problem.

Not only no perfume, but avoid scented personal products of any sort, whether they are soaps, deodorants, skin lotions, cosmetics, hair products, the like. She should always choose the unscented version not matter how pretty the scent of the scented version is.

The side benefit is that when she goes out in the evening she can put on her favorite perfume and not worry about conflicting scents getting in the way of the scent she has chosen to wear. Sometimes people wear so many contrasting perfumes they cancel each other out.

BTW - my daughter took Benadryl for a while because of severe allergic reactions. I noticed she was becoming very sad. Her allergist told me that Benadryl is a beta blocker, which meant nothing to me, but apparently it can affect a person's mood. It also makes people very drowsy, so she should not drive when she is taking it. For long term use I believe there are better medications, but Benadryl is easily and conveniently available when one needs something quickly. And in an emergency, nothing is better than the Epipen. It can save a person's life and give him time to get to the hospital.

I wish your mother a quick recovery and a happy return to her garden.

Rosefolly

I take benadryl every night for a couple reasons, one to ease me into sleep (otherwise I suffer from some sleep problems) and two, due to an issue I had with a previous medication, it helps another problem I have.

I have noticed no mood issues, but I could see it happens. It will tend to mellow you out a bit.

It does work very, very well though. If I'm having particularly bad allergies i"ll take it in the middle of the day and the sneezing/runny eyes will stop. But then it's nap time!

Do note that Benadryl's active ingredient (diphenhydramine) is the same exact thing that is in unisom and nyquil. So she should definitely be aware that it will make her quite drowsy, if she still drives and what not. The drowsiness affects some more than others.

one could substitute non-drowsy clariten for benadryl. I wouldn't over do the benadryl or any anti allergy meds because they can possibly cause long term harmful effects - especially to ones liver or kidneys. So if anyone wishes to check on contra indication for any meds --try finding out more about those meds - like checking The Mayo Clinic's website.

Besides taking an antihistamine, a great rememdy for me has been charcoal paste. I was reprimanded by a doc (who pretty much bashes anyone that relies on "alternative" medicine) over on the herbalism forum telling me it doesn't work - but I have seen it work over and over again. Especially important was the last time I applied it to DH's leg because he gets so swollen after an insect sting. Completely gone and unnoticable within a short time. And, particularly painful for hours is a red ant sting. No pain, itching after applying the charcoal. All you do IMMEDIATELY is make a paste by emptying a charcoal capsule into a small amount of water and apply it to the sting/bite. It will draw the toxin out. When I first learned about this method from a google search, I had a bite (I'm guessing from a spider) that actually killed some tissue. It would not heal - so weeks later when I applied the charcoal the bite healed within a couple of days, and it had been pretty nasty looking. Just sayin'......give it a try gardeners.....it can't hurt!

I hadn't heard that idea, tressa, thanks. I find whether traditional or alternative, it's important to think about what you are putting in your body and being careful to observe how you are responding to it. I usually start with 1/2 the recommended dose of anything to see how I am going to respond first. I also try not to take anything any longer than absolutely necessary.

I have not had any allergies that I needed to take an antihistamine for, so can't add to that discussion, but as for bites and stings, or any kind of skin problem, I usually try tea tree oil and have thought that was helpful on a number of occasions.

As much as i hate to i now not only wear gloves,but also a long sleeve cotton shirt,long pants with socks and tuck the pants into the socks,and the thing i hate the most a hat.Dr told me when i had my bout with BC 2 years ago,that i had to do that if i wanted to continue to garden.I also go out early morning,or late afternoon/evening when it's not too hot.

I have gotten both stung by a bee,and bit by a spider,both before BC,and ended up at the dr's.

So i'm very careful.
Kathi

Hope your mom's itching has stopped, that can almost be as bad as the sting itself. I can't add any more to all the good advice given here, just hoping your mom is feeling better now. My DH is allergic to bee/wasp stings so he has to be very carful around them. Yellow Jackets are the worst around here stinging just because they can, thank goodness there doesn't seem to many of them around here yet.

Annette

Thank you all! It's meant a lot to me (and my mom) that everyone has been so concerned and helpful through all this.

I'm going to print this out, now, so my mom can read them. She hasn't had a computer for a few years (I think it was part of the retirement, after using them at work) but I'm hoping she'll rethink maybe getting a laptop. As much as she loves to garden, I think she'd have a great time on the cottage forum :)

LL, so glad to hear your mom is okay.

Carol