Vitamin C more than just a supplement

Bees are amazing creatures.

They work as a team,

they live for six weeks,

they look after each other,

their queens lays thousands of eggs, they can build and repair,

they don’t need sat nav,

they make antibiotic treatment for their hive,

they can tell when the queens gone,

they can create a new queen,

they can create heat,

they can swarm,

And

They can sting!

Now their sting ability is much maligned and often their many other skills are not talked about .

In the course of our bee keeping I’ve been stung three times.

I wanted to share what I learned when I was stung.

The first time nothing really happened. It hurt it felt like some one stamped on my hand. And I got some swelling.

The bee herself died.

The second time wasn’t that simple.

At the time we were harvesting honey. I was lifting a honey box weighing around twenty kilos. I was passed it by Rob, my husband.

As I put my hand under the edge of the box there she was waiting for my poor defenceless finger.

I should point out that we learned to bee keep bare handed. If helps you to be careful! (I might not recommend it!)

So I’m standing there with twenty kg of honey in a box and a stung finger. I had to carry the box ten metres and put it on a trolley.

Then I could shout and say rude words!

After that I spent several hours uncapping sixty honey frames.

After that my hand started to get larger.

The skin smoothed out. If looked like a hand ten years younger. The swelling spread from my ring finger towards my wrist.

I took antihistamine.

I applied ice.

I elevated.

My hand continued to grow over the next two days.

I went to the doctors. The receptionist said it was localised swelling and reaction.

I took antihistamine.

I applied ice.

I elevated.

The creases in my knuckles filled out. I was unable to touch my finger to my thumb. It got pinker.

The knuckle creases were standing out now and getting swollen. It itched.

I went to the hospital. (Guess what?)

They said it’s localised swelling and reaction. The put a wet bandage on it. It went warm and clammy. They said keep it elevated in cool water. Quite tricky that one.

I took antihistamine.

I applied ice.

I elevated.

I went online.

I read a number of things that said for localised sting swelling Vitamin C was a good thing.

The swelling started to go down significantly. Now if there is any anaphylactic reaction serious treatment is needed but for local swelling I think this can help.

I now take vitamin C before bee visits and when I got stung by bee number three I took C again. No swelling at all.

A guy on our course who had a similar reaction ended up with huge blisters and antibiotics as the reaction progressed and he gave up the course.

I do wear gloves now mainly in case of inconvenience. But more importantly I carry Vit C in the bee kit.