Forgotten Cures: Bee Stings

Bee Stings * My grandmother used sugar, some bar soap (Ivory I think) and spit. Mixed a poultice and covered with a gauze pad. Within 20 minutes, the stinger dislodged. Works good will thorns and splinters, too. [Stacie * Moist snuff: (Grandpa always had a supply handy) Applied to bee and 'yellow jacket' stings. [Dennis Palmer * Bluing: A dark blue liquid mother used in rinse water to make white clothes whiter. Also applied to bee and wasp stings. Dennis Palmer * The juice of a green papaya is used as a meat tenderizer and also as a cure for a sting. The purple leafed vine - and I wish I knew it's name - it's used decoratively - also cures stinggs. Barbara * For Bee stings, Wasps and etc. Granny mixed Snuff and Spit and put it on the sting ... she also would take Butter Milk and baking soda, make a paste, and put it on our stings and bites ... Verna * For bee stings we used airplane glue for relief and removal of the stinger. Charles Diltz * Just one more remedy for bee stings. Real simple MUD--plain old mud. especialy if your out doors with no access to medications. By the way it also works for dogs. Julie * I grew up in tobacco fields. And spent most of my time bare foot. When I stepped on a honey bee, someone would put wet tobacco on it. I live in Texas now, and use tobacco from a cigarette (preferably a left over butt) to cure fire ant bites. works on yellow jacket stings too. With fire ants, they leave a permanent pustule that hardens...not if you use wet tobacco within 5 minutes. Charline Burress * Ice works wonderful on bee stings, especially if your child should get stung at a picnic. It takes the pain away and the sting site will not swell. It also won't itch after applying ice. Heidi * Just letting you know that ice is a poor cure for bee stings, I used to get stung alot when I was younger and ice never helped. All you get with ice is a cold and wet bee sting, instead I would recommend toothpaste. Aldon * During an outdoor gathering, a friend of ours was stung by a wasp. It was very painful for him. His wife took plain toothpaste and rubbed it on the sting and amazingly enough it took the pain away immediately. So while my husband was building our deck he was stung by a yellow jacket and complained that it hurt. Thinking back to my friend using toothpaste on her husband's bee sting, I rubbed some on my husband's bee sting and it too took the pain away immediately! I understand that any brand of toothpaste will work. So now I keep a tube nearby while outdoors. Terri Huston * Slice an onion and tape it to the are where you are were stung. Works on all bee stings. My daughter stepped in a yellow jacket hive and I put onion on each of the bites before we went in for a shot. Indiana Joan * I use a baby aspirin to releive the pain from the sting. Take a baby aspirin and get it a bit wet.....wet enough to start to disolve into a paste and plaster it over the sting. Allow it to dry. My son used to capture honey bees in his hands all the time when he was little. This was the only thing that worked for him. When the baby aspirin flaked off one couldn't even tell where he'd been stung. [Barbara * I was stung by many yellow jackets when young and my mother and father mixed up baking soda and water to a paste and put in on each bite. The pain was relieved immediately. But once it dried the pain came back some and reapplying was needed. When it dries it can be messy because of all the crumb like soda but you sure can put up with it if it takes the pain away. Tina * Our family uses a permanent black magic marker to rub over a sting after we have been stung. We were told this many years ago when I became highly allergic to any type of sting. I once got into a nest of yellow jackets and was stung 43 times. We had 3 people marking the spots with markers, and we missed 3 of them, and those swelled up really bad. We have a friend that has to get injections after she gets stung because she is so allergic, but the permanent magic marker slows down her reaction to the sting enough for her to get somewhere to get her shot. Feel free to ask me any questions on this. We live on a farm where wasp and bee stings are the norm, and this has been a life saver. The main thing, the magic marker has to be permanent, not washable, etc. Thanks, Becky * Dip a cloth or rag in petrol(gasoline) it stops the sting poison from spreading. It smells a bit but have saved me heaps Allan S * I don't know if this is "old" or not but when I'm stung by a wasp or hornet (which there are plenty in Florida) I use plain old household ammonia. Instant relief. KW * For bee stings use a regular bayer aspirin wet it enough to make it like a paste and put it on the sting it takes the posion out of it. Rose L.