Got my butt kicked and QUICK TOO

So yesterday afternoon I was working clearing brush and was pushing some vines and multi floral rose to a pile I was burning. I felt a sting on my nose which was a yellow jacket and then my body was swarmed. I shut the tractor off and ran out of the woods swatting and flailing.

I was only 2-300 yards from the house and when I got back got a stool and sat down in the shade to have a Gatorade. Then it all went downhill fast. My vision went hazy to the point where I could barely make out shapes and my airflow became restricted. I got to the house and collapsed on the floor. My wife called EMS and an hour later I was in the ER. My tongue, body and appendages swelled badly and my entire body was fire engine red. I was given a number of meds and IV fluids and prescribed an EPI pen to have on standby.

When we we got home we counted 43 stings still visible which happened in a matter of less then 2 minutes. Thank God my wife was home and we got out of here and to the ER. Thank God for the Paramedics, Doctors and Nurses who swarmed me when I arrived. I thank God to be alive today because anaphylactic shock can kill you.

Today i itch all over except for the right elbow which took 16 stings THROUGH my long sleeve shirt.

Be safe outside because things can go south in a heartbeat. I usually carry a walkie talkie which yesterday I didn’t have :banghead and my wife checks on my hourly. Now I will add an an EPI pen to my pocket.

Very scary, glad it ended well. Thanks for the warning.

Them are some Viscous critters. I given them the gasoline treatment when I find them. Good to here you are okay. Sounds like you found a sizeable nest of them

I would say so.. I am staying away until I pick up my EPI today.

They all go in the hole at night. Usually 2 entrances. A fella can watch at a distance and figure where they are coming and going from. Had some in my front yard that would pop me in he leg when the mower would go over them.

I got nailed the other day when I was mowing. Got me where the hair is thinnest and my head still hurts where it got me. 3 gallons of stale gas down the hole took care of that nest.

Glad you were able to get medical help. Once you feel up to it, grab some gas and settle the score.

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Originally Posted by spartannation

I got nailed the other day when I was mowing. Got me where the hair is thinnest and my head still hurts where it got me. 3 gallons of stale gas down the hole took care of that nest.

Glad you were able to get medical help. Once you feel up to it, grab some gas and settle the score.

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i will for sure, got some old gas and fuels standing by! Insurance denied the EPI pin so I have that battle to fight tomorrow...

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

i will for sure, got some old gas and fuels standing by! Insurance denied the EPI pin so I have that battle to fight tomorrow...

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I sure hate to hear that. I am so tired of fighting with the insurance company

Ouch... got stung by a wasp myself last week tying my boat to the dock after launching it. They were under the dock gangplank. Can't imagine that times 43.

I take a number of medications that my insurance denied at FIRST. Get your insurance company to send a PA Form (Prior Approval) to the doctor. It gives further information why you must have a certain medication. I just went through this twice for my diabetes medications, because the meds that are normally prescribed interact with some of my heart meds.

Good Luck

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Originally Posted by Clint

I take a number of medications that my insurance denied at FIRST. Get your insurance company to send a PA Form (Prior Approval) to the doctor. It gives further information why you must have a certain medication. I just went through this twice for my diabetes medications, because the meds that are normally prescribed interact with some of my heart meds.

Good Luck

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I contacted my family physician and requested he do a medical necessity review with them tomorrow sometime so I can get it from Express Scripts. I also get a PA form online as well for future use.

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Originally Posted by kycreek

Ouch... got stung by a wasp myself last week tying my boat to the dock after launching it. They were under the dock gangplank. Can't imagine that times 43.

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All i I can say is NO FUN...lol. Laboring to breathe was terrifying among the other numerous issues it caused...

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

<snip> I can get it from Express Scripts. I also get a PA form online as well for future use.

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I also get my maintenance meds from Express Scripts. 20 years in the Army gets me that "privilege".

You earned it, thanks for your service!

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Originally Posted by Clint

I take a number of medications that my insurance denied at FIRST. Get your insurance company to send a PA Form (Prior Approval) to the doctor. It gives further information why you must have a certain medication. I just went through this twice for my diabetes medications, because the meds that are normally prescribed interact with some of my heart meds.

Good Luck

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Had to go through same thing to get mine. Took 2 months to get diabetic medications after I was diagnosed. They are sure speedy about collecting premiums, not so much on providing the service that you pay for

wasps and hornets and of course dare I mention killer bees , my mortal enemies , it is a very long story but the very first time I encountered the swarm sealed my fate .
glad you survived , you folks have what's known as bald faced hornets up that way , as a preteen I got to do an emergency room visit over them myself .
it has been told to me that if you get swarmed in your early years you will likely be allergic to them after puberty . my first swarming was when I was around 5 .
you were almost a statistic my friend , be careful out there , glad you lived to tell :highfive

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Originally Posted by DockShootinJack

They all go in the hole at night. Usually 2 entrances. A fella can watch at a distance and figure where they are coming and going from. Had some in my front yard that would pop me in he leg when the mower would go over them.

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Same situation here. They had built under a rotten root from a previous tree removal. Hit ‘Em at 5 in the Am with the foaming killer. Filled up that entrance and even with that they had early pickets out on duty that tried to get back in the nest. Sayonara to those bad boys. They are nothing to fool with and with those number of stings you were loaded up. Glad you got the medical attention you needed and fast.
Bob

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

i will for sure, got some old gas and fuels standing by! Insurance denied the EPI pin so I have that battle to fight tomorrow...

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They can be such morons. An EPI pen is a lot cheaper than the route you had to take to save your life!
Bob

here we have yellow jackets that like Dr. Pepper , ever seen someone drink a yella jacket before ?
they will light up your day in that mode for sure ....
not me ,but I seen it done a few times...
sure makes folks move really fast when they drink one, typically dance like wild natives doing a rain dance
note this : it is only funny if you ain't the one drinking them

We went to get it (EPI Pen) at Wal Mart yesterday and it was $689.00. Yikes, needless to say we told them they could keep it. If I can get insurance approval it will cost $29.00 from Express Scripts mailed to me. $660 difference sheesh!

I watched a show about the Epi Pen. It is epinephrine in an auto injectable pen delivery device. The “medicine” works to lessen your body’s reaction to the poison. The poison doesn’t kill you, your body’s response kills you. My kid brother has had some sort of injectable since the 70”s, because he is allergic to bees, especially honeybees.

When my parents purchased his things they were fairly cheap. Then one of the two makers stopped production, and the other company- Mylan Pharmaceutical decided to begin gouging. The price skyrocketed and this has caused many people to choose life without the safety a pen provides. Talking about kids here folks. The owner of the company was interviewed and basically is a heartless scoundrel. Didn’t care one bit about the lives of children, rather was only concerned with what their parents would give him. Scumbags giving Big Pharma a bad name. Just horrible that they are gouging parents wanting to provide life saving devices to their kids.

My brother has to keep his injectables, and tablets, within reach at all times. His hand swelled up like a rubber glove being inflated. Amazing to see his body reacting that way. You will likely need to keep a pen at home and with you when out and about.

The insurance company does not wish to pay this horribly greedy man, so you will need to be persistent. I think buying it outright is like $700 or so for what you will need to have on hand. I highly recommend that you get the pens anyways- which is exactly why the man has jacked up his prices. It can rapidly shut down your over reaction to bee stings and give you the time needed to get help.

Fireants can also instill the reaction. Bees are different than wasps and yellow jackets are wasps. They eat meat and sugar and deliver a pulsating sting that shoots up your arm. The worse sting I ever got was from a small ground dwelling bumble bee. Hurt worse than hornets, wasps, and yes yellow jackets, too. There was a huge yellow jacket in Virginia. This thing lives in holes and looks like a yellow jacket that is about three inches long. I doused one with gasoline, and he came out of his hole, looked at me and flew off. Amazing.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

We went to get it (EPI Pen) at Wal Mart yesterday and it was $689.00. Yikes, needless to say we told them they could keep it. If I can get insurance approval it will cost $29.00 from Express Scripts mailed to me. $660 difference sheesh!

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a bottle of benadryl is fairly inexpensive for those that aint got deep pockets

Get a prescription for the "generic epinephrine auto-injector". Most insurance will not pay for the brand name EpiPen but will pay for the much less expensive generic.

[QUOTE=Ketchn;4165798]here we have yellow jackets that like Dr. Pepper , ever seen someone drink a yella jacket before ?
they will light up your day in that mode for sure ....
not me ,but I seen it done a few times...
sure makes folks move really fast when they drink one, typically dance like wild natives doing a rain dance
note this : it is only funny if you ain't the one drinking them[/QUOT
Drank one when I was a teenager. Sure enough a rude awakening.

The little Bulldog got into some under the deck. Came out doing a Tasmanian devil impression. Spinning in circles through the yard. I finally caught him and knocked them off of him.
For the longest time if something touched his side he would take off in a dead run. They made a believer out of him too

It's crazy how fast they can build a ground nest. I'm siding a house and last week my helper got nailed in the cheek by a yellow jacket. Gas down the hole took care of that nest which was on the back side of the house. Yesterday I was working on the front side and almost stumbled into another nest of the nasty buggers. Funny thing is, I was working in the same area on the front on Friday and they weren't there, Monday morning there were hundreds of them. Heading there before daylight to give them a 89 octane shower.

Persistent little buggers for sure. I gues they fly the dirt away. You don't see any evidence that they have build anything

I hate those suckers. Have a nest now on side of house in old tree stump area that needs taking care of. Last year had a couple down the side of our driveway and something dug them up and ate the nest one night? Skunk, raccoon :dono

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Originally Posted by SuperDave336

I hate those suckers. Have a nest now on side of house in old tree stump area that needs taking care of. Last year had a couple down the side of our driveway and something dug them up and ate the nest one night? Skunk, raccoon :dono

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Bears will eat them also

So I went to the job site before daylight today. Took a rake, flashlight and a gallon of stale gas. What could go wrong? The plan was to use the rake to pull back the wood mulch so I could find the entrance. Then, simply pour the gas down the hole and bam, no more yellow jackets.

I had marked the general area with a long 1x2 yesterday so I would know where to start. I was holding the flashlight in my mouth while I gingerly pulled back the mulch. I had a 2' circle raked back and didn't see any hole so I moved in for a closer look. Again, what could go wrong. The next swipe with the rake uncovered a mound of yellow jackets the size of a saucer and probably an inch thick. They hadn't built their tunnel yet and were piled up to stay warm, I think. They must have known death was right around the corner because they started to "come to the light". And I mean fast! The manly exclamation of surprise (not a scream like a little girl) caused the flashlight to fall out of my mouth and shining in the wrong direction. I didn't dare run, it was dark, dark, dark, and I had ladders, patio furniture and numerous bushes and trees around me and couldn't see a thing. Some how with all my whooping, dancing, flailing and swatting I didn't get stung. When things settled down I was able to retrieve my flashlight and hit the mound with bee killer. Man, what a way to start the work day.

“What could go wrong?“ is the first thing said before every winning America’s Funniest Home Video. You should have videotaped that for us.... :Rofl

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Originally Posted by spartannation

So I went to the job site before daylight today. Took a rake, flashlight and a gallon of stale gas. What could go wrong? The plan was to use the rake to pull back the wood mulch so I could find the entrance. Then, simply pour the gas down the hole and bam, no more yellow jackets.

I had marked the general area with a long 1x2 yesterday so I would know where to start. I was holding the flashlight in my mouth while I gingerly pulled back the mulch. I had a 2' circle raked back and didn't see any hole so I moved in for a closer look. Again, what could go wrong. The next swipe with the rake uncovered a mound of yellow jackets the size of a saucer and probably an inch thick. They hadn't built their tunnel yet and were piled up to stay warm, I think. They must have known death was right around the corner because they started to "come to the light". And I mean fast! The manly exclamation of surprise (not a scream like a little girl) caused the flashlight to fall out of my mouth and shining in the wrong direction. I didn't dare run, it was dark, dark, dark, and I had ladders, patio furniture and numerous bushes and trees around me and couldn't see a thing. Some how with all my whooping, dancing, flailing and swatting I didn't get stung. When things settled down I was able to retrieve my flashlight and hit the mound with bee killer. Man, what a way to start the work day.

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Got your heart pumping way better than a pot of coffee.

Good news is my doctor took care of it and EPI pins are enroute. BAD NEWS is my wife and I are now very sick with COVID breakthrough infections...:deadhorse:banghead

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Originally Posted by BuckeyeCrappie

Good news is my doctor took care of it and EPI pins are enroute. BAD NEWS is my wife and I are now very sick with COVID breakthrough infections...:deadhorse:banghead

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You can't catch a break. Take care of yourself and wife. Hopefully your symptoms will be mild

Thanks Jack. Really disappointed because we have been ULTRA careful, mask always, no visitors, social distance, sanitize etc. I was to have a total knee replacement Sept 15th and now that cannot happen either. God has all this under control for us and we just leave it in the hands of the Almighty.

Jeez, BEC - what a double whammy. Please take care and hopefully you will both recover quickly.
Bob

I am very thankful your okay! Glad someone could call 911!
We have yellow jackets here, bald faced hornets, red wasps!
Those yellow jackets are just plain mean.


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The worst I had been gotten was by wasps in a electrical panel. This house was way out in the woods. When I took the dead front off the main panel outside. It felt like hot sparks landing on my hands. I thought the panel was shorting out. Then the bulk of them mad critters were on me then. Darn things even crawled down in my ears. I took off running through the woods. The dead front was in my hand when I took off running. We never saw it again. It went flying through the air when I was running and swatting wasp.

Thanks Redge, now I am really ill with COVID (breakthrough).

This Auvi-Q is much cheaper than and Epipen and your insurance may cover it. Mine cost $5 from my allergy doctor. Might want to look into this.


AUVI-Q(R) (epinephrine injection, USP) for Anaphylaxis

I had a battle with insurance over the epipen. Found out I was allergic when I was on top of the vacuum station at a local car wash trying to clear out a clogged PVC pipe up there and ended up grabbing ahold of some hornets trying to build a nest. Before I realized what had happened I had been stung several times. Fell off the ladder trying to get down from up there. I think there was about 25+ stings. Boss drove me to urgent care. Then urgent care called for an ambulance. I had not experienced any difficulties breathing but the swelling was getting worse. I remember the skin stretching. Because my breathing was okay and I never lost consciousness or low blood pressure, I was not prescribed and epipen. Even to this day I don’t have one because my insurance says I don’t have a risk of anaphylaxis. Always afraid when I see a hornet near me.


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