Beware insect stings

 I was stung by a wasp last fall when we were visiting Dante's monument at Montefegatessi. It was extremely painful and the discomfort lasted for a few days. I don't wish that kind of experience to anyone.

There was a young man from StepkneeWho was stung on the neck by a waspWhen asked if it hurtHe said "no, not a lot;I'm glad it wasn't a hornet"On a more serious note; if you're going to the sea, there's sometimes the danger of being stung by a jellyfish or even step on a stingy fish that lives just under the sand. Jean carries in her Mary Poppins bag a small container of bicarbonate of soda. Applied quickly to the sting, this can ease the discomfort considerably.

 That is what I did and it helped... a bit. I also bought some type of ointment that the pharmacist recommended, but I do not have it here with me in Spain as I left it at our home in Bagni di Lucca, so I can't tell you its brand name. Anyway, it did not help much.....

Ticks are extremely dangerous for both humans and pets. Do not try to remove the tick unless you really know what you are doing and you are an expert in the use of tweezers. I was quite good at it when I was living in Australia.... Above all, don't try to apply any products to try to kill the tick. It is counterproductive. Go straight to the doctor or the vet. They know how to deal with the problem. 

The other thing to remember about wasp stings is that if you have been stung before, susbsequent stings can be far worse and evnetually your body reacts violently to what is just another sting. A close friend of ours has to carry special antidotes for without these a wasp sting could kill him. When he visits us in Italy he always tells me where they are - just in case.

Ive not been stung ....yet!!  But they are so big compared to the ones in England. I dont know  why but they always seem to come after me in our garden. Im ignored by mozzies(thank god!) but the bees are some how attracted to me!! Must be my hairspray perhaps??

Think we must all have our beetle noir, for me I love the bees, tolerate the wasps, but what I find hard to get used to are the hornets, at 5.30 this morning one was having a great attempt at getting through the closed shutters, to join me in the bedroom, I think its the sheer size of them and that whilst I know they are not aggressive a sting would send me off to the nearest A&E.A

We have a hornets nest, second year now and are never bothered by them. They fly around our heads whilst we eat outside but have never attacked or really come near. The tales I have heard did worry me but I leave them alone and they leave me.Sprat 

On the local Sicily news today they said that a German that lives here was bitten by a tick and died as a result - the expert brought on to comment pointed out that now is a particularly tricky period and everyone should be particularly careful in the countryside - preferably going out fully clothed rather than shorts, etc. The symptoms of a tick bite are similar to those of pneumonia so it is all about diagnosing the symptoms correctly.  

 Our Harry (sully's pup) was stung back in May.  First we knew of it was early hours of "National Holiday" Saturday he was shaking his head and generally unsettled - we assumed a tick and tried to look for it.  After about 20 mins his face had doubled in size and he was becoming almost as stressed as we were.  Thankfully we have an amazing vet who saw us at 4am on that Saturday morning and diagnosed wasp/bee sting.  Harry was injected and watched for an hour before being allowed home with a course of antihistamines.  Vet gave us a shot to bring home for future emergency use and advised it was suitable for us or the dogs!  Given how Harry reacted I am very grateful for that.  

Tips from an ex-pharmacistDEET is the only thing that works really well as a repellent1% hydrocortisone cream works very well once stungMozzy nets at the windows are a fiddle to put up but work very wellIf a tick digs its head in your skin put a blob of olive oil/vaseline on it and it will drop off without leaving mouthparts behind very quickly (the oil blocks its spiracules used for breathing)Wear a hat when gardening ,all sorts of beasts drop out of foliage!Hope this helps!

My 18 month old son has just brought an Italian tick home with him... although I know they CAN be very nasty, let's not scaremonger too much! His fell out before I had a chance to get it removed by the doctor (couldn't face doing it myself in case I did it wrong). I took him to the doctor anyway and she said most of the time, there's absolutely no problem. Obviously there is a small risk of Lyme disease or other nasty infections, but this is relatively rare.  

There is something about wasps being alkali and bees acid, or is it the other way round... if you are allergic to one apparently you are not to the other.I have heard the Brewers Yeast theory before, ie eat lots of Marmite and you won't get stung but haven't put it to the test as when I am in sunny climes Marmite doesnt feature on my menu...Also got a tip a few years back that the British Army was having such a hard time on manouvres in Scotland from the midges that they tried everything and eventually found that Avon skin oil worked the best, I tried it in majorca but can't say it was too sucessful...

Have tried the Avon Skin so Soft oil, didnt work for me.A

 Made me oily and sticky and didn't work very well.But heard a good tip that does work. After finding you have been bitten you can apply nail varnish to bite (only tried on mozzie bites) it excludes the air and stops the itchiness. Really works. But of course, red blobs everywhere dont look good! 

Haven't had to remove ticks from myself but from the dogs. Read on the internet that with tweezers, twist them anti clockwise as they go in clockwise. Did this with the dogs and they came out fairly easily.

We are surrounded by fields used for grazing sheep,and the herds of sheep are often "walked" along the white road,along which we daily walk our dog. Ticks used to be a major problem and removing them with alcohol a tedious and sometimes lengthy process,the worst aspect of which was not  knowing when or where the tick would drop off! There's nothing worse than squashing a tick by treading on it with bare feet!!  We now use a Scalibor collar and have had no sign of ticks for the last two seasons. These are easily obtained from the Farmacia,cost about 22 euro and are effective for 4 to 6 months. It also repels sandflies,but not fleas.     

Ha,ha.Very funny(not).I would have thought that it was fairly obvious to anyone of average intelligence,that the collar is worn by the dog!

Al, your wicked sense of humour again!, 10euros in the earthquake fund?A

I used to have regular dreams that seemed to end with a wasp either getting in my hair or down the back of my shirt and then it would sting and I would wake up.... not a bad nightmare compared to what others might have but still not a nice way to wake up in the night.

When I went to live on a small island near Hong Kong this came to an abrupt end. I got stung by one of these beasts while sleeping in bed.... then again while sleeping in bed....then again while sitting on the coach watching TV. That was the end of the wasp nightmares....only to be replaced by ... I think you can guess.

I lived in that house for 4 months before deciding to move somewhere that wasn't infested with centipedes - I still got a few more nasty bites (in some places where only a man could ever be bitten) over the following years but I'm no longer that worried about wasps and coming to Italy seems to have cured me of the centipede nightmares.

I did see a small scorpion on my bedroom wall last night, and one in my wellington boot...I hope that I haven't found a new beastie to fear.

Kevan

Kevan you could move over to my concerns re hornets, they are the only thing that concern me here, I actually like those waspy things with dangly legs that fly upside down and lay the little mud cocoons behind pictures. In fact on intrepid one is doing it now as I type. But hornets are a different thing altogether!.A

Just thought i posted a reply but it seems to have disappeared...sorry for moving off discussion thread - have to admit I didn't real all replies but saw discussion of ticks and other beasties so thought it had already gone a bit off topcic...anyway back to hornets There's some really good advice and info about hornets on wikipedia and I've copeid a snippet below

Alarm escalation

Hornets, like many social wasps, can mobilize the entire nest to sting in defense: this is highly dangerous to humans. The hornet alarm pheromone is used to raise alarm of nest attack, and to identify prey, for example bees.[5] It is not advisable to kill a hornet anywhere near a nest, as the distress signal can trigger the entire nest to attack. Materials that come in contact with pheromone, such as clothes, skin, dead prey or hornets, must be removed from the vicinity of the hornets nest. Perfumes, and other volatile chemicals can be falsely identified as pheromone by the hornets and trigger attack.

Fascinating Kevan, wasnt meaning to bring you back on track, !, just give you something else to dream about, lucky we dont live in Japan. Perhaps learning more about things we are fearful of will help us to understand them better, I am not  yet ready to embrace a hornet though.A

 Just been to visit a nearby friend and she has this huge red and purple raised and now scaby looking area on her neck and chest...Looks awful. She says she was grass cutting and got bitten ,(quite painful) and the thing,(?). She didn't see it, left a small black dot on her neck. This got hot and very itchy and spread all across her neck and down her chest. Visited Doc who said it was "Herpes" ???????????????????? No way. So what did the biting this time??Sprat

I wouldnt think it safe to remove with bare hands gromit, they do carry disease, so tweezers sounds safer.A

I feel educated and a bit... hmm nervous?  Fortunately back in blighty so nothing tooooo nasty........

 Still here and all is well.Thank you and hope all goes well for youPilch