10 Apr 2008, 7:18 pm
10 Apr 2008, 8:32 pm
I got stung when I was in the first grade and it has terrified me since. Now I run and scream whenever I see on and it's very embarassing 
10 Apr 2008, 9:26 pm
Unless you are allergic to either you should not really worry, they do not cause much pain and do not readily sting. Bees in general cause less pain and more itching because they have more histamines and less acetylcholine in their venom, vespids(wasps,hornets, and yellow jackets) have the opposite. This may not be one hundred percent accurate, various sources contradict themselves.
It is pointless to compare bee and wasp stings to spiders or anything else, the pain varies between species. Bee stings cause very little pain at all, paper wasps are kinda meh, yellow jackets suck,white faced and asian hornets suck a little more. If you live out west then pepsid wasps suck a whole lot. As long as you do not go stomping around any hives or colonies you shouldn't have any problem with any of them. If one is near you just go about what you were doing, if one lands on you either don't touch it or brush it off of you, do NOT squish it, if you do you will certainly be stung.
I was stung by bees and vespids so often when i was little that they had no effect on me at all for awhile. Now they do but they generally do not bother me that much. The only two exceptions were when a yellow jacket went into my pepsi can and when i took a drink it stung my tongue and lips like four times, that was unpleasant. The second was something that i have yet to be able to identify, it was similar to a large yellow jacket with a reversed pattern, maybe a little more black. It stung my thumb when i was trying to pick a blackberry. 
My first thought was actually " wow if a wasp sting is making me hop around in circles then perhaps i should reconsider getting a copperhead and another subspinipes centipede" rofl. It felt like someone stabbed my thumb with an extremely hot nail and was twisting it, my thumb swelled up to about twice its normal size and my arm hurt up to my elbow for around a day. My thumb hurt and stayed swollen for around a week. Other than those experiences i have never had any worth complaining about, i think most people let things like this take too much pleasure away from them.
Just steer clear of soda cans that have been outside unattended,pepsid wasps,trees turned over in storms(yellow jackets seem to love making nests in the soil that comes up with the roots), and strange yellow jacket like vespids that are slightly too large with extra black.
10 Apr 2008, 11:03 pm
When there was a bees nest at my house a few years ago, the bee keeper who came to get the bees away told me that.
I know that standing still instead of running away will not stop the fear in someone with a fear of bees, but it might stop the sting.
I've never been stung running. I've been stung a couple times sitting still. My dad once told me, "If you stay perfectly still and wait for it to investigate and go it's way, it won't sting you."
I learned quickly (and painfully) that was not necessarily the case. Also got stung once when I fell asleep on the beach. That was not pleasant to wake up to.
My brother, whose daughter has severe allergy to bee sting, found out that if the bee lands, it's going to sting. His solution was to whack the bee with the flat of his hand with great force. He says the bee is gone and that's that. My own solution, when I was a smoker, was to blow smoke on bugs. Sometimes it worked. And I read about something I'm going to try this summer: Listerine in a mister (myster?) as miracle bug-repellant - oh, that was mosquitoes, sorry.
11 Apr 2008, 3:07 am
11 Apr 2008, 11:48 am
11 Apr 2008, 11:53 am
I'm not a wimp when it comes to pain, it isn't that. I don't like being taken off guard by some tiny little insect that has the power to produce a nasty sharp pain, possibly when I don't even know it and definitely when I'm not prepared. I can handle pain I am prepared for. I delivered 9 and 10 pound babies without a drop of pain medication. But I was ready, I expected it.
The worst part of this is that they seem attracted to me like a magnet.
Anyhow, anyone else terrified of bees or have a similar issue?
Im not afraid of Bee's but I am TERRIFIED of Wasps; especially Mud Daubers which have those dangling yellow legs
. I also
find Spiders to be extremely repulsive and unsightly, although my arachnaphobia isnt quite as bad as when I was a kid.
11 Apr 2008, 12:00 pm
11 Apr 2008, 12:10 pm
11 Apr 2008, 12:20 pm
11 Apr 2008, 1:20 pm
Were you near a nest when stung by the hornets? In my experience baldfaced hornets don't seem to be overly aggressive. Yellow jackets and red wasps are the only stinging insects that have ever stung me for no obvious reason.
Well, twasnt me, twas my kid sister and her friend. They were playing outside one summer when they overturned a log covering a stump that was in fact, a baldfaced hornets nest
.........BOY did they get stung! And repeatedly might I add. Female yellow jackets are the most aggressive during late summer when they're out hunting for protein to lay their eggs. They're NOTORIOUS for showing up at outdoor picknicks and sometimes they will aggresively pursue and attack women wearing certain kinds of perfumes(which must either mimic or possibly contain insect pheremones).
11 Apr 2008, 1:46 pm
12 Apr 2008, 6:24 pm
http://www.local6.com/news/15862169/detail.html
Bees in the news again today... Man in Florida gets stung over 100 times!! !
Africanized honey bees were on the rampage...
Don't have nightmares or anything about it though... these attacks are still quite rare 
Mikomi
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Joined: 24 Jan 2008
Age: 46
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Location: On top of your TV, lookin' at you funny.
12 Apr 2008, 7:30 pm
