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By Greg Garner
If you are the outdoors type or plan to spend extra time out of doors in the near future, like a camping trip, you may want to restock your first aid kit with extra supplies to be ready. This is especially important if you have ever experienced an allergic reaction to a sting or bite. Ask your doctor to prescribe an anaphylaxis prevention kit. This is a fatal allergic reaction people can experience from insect bites and stings. Wear a bracelet to let people know that you are allergic, in case you receive a bite or sting and cannot speak.
Insect Bites
Some insect bites can spread disease as taught in blood borne pathogens training. The black widow and recluse spiders are poisonous. A bite from one of these requires immediate medical care. It is rare to run across one of these insects. If you are bitten by a poisonous insect or have a history of allergic reaction, there are steps that you should take until emergency help arrives.
Call for emergency services
— Apply ice wrapped in cloth in five-minute increments
— Do not apply a tourniquet, but wrap the area above the bite snugly if it is on the hand or foot, making sure the limb still has blood circulation.
— If the bite is on the hand or foot, keep it blow the heart area or below heart level
If emergency services are not required, apply these first aid steps:
— Scrape the stinger out of the wound with your fingernail
— Apply hydrocortisone like the kind found in OTC (over the counter) medication like calamine lotion. This will help reduce inflammation and stop the itch.
— Wrap ice in a cloth and apply to the area
— For severe itch, use an oral antihistamine, which can be found in OTC medications like Benadryl
Allergy
More people are allergic to bee stings than any other kind of insect allergy. Bee and wasps account for a large number of hospital visits and numerous deaths every year. To avoid bee stings, remember some of the following tips.
— Bees are attracted to perfume. Do not wear perfume or cologne if you are going to be outdoors for any length of time.
— Call for professional help to remove nests or follow the instructions on commercial products labels.
Carry A Kit
If you know that you have an allergy to the venom in bee stings, always carry an anaphylactic kit. You can obtain one with a prescription from your doctor. An anaphylactic reaction is a serious and life threatening condition. The most common reactions are brought on by foods, like peanuts, or insect’s bites and stings, such as bee stings. An anaphylactic kit contains a shot that you can inject, usually into the thigh, that can help to prevent anaphylactic shock, a condition of the allergic reaction.
An Ounce of Prevention
Allergies are especially tricky to know and treat. You can be stung by a bee as a child and not have a reaction, however, over time, you can develop an allergy to the venom as a result of the first sting. You would not know you were allergic until you were stung again. Some people who are allergic can withstand one or two stings but any more than that can cause a reaction. The best medicine in any case when dealing with stinging insects is prevention by precaution.
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