We all know the importance of bees and their invaluable impact on pollination to our environment. But what if you develop an allergy to them? How will this impact farming or the maintenance that has to be done and what are your alternatives?
Columnist Dan Kerr four days after being stung.
Three years after we moved to our farm I was stung in the forehead by a nasty bald-faced hornet and slowly began to swell. Having never reacted to a bee sting before, I immediately took a Claritin because an emergency doctor had told me that it would give minimum protection without the side effect of drowsiness. The swelling continued over the next 15 minutes so I took 75 milligrams of Benadryl and headed to the hospital where the doctor administered a 50-milligram injection of Benadryl and a cocktail of other medications. The swelling continued over the next 4 days.
The next year, I was stung by a yellow jacket in the leg but this time my leg almost instantly went picky and began to swell. (Intolerance was rapidly increasing.) I immediately took Benadryl and my wife drove us to the hospital again. By the time I got there, I was well on my way to a full blown anaphylactic reaction with welts in my arm pits legs and chest and upon admission was given a Benadryl injection and placed on an IV drip with Prednisone and a Benadryl injection. I was released after four hours with an appointment to see a specialist, and a prescription for an EpiPen.
Pharmacist James Orlando holding EpiPen, “blue to sky”
I picked up my EpiPen at the local pharmacy and Pharmacist, James Orlando showed me how to properly deploy it. EpiPens include a premeasured dose of epinephrine (0.3 mg epinephrine in adult EpiPens, 0.15 mg epinephrine in children's EpiPens) which is injected intramuscularly in less than a second when the device is activated. Epinephrine opens airways and supports blood pressure as well as preventing release of active ingredients that caused the anaphylactic reaction from the reactive cell which is called the mast cell. You should head for an emergency department as soon as it is used as there can be secondary reaction several hours after the first one. If the EpiPen is given quickly it can settle the reaction completely but if symptoms recur you can use a second one within five minutes.
The pen design was originally intended for the military as a nerve gas antidote dispenser which is apparent by its robust design. It is hand deployed and takes significant force to trigger allowing the needle to protrude about one inch. After deployment, the needle retracts and is self locked in its case preventing a second use of the same EpiPen so a second dose has to be administered with another EpiPen.
With our farm being 300 acres and a 20-minute drive to the hospital, an EpiPen would not give me much of a chance. I now questioned what my options were.
In northern Ontario the selection of doctors becomes sparse but as it turned out, Dr. Sean Mace, head of the Section for Rhinitis/Sinusitis and Immunotherapy with the Canadian Society of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, sees patients three days a month in Sault Ste Marie.
Dr. Sean Mace loading my immune therapy dose.
I attended and was tested against yellow jacket and the bald-faced hornet and to no one’s surprise proved positive to both. The next step was the initiation of a four to five-year ordeal to administer the immunotherapy, which is a solution, made of the diluted allergen. When administered in increasingly higher concentrations it will, over time, lead to a tolerance of the immune system to the allergen. This treatment is effective for about 80 percent of the population.
Allergies can develop over time especially skin allergies to cosmetics, sunscreens and metals as well as stinging insects and occasionally food. Some people have a genetic predisposition making those families more “allergic” than others.
The order of stinging insects goes like this: honeybees and bumblebees are the most docile; paper wasps are next on the list probably because they nest high in trees out of the way but the worst are the ground nesting hornets and yellow jackets. Mace says, “They will sting you if you look at them sideways let alone step on them.” These are real opportunists nesting in cracks, under stairs, and farm equipment, and as they are most aggressive in late summer/early fall — right during hay season.
The business end of a wasp.
Without the assistance of the immunotherapy the alternatives available are bug suits, a change of lifestyle and being vigilant. As they are attracted to brighter colors, especially floral prints, perfumes and cologne, these should be avoided. Bug suits provide a good physical protection with their drab colour and black head piece.
Mace advises, “Carrying Benadryl is fine for mild reactions such as hives or itching but if you are feeling dizzy, which implies hypotension, the EpiPen should be used.” Along with the EpiPen I carry a sealed pill bottle with Benadryl tablets on board during the season and wear a good bug suit outside the tractor. Along with all the other pre-season maintenance checks I now include checking all expiry dates on the meds I carry onboard and going over my bug suit for wear and tear.
Here lies yet another problem when working a farm; bug suits are not compatible with equipment. By design, they have to be loose to be effective and loose clothing around moving parts can be disastrous.
For equipment that is left standing for lengths of time such as a baler I approach it wearing my suit and bang the equipment with a corn broom to cause commotion through vibration which will disturb any nests and hopefully give fore warning. With no hive located I remove and store the suit on the tractor and continue with the business at hand.
Mace also said that he doesn’t know of any safe or effective forms of homeopathic treatment of bee sting allergy. My still-in-progress Immunotherapy treatment was put to the test last summer when I stepped on a yellow jacket nest and was stung eight times. I had significant swelling on my right hand where I received three of the stings but beyond that no terrible reactions. The treatment works.
This has certainly been a bit of a change for me, especially having to retire my Hawaiian shirt.
- Dan Kerr