Allergies and Bees - Need advice from vets

Yep, I did. Silly me.

Got hit by something big to the helmet. At the time I thought it to be a branch and glad I stayed upright. By the looks of the debris smeared out over the side however it was clearly some sort of giant cricket. Surely atgatt doesn't work for insects; maybe hi-viz could?

Scotty,

I'm allergic to bees and have been riding for over 20 years. 2 stings in that time. 1st was when I was an ignorant and wearing a small tank top with my weight belt on while on the way home from the gym ( check out these guns people!). Bee flew in under my arm and caught between my weight belt and skin. FAIL. What a douche!

2nd I did have full gear and a full screen on my RT. Bee caught me just above the collar of my riding coat and below my full face helmet. Had a wicked reaction as I found out when I arrived home and stripped down to shower. Horrible rash and itched like hell. Sent pics to a dermatologist friend who bitched at me for not already being in the ER. Lucky my airway didn't swell.

Bottom line is I still ride as much as ever, just carry an Epi-pen with you and let your group know where it is. The proper gear is important as well to cover you.

Just ride and ride well prepared.

I get stung a few times a year on average, usually on the neck. If you ride enough it will happen. You need to find out if you are allergic. If so get epi pens.

Funny thing is, you may have been stung many times over your life and never have had a bad reaction.
The next sting may cause a life threatening anaphylactic reaction.
If you are out in the sticks it may not be a bad idea to carry an Epi-pen as Lucifer suggests or at least some Benadryl. Always consult your Doc first though.

Coincidently, source local honey from where you live, or as local as possible, and eat a few tablespoons a day. I put it in coffee. Haven't taken allergy medication in years, and I have bad allergies, yet I'm still the outdoorsy type.

It has something to do with the enzymes that break down pollen boost your immune system in the same fashion. Hence why you source it locally, to match your current allergens. However, I still don't have problems traveling.

I am allergic to bees and i get shots every 5 weeks that provide me with an immunity to the stings. I know that the shots work because I have been stung several times with no effect other then the sting.

To the Op I highly recommend that you see an allergist and discuss getting shots.

I know,you CAN be stung through a yellow mesh jacket!
Every year, the orchards are lined with hives here.
I get nailed at least once,every spring.
I hit at least a dozen,thunk!

Oranges now, almonds on the westside a month or so ago... They're everywhere!

MV

So much for hi-viz vests.

I've been stung a few times over the years, so now I run one of these. Hot or cold weather, they work nice and help keep the bees off your neck. When it's hot, wet the buff and it keeps you cool, and when it's cold helps keep the chill out.

Hey, if these guys run them, I guess I can.

I get stung often... hurts less than a junebug at 70mph.
Caught one just below my eye a week ago when I opened my face shield so I could see - it was covered in bugs. Side effect of riding near the rice fields. Luckily I had sunglasses on still.

If you aren't allergic to them, don't worry about it. Rocks and big bugs hurt a lot more. if you are slightly, carry some Benadryl to keep the swelling to a minimum. A lot, get a few epi pens.

I can sneeze in my Arai XD4 and clear the chin guard. I can't in my Shoei RF1000 You will soon learn the importance of this I think

Are you riding offroad? I've got wicked story about a fall into the bushes, then taking a leak as long as I was off the bike. :eek1 Now that's what scares me!

PITA? I would have thought pain-in-the-neck; literally. Are you wearing your pants wrong and letting the bees in? I got what you meant, but your wording struck my funny bone.

I'll add to your good info by saying that eye protection is also good. I have ridden through a swarm of bees with my full-face visor up and gotten slammed by bees on the right side of my face. The bug splats on my right sunglasses lens saved my eye.

I want to hear that story. I'll start you off by saying I may have a similar story that includes a pit stop at the side of a road, leathers lowered and watering accomplished that landed me in the E.R. for 80cc of gamma globulin. I wasn't even using a porta-potty.

So I tried to look up "gamma globulin". I usually find that just reading the Wikipedia page on something like this gives me enough info to make sense of whatever I was reading. This time however, I'm more confused than I was before:

Another theory on how gamma globulin administration works in autoimmune disease is by overloading the mechanisms that degrade gamma globulins. Overloading the degradation mechanism causes the harmful gamma globulins to have a much shorter halflife in sera.

Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) may be used in Kawasaki disease.

Is this some sort of KLR thing?

MV

No. This is probably some sort of bad memory and I'm not a doctor thing.

Just think thick white goo shot into the rump.

Summer I ride with the visor open except in rain. I wear a buff pulled up to under my nose and the sun shade on my helmet down. I take Loratadine for my hayfever and carry a tube of antihistamine cream for bites and stings and some eyewash and eye bath to wash out dust, pollen and dirt. I hit some kind of insect once which exploded on the chin bar of my helmet and filled my eyes with insect body parts - the eye wash is an essential for me now.

Well I get to add to this thread.

Yesterday afternoon riding along River Road, near St. Clair, MI I felt an incredible pain on my neck - like a knife going in. By the time I found a safe spot to stop, a second pain, about 3" lower. Yup, I was stung. Couldn't see what though and shaking my clothes (didn't strip completely), turned up nothing.

While I had my epi-pen, I didn't have Benadryl, so stop at a pharmacy, 2 Benadryl then headed back to Canada and home. Over the next couple of hours the swelling on my neck kept getting larger and itchy... next stop the ER. You guessed it, the stinger was still in me.

I thought I was allergic to them, as I had a bad reaction when stung years ago (anaphylactic shock), but considering I was stung 27 times then, no surprise.

As I was heading to bed, laying next to my pile of clothes was a very large yellowjacket - sucker was at least 1" long. No wonder it hurt.