natural bee sting relief!

This is SO cool! I love learning new things!

Yesterday Schy and I were out and about. We made our big trip to the consignment shop and then we decided to pop in on the husband/daddy for lunch since we were in the neighborhood. We had about 45 minutes to kill so we stopped at a nearby outdoor shopping plaza to walk around. We happened upon this great shop called Ten Thousand Villages and went inside to check it out. As I reached for this super cool toy that looked like a little paper person pedaling a bike when you pushed it along the ground, I was STUNG by a BEE! I was so extremely startled that I jumped and flailed and frantically shook it off of my thumb. It was probably pretty funny to watch, actually. That bee had the nerve to land on Schy’s leg so I swatted it off and stomped on it! I don’t normally stomp creatures if they’re not bothering me, but I was terrified! This thing was after us! And Schy already has enough going on with her crazy allergy purple blotch hive rash all over her. We did NOT need one more thing with her right now.

I felt so violated. I looked at the remnants of the bee on the ground, picked up Schy and fled the scene. I haven’t been stung by a bee in years. And call me a wuss, but I forgot how bad it hurts! Within the hour my thumb swelled up and was sore and itchy and just generally really uncomfortable. I poked at it and looked at it all night. When I woke up this morning it was the first thing I had noticed. The swelling was even a bit worse. My skin was so tight that it hurt to bend… and the itch! Almost unbearable.

I googled natural bee sting treatment to see what I could find. I came across a website called vegetable gardener that claimed to have 12, yes 12, natural bee sting remedies. Number one on the list…. GARLIC! I went for this option because I always have it on hand and I always love to find new uses for garlic. It’s healing properties are so amazing. I pulled a fresh clove of garlic from our CSA out of the refrigerator, crushed it with a large knife and removed the peel. I pressed it onto the sting and walked around for the next 10 minutes with my thumb sticking out, trying to balance my odoriferous garlic sting treatment. I felt a difference within the first minute! It seemed to throb a bit for a minute but then, like magic, the stinging sensation was gone. By the end of the 10 minutes my skin was not nearly as tight and I could bend my thumb again! Unbelievable. Is there anything that garlic CAN’T do, really? This remedy gets one garlicky thumbs up from me!

Here is a complete list of the 12 remedies on vegetable gardener:

1. Garlic cloves
2. Lavender essential oils
3. Baking soda & water
4. Peanut butter
5. Plaintain
6. Calendula flowers
7. Bee balm
8. Basil
9. Onion
10. Honey
11. Parsley
12. Apis Mellifica

The site lists more details for each. It also states that what works for one may not work for another so there are no guarantees that the garlic will work as well for you. Hopefully you can avoid having to treat a bee sting in the near future, but at least now you have a plan. And it’s always nice to have some natural remedies on hand with little ones around!

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