Bee sting desensitisation course

great news abi-e.

Hi dpearce4

I haven't been on here for a while as I became sensitive to bee stings and thought long and hard and nearly gave up beekeeping altogether

After being told by the doctor to give up beekeeping, even though the last bad reaction I had I was laying a patio for a client and randomly got stung in my inner ear, I am now into my 16th month of treatment at Southmead hospital and alls going well

One interesting point the clinic mentioned to me was not to drink to much or no alcohol the night before I go in for the treatment as they have found your more likely to have a bad reaction to the injection, weather this is a medically proven fact I don't know but just a thought for thoses how suffer from stings but not bad enough to be on a desensitisation course

Hi Dave

never got told that and I have a drink most days and I don't think it has made any difference.

did you stop the beekeeping and will you go back after the end of the treatment if it works?

This was over the Christmas period so it might have been in relation to you tend to drink more over the festive season

When I first started the course I nearly got rid of my hives but decided to keep going and came up with a plan so I didn't need to do so many inspections as I didn't want to get stung and compromise the treatment

I love the challenge of keeping bees and gave them loads of room by putting on double brood boxes and lots of supers with no queen excluders which on the whole worked very well,out of 25 colonies I only had two swarm (that I know about) all the colonies came through the winter very strong with no loses and very low varroa counts

This year I'm looking forward to being more hands on but then again with the results I had last year with less inspection perhaps I won't disturb them as much or conduct a comparison to see what works best and that's what I love about keeping bees your always learning

I think I'm correct in saying that alcohol effects the way in which medications work.. Increases or decreases the effect or speed at which it works etc.

I had my latest injection on Wednesday and the reaction was negligible. staff at work even asked if I actually went as there was nothing to see except a very small red mark.

loving this new feeling of not having to worry about being stung.

got stung 3 times today on my fingers while doing my hives, first time this year to be stung and no reaction other than a little itching for a few mins after.

Excellent!

Just wondering if there are guidelines.

Ten days ago, on holiday, I got stung by a random honeybee. Reaction was almost instant and got taken to a&e. They dealt with the wheezing, unable to swallow and loss of speech and after 12 hours sent me on my way with an epipen and both the Dr and ward sister advised going to GP for a referral to the allergy clinic.

I went yesterday to see the geriatric practitioner. I started with "I was stung by a bee and" and he cut me short with "what do you want me to do about it". I said that I was taken to a&e and they had said about a referral to an allergy clinic. He said there was no point in going to the allergy clinic as I knew what the allergy was, it would be a complete waste of time. I did mention there was desensitisation, however, he discounted that and said there wasn't such a thing - if there was all the people with peanut allergy would have had it????! He suggested I gave up beekeeping immediately and kept away from anywhere bees might be as the next sting might be fatal! Grrrrrrrrrrr!

Does anyone have any relevant information that having had anaphylactic shock I must be referred to an allergy clinic?

Thanks

These links are worth a look...

http://beeresistant.com/ - this site from the manufactures of the venom product used in immunotherapy

http://www.anaphylaxis.org.uk/

Hi
Thanks for the links.
My problem is how to get round the GP. He needs to refer me and is adamant that there is no immunotherapy for bee venom.

birchdale said:

Hi
Thanks for the links.
My problem is how to get round the GP. He needs to refer me and is adamant that there is no immunotherapy for bee venom.

Click to expand...

Wiltshire?
I found this, indicating that Southampton would be your 'local' centre.

the unit treats patients from a wide area including Hampshire, Wiltshire, Dorset, West Sussex, parts of Berkshire, the Isle of Wight and is even the first port of call for the Falkland Islands.

Click to expand...

http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/OurServices/H...llergyAndImmunology/Allergyandimmunology.aspx

Here's what they do -
http://www.uhs.nhs.uk/OurServices/H...lergyAndImmunology/Diagnosisandtreatment.aspx

Do you have a copy of your A&E discharge letter?
If not, the office staff at the GP practice should be able to sort one out for you. Useful to have!

I guess you could contact Southampton direct and ask them how one deals with a GP unaware of (and therefore not using) their services.
Longer term, it sounds like you should be looking for a different GP.

Thanks itma

Thanks for the info.
Yes, I do have the discharge letter from hospital, more like notes, I even asked the GP for a copy to get him to acknowledge that we were talking about the same thing. He did have a bit of trouble printing it out, talk about a dinosaur!

I agree, long term I need to change GP. Do gp's ever retire? I could start crowd funding for a retirement present? Second hand beehive comes to mind with nasty stingers included!

print this off and take it to him

https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ta246

they actually recommend it now.

that will shock him

good news I went today (no reaction as normal). I was told by the doc that at the end of the treatment I wont need to carry my epi pen anymore as the treatment has worked.

Brilliant news DP, it's taken a long time but has been well worth it.

When I first started bee keeping, I wore all the protective clothing etc, but in time got lazy and only really use a vail, so as you would expect I had a few stings here and there, but, It only ever feels like a nettle sting, no swelling, just a bit itchy for an hour afterwards, does this mean I am desensitized to stings?

birchdale said:

My problem is how to get round the GP. He needs to refer me and is adamant that there is no immunotherapy for bee venom.

Click to expand...

Returning to this because in the Beecraft magazine that arrived today, there is a very relevant article.

Beecraft September 2015 (Vol 97 No 9) on page 23 "Anaphylaxis"

As well as describing a beekeeper's successful desensitisation, the article leads towards -

To raise awareness of venom anaphylaxis, ALK, a pharmaceutical company which supplies some of the products used in the treatment of venom allergy, has launched the Bee Resistant Campaign.
...
For further information, visit http://www.beeresistant.com

Click to expand...

But of particular relevance is http://beeresistant.com/#p-what-are-the-treatment-options which sets out the availability of the immunotherapy ('desensitisation') treatment.

The whole thing may be a marketing campaign dressed up as PR, but it does establish the fact of availability of treatment.

Finally started work in Oban at the start of June. I registered with the local GP and they have referred me to change my de-sensitization treatment. I have an appointment at Gartnavel hospital next week in Glasgow. I'll let you know how things go. Until then I'm travelling back to Newcastle - not sold the house yet, so no hardships really.

got stung on hand today. no red mark no swelling at all. doing well here.