What I think I learned today

Getting stung by a honey bee or intentionally taking a sting from a honey bee seems similar to getting a vaccination shot. Also, regardless of the pain of the experience, we need to just move on and keep on working and everything will most likely be fine.

When I was 19 years old in 1968 before coming to Japan the first time, I was required to get a Cholera vaccination. I had heard from the medical folks that the Cholera vaccination is one of the most painful shots you can get. It is one of the most painful and afterwards is very sore and makes you feel sick for quite some time. They were not exaggerating. But you take it and just go on and do whatever else you need to do anyway as long as you are physically able to do so, despite the pain. Today’s bee stings were something like that. At least very painful at first, but the aftermath is not as bad now. Recovery is quicker and the pain subsides after a time. Another thing that is similar, I think, is that it hurts less to get a shot in a large muscle than it does in some of the more sensitive areas with less muscle. When you get stung, though, you don’t always have the choice of where you get stung. The bees make that decision and you live with it. I took 4 stings today, one in the back of each hand, and one in the upper forearm of each arm (my choices). The one in my left hand hurt the most.

Something else I have heard and read is that regardless of how many times you get stung by a bee, it still hurts just as much the next time you get stung (and sometimes it hurts even more). Under normal circumstances, though, the more often you get stung, the shorter the period of intense pain is, and the faster the recovery is. The long term reaction to the sting diminishes so there is little or at least less swelling and you return back to normal fairly quickly. I don’t know that I will ever “look forward to” or enjoy being stung, but like every other painful experience in life (whether physical or emotional) I can recognize that the pain is only temporary and I can just “let it go” and move on with my work and my life.

Pain and some swelling and itching around the site of the sting are natural reactions and are not an “allergic response.” They are a “normal response” to a bee sting.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*

You may use these HTML tags and attributes: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>