# Bee flew into my face and stung me



## Hybrid_Mountain (Dec 21, 2009)

I was on my commute home when a bee fell exactly between my helmet and sunglasses. The bee got stuck, stung me and then I dug under all my gear and flicked it out.

The evidence it was a bee was that I pulled out a tiny stinger near my left eyebrow. I don't believe yellow jackets or mosquitos leave their stingers behind. 

Well, there was an acute pain for about 25 minutes. There's some swelling but I'm generally okay.

It was just kind of a downer to happen to me. I was just a little self-conscious because the bee stung me near my brain and against my own intuition, I thought maybe the venom could be more harmful near my brain than near my appendages.

Has this happened to anyone? Any words of encouragement, or just general knowledge of bee stings? Thanks for your time. I didn't search for similar threads but I just feel better writing this, so delete it if necessary.


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

Hi, yes that is a downer, sorry to hear that, but the good news is, if you already made it 30 minutes you should be fine. For most people beestings just hurt for a while, and swell a bit, but some are allergic and will swell alot & have trouble breathing & need a shot to help. Your brain should be fine, or at least as fine as it was before  ! If it still hurts, use some ice. If you continue to have problems with bees, you could get a helmet that has an insect screen over the vents.


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## Jonesy33 (Mar 18, 2008)

I had one go right into the vents of my helmet near the end of last summer. It was actually a yellow jacket, and the sting wasn't terrible, but it sure wasn't a great way to end a ride.


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## ae111black (Dec 27, 2008)

I took a hit in the lip by a bumble bee, no sting but it felt like a small rock


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

MtbXplorer sounds like she knows what she`s talking about, so I`d go with that.

Yeah, bummer- even if it isn`t more dangerous to get stung in the face, it`s got to be danged painful! I`ve only been stung twice that I know of. First time was on pretty thick skin on my hand and didn`t hurt much, second time was on my thigh and stung plenty. I hope I never have the pleasure of a bee getting stuck under my helmet or glasses.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

It is not dangerous, unless bee stings give you an allergic reaction. Sounds like they don't.

Way back... I once forgot to check what is inside my swimming trunks, before putting them on. Sure enough: a bumblebee hit me in the behind. I didn't think it was funny.


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## JonathanGennick (Sep 15, 2006)

Hybrid_Mountain said:


> Has this happened to anyone? Any words of encouragement, or just general knowledge of bee stings?


Has it ever happened? Heck yeah! Once I was on my motorcycle, riding a pleasant country road near Ontonagon. There was a beautiful field of some sort of flower on my right. Then I noticed a row of beehives in the field on my left.

Uh oh! :nono:

You guessed it. Those bees must have been traversing the highway. One somehow flew up the sleeve of my leather jacket and stung me. There was nothing for it but to maintain control, stop the bike, rip my jacket off, etc.

It was all pretty funny, sort of, because my thought process at the time really was: what a nice field of flowers -- uh oh, beehives -- ouch!


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## Sinker (Feb 3, 2007)

I got stung on the lip by something small during a road ride last summer. Not much pain at all, but it eventually started itching pretty bad. 

It swelled up a little bit, too.


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## byknuts (Aug 9, 2008)

that's hilarious!!
not in a nelson-style pointing at you "hawhaw" way...
more in a "wow... you kind of have to laugh at it" way!
have honey on your toast will you?? "nature strikes back"

maybe he thought your eyebrow was an invading caterpillar?
(fine, I'll be nice!)

I got stung by a wasp on the inside of my arm once. Walking past a rosebush, apparently he thought the inside flesh was the sweetest.
Or maybe he thought my turboGS tattoo was offensive?
Also got stung by a south american bee when I was kid, was playing at the local bulk barn and digging my hands in the coffee beans, thing stung me and flew out. Colombian bees sting harder.


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## PissedOffCil (Oct 18, 2007)

This hapenned to me once, on my tongue. My tongue went all numb for about 30 minutes. It was a very short sting, not sure if it was a bee or anything else, it didn't really hurt or anything but it surely felt weird...

Good thing is you can't scratch your tongue and it heals fast...


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## jlang002 (Jan 10, 2005)

Happened to me in the Leadville 100 last year right at the start of the climb up Columbine. Bastard stung my lower lip and it felt like it was huge...it was fine though by the time I started descending. Only a few people have anaphylactic reactions to bee stings in which case you would need an epi injection to keep you alive.
-jon


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## CommuterBoy (Oct 4, 2007)

I got to adminster a shot of adrenaline via an epi pen to someone once...pretty intense few moments. I felt like an EMT. 

Personally I have had a bee sting on the top of my head...same old story...he flew into a helmet vent. But here's my best bee story: One time I was helping someone move a patio table...one with hollow tubing in an X pattern underneath the glass top. The cap had come off of the end of this tubing, and I didn't know it but there was a yellow jacket nest inside...I picked up the table with my hand directly over the end of the tubing, and was halfway down the stairs of his deck when I started getting tagged by angry yellow jackets, right in the palm of my hand. It was a few seconds before I could get down the stairs (My friend thought I was going nuts...no real time to explain what was going on). I bet I had 10 stings on my hand. It swelled up like a football and was pretty worthless for a few days. In the hour or two afterwards, I got pretty nausious and dizzy, but the swelling didn't spread beyond the wrist. Took some benadryl and tried not to scratch the itchy burning club hand.


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## rodar y rodar (Jul 21, 2006)

perttime said:


> I once forgot to check what is inside my swimming trunks, before putting them on. Sure enough: a bumblebee hit me in the behind. I didn't think it was funny.


Just think how much LESS funny it would have been if you had put your trunks on backwards


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## mtbxplorer (Dec 25, 2009)

*From Bees to Fleas*

Late one night last year, I had been helping my friend with her abandoned house business all day & we decided to check out one more place just to see what we were in for, and have the right equipment etc. when we returned to do work for the bank. We got in, looked around with flashlights, did a couple preliminary things & got back in the car. Pretty soon, we realized the house had been flea-infested & they were jumping all over us, having been starved for months since the people & pets moved out. We pulled over & jumped out, frantically flicking fleas. Of course a cop pulled over behind us to check out this unusual activity. I told him the story & he let us go on our way, but I'm sure he got a few good laughs out of it at our expense back at the station.


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## woodway (Dec 27, 2005)

I got stung last summer riding home from work. Bee glanced off the right side of my face, got caught up in my helmet webbing and stung me in the right earlobe. Damn thing swelled up and looked funky for a few days.


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## byknuts (Aug 9, 2008)

rodar y rodar said:


> Just think how much LESS funny it would have been if you had put your trunks on backwards


yeah but then it would've been swollen and he could've...
ahem...

I'll get my coat! 



woodway said:


> I got stung last summer riding home from work. Bee glanced off the right side of my face, got caught up in my helmet webbing and stung me in the right earlobe. Damn thing swelled up and looked funky for a few days.


should've punched a hole in it and popped in a champagne cork, coulda been a hipster!

see? hilarious!
the mental effect of bee stings isn't as alarming as having your leg mauled by a pitbull... but I think it's funny, like having your leg mauled by a gerbil!! 
noone's saying it won't hurt or do damage, but wow... the effect something so small can have if given just 2 seconds of time and a bad wake-up on the wrong side of the hive.

I love those crazy stinging things, and the funny thigns they make you do like when you're in middle school, walking past the hottest girl in sociology class, and for once she waves hello and JUST then the bee flies up your pants and stings you behind the knee and you have to pretend you're gangster-leaning as your leg tries to give out until you get around the corner, where you desperately claw at your zipper trying to free the beast and collapse in a whimpering heap of tighty-whities with accompanying throbbing red welt the size of a beefsteak tomato.

see? funny!


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## Gary the No-Trash Cougar (Oct 14, 2008)

That sucks, but as stated previously unless you're allergic I wouldn't worry about it. There isn't enough poison in a bee sting to seriously affect a non-allergic person. I got stung in the face by something once while bombing a hill. No stinger so it must have been a wasp or something, but later on there was no redness either. I got stung in the stomach once by something as well, that burned like hell.


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## BrianMc (Jan 5, 2010)

Since this thread has descended into non-cycling biting and stinging insect encounters, I thought I'd share.

Assasin bugs consume Lady Bugs. When one gets in your shirt and you pinch it by moving your arm across or other innocuous act, it can retaliate by injecting you with enzymes. Bite/injection hurts big time. Swells. Burns and Itches and for me it was a month before it was just a red spot, and another before it was completely gone. Not recommended. I now assasinate the assassin on sight if it won't take strong hints to leave.

Moved into a house we rented, then left for a 2-week vacation and returned after the fleas hatched out with no blood meal in sight. We ran the showers on medium heat full flow and got to our underwear to wash them off. We made foraging collections to wash down the drain. The first forays produced black shins, ankles and feet. Once down to a dull roar, we left for a motel, and fumigated the next day. So much for the prior renters maintaining flea collars (before the systemic contol we have now). I have never before or since seen or heard of such a brood.

I had the misfortune of operating a self propelled (cab but no air conditioning) combine threshing alfalfa seed when I saw a bumble bee nest in the windrow explode in a cloud of bees as it hit the feeder. I wasn't quite fast enough closing the window and a half dozen got in with me. I opened the door as there were none on that side and 5 flew right by. But one nailed me on the nape of the neck as I closed the door against the second strike. About like 10 bee stings at once but it wasn't as bad after. I was giddy with relief that the combine had a cab! Our previous one was a pull type with no cab on the tractor.

One bee stig is funny. Stung by a hive, is another matter entirely.


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## perttime (Aug 26, 2005)

byknuts said:


> ...
> 
> I'll get my coat!


I was pretty young at the time, and my parents were at the lakeside too :blush:


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## Tones23 (May 27, 2009)

Some insanely huge bee-related thing flew into my shirt and stung me on my belly last season. I've been stung plenty of times before, but the pain on this one was nasty and burned like mad for about 2 hours. I read a couple stories about people being attacked by swarms in TX and AZ. Looks like the killer bees are really integrating now in the south.

On another note, yesterday morning I had a large bug fly in my mouth. Not that unusual except for the fact that it was 33 degrees! I commute through wooded trails every day so I'm used to things flying all over, just not this time of year.


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