Bee sting on ankle, whole foot swollen now

Had something similar on my hand last week. Probably a hornet that stung you and you're mildly allergic. The worst of it will probably be tomorrow and it will start to go down after that (though mine is still a bit swollen one week later). Take some antihistamines for the itching and that should help with the swelling because you won't be itching it. Ice it and take some ib for the swelling. Otherwise just wait it out

I work with a beekeeper... this sounds like a normal reaction. I would allow a day or two or maybe three for swelling to go down...

can perhaps run on it, but i would avoid anything too long or too hard as the inflammation may put unusual stress on tendons.

once i ran after getting stung and recall the stress on the tendons was too much. can you go for a swim for a day or two as cross training?

good luck

Just take a Benadryl (sp) or some other anti-histamine allergy medicine. That is about all a Dr will do since swelling near he sting is a normal reaction.

I was just bit or stung by something last week on a trail run. It could have been a spider, I'm not sure. It itched for several days but didn't swell. My last good bee sting was several years ago and big part of my arm swelled up. My health insurance has 'dial a nurse' that I talked to and she said if the swelling stays in the stung body part, no worries and take a anti-histamine. If the swelling starts to spread through the body then you need a Dr.

if only hot girls would chase me down instead of bees or dogs. my foots still hella swollen but not painful. i may try an easy 3 miles today and see how that goes. doctor gave me antibiotics and told me i just have to wait it out.

I got stung on the ankle by either a yellow jacket, honey bee, or wasp (can't remember, it was 10 years ago). Within 24 hours my Ankle swelled up to almost the size of a baseball (it was bad; but didn't hurt much). After approximately 2-3 weeks of waiting for the swelling to go down, I went to a walk-in clinic, they didn't know anything, recommended I visit a vascular specialist. I thought, it's on the ankle, close enough to the foot, I have a good foot doctor, I'll see him first (not expecting much help). Well, he didn't believe it was a bee sting and insisted it was a sprained ankle, and gave it a shot of Cortisone; within 24 hours the swelling had dissipated Completely.

The Doctor can believe whatever he wants, but it WAS A BEE STING and the cortisone shot WORKED. GDI!

I got stung on the ankle by either a yellow jacket, honey bee, or wasp (can't remember, it was 10 years ago). Within 24 hours my Ankle swelled up to almost the size of a baseball (it was bad; but didn't hurt much). After approximately 2-3 weeks of waiting for the swelling to go down, I went to a walk-in clinic, they didn't know anything, recommended I visit a vascular specialist. I thought, it's on the ankle, close enough to the foot, I have a good foot doctor, I'll see him first (not expecting much help). Well, he didn't believe it was a bee sting and insisted it was a sprained ankle, and gave it a shot of Cortisone; within 24 hours the swelling had dissipated Completely.

The Doctor can believe whatever he wants, but it WAS A BEE STING and the cortisone shot WORKED. GDI!

I am a bee keeper. What you are describing is a normal reaction to a poison. This is not an allergy. It should go away on its own shortly. Each time you get stung, it will tend to get less severe of a reaction, unless there is significant time between stings, in which case your body forgets and it will be the same.

This is in contrast to an allergy, which can get worse over repeated stings. You can tell the difference because if you are allergic, you will have other symptoms, such as itchy eyes, scratchy/tight throat, redness/itchiness in other areas of the body, etc.

I get a similar reaction to bee stings as you do. I don't like how if it is a bad reaction somewhere on my legs, I can feel the swollen area "bounce" with each step, it makes it super itchy.

The points above about ice, anti-inflammatory, etc. are good advice.

I could not stand more than 3-5 hours at work due to severe pain in both feet as result of plantar fasciitis. After receiving proper treatments and wearing the orthofeet shoes I can happily say that I am able to stand for 12 hours at work and be pain free in both my feet. They feel great and I love the colors. Have helped my knee pain tremendously.

Benadryl tablets to quell the itching.

I remember, a paste of white vinegar

and meat tenderizer on the bee sting,

helps too.

Bummed Out wrote:

I got stung by a bee doing a track workout Tuesday morning. It didnt bother me much the first night besides some itching. I got up and ran a 9 miler the next day and a few hours later my ankle started to get noticeably swollen. Now my whole foot is all puffed up and stiff and itchy 2 days later. Ive been training all summer for a half marathon in a few weeks so i hate taking time off but it would seem wise to do so. Im going to go see a doctor tommorrow to see what options i have. Anyone else had a similar experience or allergies to bee stings. Id like to get back to my 10-12 mile days as soon as possible.

Perhaps a Hornet or Wasp, they both can sting repeatedly (un-barbed stinger) unlike the Honey Bee which has a barbed stinger and can only sting once. Many times a Wasp, either a mud wasp (brown) or yellow jacket wasp will sting multiple times in one area, hence the increased swelling as there is a lot of poison in a localized area. Hornets are more aggressive but in my experience will sting once and go, although their sting can really hurt.

+1

Once the Honey Bee has stung, it dies.

I had a similar thing happen. I was stung a few times over the summer, then at the end of the summer I was stung by a hornet on the ankle ... my normally bony ankle turned into a cankle and my foot looked like a ham.

You react as I do. This is called a large local reaction. Look it up on The Mayo Clinic website.

Most people get mild swelling and itching. Few people get nasty systemic, anaphylactic reactions. Some of us get severe local reactions. In these cases, you get major swelling that gets worse for 36-72 hours then starts to subside. It is an allergic reaction and will respond to antihistamines, but only to a moderate degree.

Despite many stings when I was younger, I didn’t start reacting like this until I was in my early 30s. Now, every wasp/hornet sting turns me into an overstuffed sausage within 6-12 inches of the sting site. My arm still itches from a sting two weeks ago even though there are no longer any visible symptoms.

It sucks, but I just run through these sting reactions. I’ve had foot stings where I could hardly get my shoe on for almost a week.

But if it gets really bad and you have good insurance.

Go see a dermatologist.

Ask for a

Kenlog injection to stop the itching and swelling.

And get an Rx for Hydroxyzine (Atarax) to take

before bed and not scratch.

Don't blame the Honey Bee wrote:

[quote]broken arrow wrote:

+1

Once the Honey Bee has stung, it dies.

Indeed-- same with bumblebees and other related bee species. Perfect timing for this topic, as I got stung by what seemed liked a small bee (not a honeybee) just yesterday. Used my thumbnail to scrape away the stinger/abdomen end as soon as I felt the sting and looked at the wound. Felt like a pin prick & hurt mildly to moderately for a few hours.

As a beekeeper, what you are describing sounds like a normal reaction from somebody who is moderately sensitive (not allergic).

Icing, antihistamines are your best course to reduce the swelling.

More frequeng stings will reduce the reaction over time.

Bumping this old thread.

A f***cking bee stung me right on my Achilles and my entire calf/ankle is swollen to twice its size. I have a full-blown cankle.

Took today completely off, iced, took a ton of Ibuprofen and Benadryl. Can running on the swollen leg potentially cause injury, or will I be able to at least get some light jobs in the next few days?

Everyone is different, but you should be able to run on it without causing any damage. When I've been stung in my leg, my biggest problem has been fitting my foot into my shoe. As far as what you'll feel, it's more a pain tolerance kind of thing. Some people are better able to deal with the discomfort than others.

Sounds more like a poison spider bite .