Ants, wasps, and I had my first run in with Yellow Jackets. Been bit and stung by just about everything Florida has to offer. Been shanked by a stingray. Lit up by man-o-war. None of these come close to the sting of the Yellow Demons. Weed wacking around a banana tree, went over a small hole in the ground. Nest! Which wasn't there the week before. First one dropped me. Never been hit so hard. Started asking out loud, what the F is stinging me??? Then I noticed the swarm. Dropped the wacker and ran. Made it inside the screen and to the pool with my left foot in excruciating pain. Then the one that followed me in got me on the thigh. Got away with only 3 stings (luckily I can still run fast as hell!) but the burn was relentless. Agony whenever I lifted the ice pack off. 16 hours of Hell later around 4am, I managed to fall asleep. Was over a month ago and the marks on my ankles are still visible..

That sucks. Hornets and Yellow Jackets are in the same family and when they signal the alarm they will swarm and are really aggressive. I'm sure the weed whacker scared the heck out of them.

I have been stung by both and they feel like someone is putting a cigarette out on your skin, but the pain goes away pretty quick with little swelling.
However, my daughter is very allergic to bee/wasp/hornet stings and she swellls up bad - we always have Benadryl/Diphenhydramine and and epipen handy (friking things are expensive!).

The docs said that the liquid benadryl is best, closely followed by the chewable tablets...but you have to chew them well. The pills are no good because they take too long to get in your system.

Maybe next time try some benadryl and see if it helps with the swelling and pain?

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If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph: THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD WAS MUSIC - KV