Duration
The duration of the symptoms after a bee sting varies from person to person. As a rule, the pain is only severe for a few minutes. They decrease significantly within minutes or hours.
The itching and swelling of the skin usually do not appear until a few minutes after the sting. In the majority of those affected, the symptoms are already very weak after 4-5 hours, and after one day only the wound is usually visible. However, especially for allergy sufferers, the symptoms can last much longer.
Allergy to bee venom
People with an allergy to bee venom have a high risk of developing general symptoms after a bee sting. In addition to skin rashes and itching in various places, these include vomiting, diarrhoea, shortness of breath, unconsciousness and circulatory failure. Without treatment, even a single bee sting can lead to death, depending on the severity of the allergy.
It is therefore important to act immediately and treat the bee sting correctly. If symptoms occur in an allergy sufferer who already has an allergy emergency set, the medication in the set should be taken immediately. This includes an antihistamine and a cortisone preparation.
In case of shortness of breath or other life-threatening symptoms, the adrenaline pen should also be used. In addition, an emergency doctor must be called – the medication does not work strongly enough for every person affected. If patients lose consciousness before the paramedics or emergency doctor arrives, sweat heavily or are pale, the shock position should be taken.
To do this, the patient lies down flat and puts his legs in a raised position, for example on a chair. In the long term, hyposensitization should be carried out, especially for young allergy sufferers, as it has very high success rates and drastically reduces the risk of life-threatening symptoms.