I thought I had found and eliminated the wasp nest responsible for the stings I got last week, but when I was working on the deck Saturday afternoon, I got stung again. This time the wasp got me four times before I killed it. I swatted at the wasp as it stung me on the chest, and then it stung my arm. The sting on my chest was not bad, but it got me twice on the inside of my arm just above my wrist, and a third time on my elbow. Within a short time my arm was red and swollen from my hand to my elbow. I looked like Popeye.
I used two cold packs in the evening. They helped while they were on my arm, but didn’t provide any relief after I removed them. If I had taken a dose of diphenhydramine immediately it might have helped, but we didn’t have any and I can’t take diphenhydramine anyway.
I put some cortisone cream on the stings when we went to bed, but my arm continued to itch so intensely that I couldn’t sleep. The only thing that gave me any relief was running extremely hot water over most of my forearm. I had to do it twice during the night. Otherwise I might have scratched my arm raw.
On Sunday my arm still felt kind of like an overinflated balloon. Now, as I write this Sunday evening the swelling seems to be going down, and a topical diphenhydramine cream seems to help a little. I will probably have to use the hot-water treatment again tonight.
Right before bedtime on Saturday I went out with a can of wasp and hornet spray. (If you need this kind of spray, I recommend Raid, not Hot Shot.). I carefully rechecked the under side of the upper deck and found nothing. Then I went under the lower deck. The lower deck has between three and four feet of clearance on the southeast corner, but only about a foot and a half on the northwest end, decreasing as you go under. I slid under and looked up. There it was, another small nest. I doused it and kept looking. It had rained so the ground was pretty muddy. Of course I had to slide around on my back. I couldn’t find any more active nests, so maybe I have eliminated the problem. I think I’m going to have a hard time making myself go back out there again, though.
Yeow. I would imagine so.
I sure hope there are no more nests. Makes me wonder what their natural predator might be. Time for a pet skunk?
Ridger — I really need to finish my work on the deck, but I’m wondering if I can wait till after the first frost. That will be a long time coming here in Georgia.
Robin — I am pretty sure I got all the nests, but then I was pretty sure the first time, too. Based on a google search, it looks like a lot of things might occasionally eat a wasp, but not many seek them out.
We’ve noticed a very decided cycle in the paper wasp populations. In 2007 and 2008 the populations were huge – they were building nests everywhere, including in birdhouses and hanging out all clustered over the outside of the boxes, it was so hot. Decidedly evil.
Then the populations crashed, and we hardly saw any over the next four or five years. A smaller boom for a couple of years, then nothing last year or this year.
Regarding topicals for arthropod bites and stings: you might remember pink Calamine lotion – dried to a sort of pasty covering but did a pretty good job controlling itching and pain. I really like clear Caladryl, which contains benadryl and dries to a clear coating. For me it works very quickly for things like this (other than the deep aching pain of a yellow jacket sting, apparently).
I haven’t noticed swings in the wasp population, but I think there’s going to be a reduction next year. I’ll have to try calamine lotion — I remember using that for poison ivy back years ago — and Caladry, but I hope I don’t need them.