CLOSED: Revenge of the bees?

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curlygardengirl Omaha, NE Aug 01, 2009

Unfortunately, I don't have a photo, but was encouraged to post my question on this forum.

I live on 5 acres north of the Omaha Nebraska area and have experienced first-hand getting stung by bees recently in my landscape/garden. I have been stung only a couple of times in my 55 years but in the past week I have been stung by bees twice and my husband has also been stung for the first time he can remember. The attacks were in different areas of our landscape. I even used "bug spray" last evening and was stung through my shorts! Both of my stings were quite painful but effects seemed pretty localized. However, three days after being stung the last time, I awoke in the night with much pain in my hip joint. This morning I can't walk without pain although the pain seems to lessen the more I walk. I am very active, so this joint pain is stifling! Since it is the weekend I will wait and see if it gets worse before going to the doctor on Monday.

I know there has been a shortage of bees in past years and wonder if they are now coming back with a vengeance?

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suunto Sinks Grove, WV Aug 01, 2009

Question No.1 - How sure are you that these were bees and not wasps of some sort?
Question No. 2 - How large and what color were they? (You could use a honey bee for comparison purposes.

No native bees that I am familiar with will sting without provocation of some sort; but in the case of some species, such as sweat bees, this provocation can be minimal, such as in brushing one off your arm.

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curlygardengirl Omaha, NE Aug 02, 2009

1. The first bee I did see was a brown honeybee. I don't believe it was provoked, as I was unaware of any bees and was just turning off the water hose and felt what I thought was a sand bur in my sock. Since it was penetrating my ankle, I looked to remove it and discovered a honey bee stinging away inside my sock. I do think it became provoked and continued stinging when I was trying to remove it.
2. The second I'm not sure of, as I didn't see it. However, in my garden there are small bees around my tomatoes, cucumbers and cilantro, so I would imagine that's what it was. It felt like the same type of sting as the honeybee. We normally have sweat bees around our pool which sting, but not like this. In fact this year I haven't seen any sweat bees. We do have wasps in our landscape, but they rarely bother people and they are seldom in the locations where I was stung.

The pain in my hip joint is lessening and improves with activity. But it is the same sensation I had after being stung, which makes me think it is related to the bee sting.

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