When you hear someone mention the word “bees,” you probably think of flowers and honey. But there’s more to bees than that. A bee is capable of flying 15 miles per hour. It is unbelievable but true that there are 20000 varied species of bees.
Let’s move on to a “Bee Sting.” Bee stings are quite painful. These bee stings are generally not severe but sometimes could be dangerous and even fatal, especially for people allergic to bees. According to collected data, there were 1109 deaths due to hornet, wasps, and bee stings between 2000 to 2017, the average death rate 62.
However, various medications are available for its cure. You could get rid of the pain and swelling with some very effective home remedies for bee stings.
Plantain Leaf Poultice is a beneficial home remedy for bee stings. It is a common weed and is readily available. It takes only a few minutes for this cure to start working on the sting. The juice of the leaf helps to decrease the swelling, pain, and itching of the bee sting(1).
Firstly, you have to learn to identify the Plantain plant to use this home remedy for bee sting. Once you spot it, take its leaves to crush it. You could mash, or strip the leaves to extract the juice. Now use this juice on the sting to get relief in about 5 minutes. You could also keep the pulp in a cloth and then apply it on the bite.
A handful of leaves are sufficient enough to extract the required juice for the sting.
[Read: Natural Treatments for Bee Stings]
The baking soda in your kitchen could also become a useful home remedy for bee stings. Baking soda helps to draw out the venom in the bite. It reduces pain, swelling, and speeds up the healing process. Alternatively, you can use another kitchen item, apple cider vinegar for bee stings.
You could prepare a baking soda paste for bee stings. Add little water slowly to baking soda and keep on mixing it until it forms a paste. You could add tea tree oil to this paste. Mix well and apply on the sting. Leave it for some time to get relief from the pain.
You could use three teaspoons of baking soda, two teaspoons of water and three drops of tea tree oil to prepare this baking soda paste for bee stings. Alternatively, you could use a few drops of diluted apple cider vinegar for bee stings.
Clay is probably the most abundant among all home remedies for bee stings. There are various types of clay, like French green clay powder, Bentonite clay which, when applied as a paste, can yield surprising benefits. It helps to reduce pain, swelling, and irritation. Clay plays a vital role in removing the sting or venom of the bee that might still be left behind inside your skin. Alternatively, you could use toothpaste on a bee sting to get instant relief from the pain.
You could make a paste of clay with dry aloe vera powder, bare comfrey root, and goldenseal to apply to the sting area. You could also use a mix of clay powder and St. John’s Wort Oil. Apply the paste on it and leave it for some time. When the clay becomes dry and cracked, wash it off. Alternatively, you could apply your spearmint or peppermint toothpaste on the bee sting and leave it for some time.
For preparing the paste, you could use six parts of clay powder with one and a half portions of dry aloe vera powder, dry comfrey root powder and goldenseal powder each.
[Read: Natural Ways to Treat a Spider Bite]
Essential oils are not only used to relax but are a storehouse of medicinal properties too. These essential oils are safe for use as useful home remedies for bee stings. Lavender oil, tea tree oil, and chamomile oil have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral and antiseptic properties. These essential oils have a calming and relaxing effect too.
You could use diluted essential oil or mix essential oils in a paste with other ingredients. You can prepare a dough with olive oil, wormwood leaf, sage leaf, pennyroyal leaf, tansy with lavender and spearmint essential oil.
Essential oils are quite strong. So, a few drops of the oil are enough. Use half a teaspoon of lavender oil and ten drops of spearmint essential oil in the paste.
Garlic is truly a magic herb with numerous curative properties and provides a natural cure for many health problems. Garlic cloves could be an easy and quick home remedy for bee stings. Garlic(2) could help decrease the swelling, irritation, and pain instantly.
Take raw garlic and peel out its cloves. Cut the clove and rub its juicy side on the sting area. Do this a few times to get relief. Do not do try this on small children. You could also use a garlic poultice instead of raw garlic cloves.
One or two cloves of garlic-rubbed a few times is enough to bring relief to you.
[Read: Essential Oils for Mosquito Bites]
Calendula is a flowering plant with many healing properties. It can prove to be an effective home remedy for bee stings. The flower is safe for use and is often used in baby products.
Take a few flowers and crush them. Apply the liquid extract to the sting area. You could also use calendula salve or oil on the sting.
A few flowers are enough for use.
These were the most effective home remedies for bee stings. Remember, the first step to cure is to remove the stinger from your body. A presence of a stinger could spread venom, causing many problems.
Look carefully into the symptoms and if you notice something different or unusual, do contact your doctor immediately. To sum it up, try these home remedies for instant relief from bee stings and focus on the symptoms too.
It is not possible to completely avoid a bee sting. You could, however, try to prevent it.
Apple cider vinegar is useful in reducing pain, irritation, and swelling of the sting. Additionally, it helps to draw out the venom, thus speeding the healing process. There are several other effective home remedies for bee stings.
You could use the juice coming out of sliced onion on the bee sting. Use this for an hour or tape a piece of sliced onion on the area. It will help to reduce the pain and swelling.