Hi all you helpful people, I just want to run this past you to see if anyone has experienced similar. Yesterday I did a 5 mile walk, not strenuous miles and nothing more than I know is within my limits. Late afternoon I was just pulling up some weeds in the garden when I was stung by a bee. I got the sting out, applied antiseptic cream and it was sore for about an hour but other than redness all around the site, nothing more. This morning I have woken with all the signs of a flare, stiffness and pain in my hands, shoulders and thighs. Could this be triggered by the bee sting, or is it more likely to have been caused by the walk? I regularly walk this distance without ill effects. Perhaps someone out there has experienced similar. I’d be really interested to know. Many thanks for any input,
Laineydee
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Laineydee
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If I was forced to put money on something I’d point to gardening. If you were getting a systemic reaction to the bee sting I’d expect the local area to be a lot worse. If you are used to walking 5 miles and you weren’t carrying an extra load or doing anything different, that seems less likely. Might have been the combination?
Thank you I’m at a bit of a loss as to why it’s so bad today. I wasn’t gardening as such, just walked past a couple of weeds in the garden and pulled them, just brushing against a bee on a neighbouring flower as I did so. I guess it’s like so many of these instances, you never can be really sure what triggers the reaction.
Oh ok, bets are off then, especially if it was an effortless single handed weed pull and not a two handed tug of war with a weed that has a tap root a mile down. That sort of weeding is guaranteed to give me next day. As PMRPro says, it may be your immune system having a think about the bee venom.
I agree with Snazzy - all of it together, any one or even two you might have shrugged off. Even if you aren't allergic to bee venom, it will induce an immune reaction and could upset the balance.
Thank you but as i replied to Snazzy, I wasn’t actually gardening I just happened to be in the garden and pulled up a weed, thereby getting stung by a bee! And the walk was a seemingly harmless stroll with lots of stops on the way, nothing more than I do on a regular basis.
Ok. Thanks. This will remain a mystery then. The site of the sting is still very angry looking all around but no pain. And after upping the steroids yesterday to deal with the flare, everything seems to have settled again.
Now that is interesting. Thanks for your input. I’d really like to think it was the bee sting that caused the flare and not the walk, as I do a lot of walking and hopefully the bee sting is a rare occurrence! That has cheered me up.Thank you.
I was stung 4 times by hornets or wasps earlier this year, and woke up the next day feeling “off” (like the beginning of a flare). Later I chalked it up to caring for my twin grandsons who were 1 at the time, and the lifting and bending involved.
Everyone’s immune response to various triggers seems to be different. While having the flu, my PMR stiffness left as my immune system seemed to focus on the virus. When I had Covid I had a mini flare type response and had to up my pred dose by 2mgs for a couple of weeks.
If the walk was routine without challenge, then it could be your body’s response to the sting. Perhaps monitor as the sting heals, hopefully the new symptoms also subside.
Thank you for this. My symptoms did subside within a day but I did up my dose of Pred to cope with the flare. Three days later the sting site still shows quite a large red area, although no pain, which indicates to me that there was a significant reaction. Now I shall begin to drop back to my original dose of Pred and hope that episode is over!
I was stung last Sunday 5 times by wasps. These were really painful stings and although the pain subsided after a day or so the itching lasted well into Friday. I'm not sure if this is coincidence but my PMR symptoms seem to be much better since then, I notice it most when I'm getting out of bed and after sitting for a while. It's too early to say but I was speculating to myself that maybe my immune system had a bit of a shock with the stings and I've had the opposite effect of a flare as it's been concentrating on something else. Who knows. I'm just keeping fingers-crossed for the good progress as I'm done at 2.5 mg now :-).
As you say, who know? Well I hope your progress continues. I feel fine now but did have severe PMR symptoms the day after the sting. Good luck with your continued tapering. It seems I go two steps forward and one back but at least that’s some sort of progress!
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