What does a wasp sting feel like?

[IHateWasps]

I've just been stung for the first time ever. I was bringing washing in to the house and grabbed a tshirt and felt as though I'd put my thumb on the pin of badge, looked up and saw a bloody wasp(First I've seen this year) was on the tshirt.

My thumb still a bit sore and tender but nearly as bad as I expected it would be, and it hasn't really swollen. Is it going to swell up and drop off later?(Slight exaggeration) or did I get lucky? I thought that it'd hurt more than it did.

No reason why it has to swell up. I have been stung by a wasp a couple of times. I remember it as being a bit more painful than you describe, quite an intense, sharp pain, but I dont recall any further issues.

Don't know about wasps but I got stung by a bee last year and it wasn't that bad. It felt more like a sharp scratch.

I felt something on my arm and brushed it away, then felt the sting/scratch and realised it was a bee. I got a bit of a swelling but it soon went down, I always though it would be much more painful.

Thank you. Perhaps she decided to go easy on me. It did hurt but it just felt exactly as though a pin had been pushed halfway my thumb. I don't know why I thought it'd swell up. I thought the venom tended to have that effect. Glad to hear that isn't always the case.

Doesn't hurt, just a bit of a shock.

I swell up horrendously to both wasp and bee stings.

Wasps vary in sting intensity. UK wasps often feel like a shard of glass - a sharp pain, but even within the UK they vary (I often get stung a couple of times a year)

The last wasp sting I had hurt like hell. It also made my whole forearm swell up.

I think they probably vary.

My mum recalls my dad complaining about me crying a lot when I stood on a wasp as a child. He then did the same a few days later and decided my tears had been perfectly justified after all.

It depends on how you react. It hurts more after the first day for me, they go livid purple and very painful for days. Bastard wasps.

I got stung by a bee and it was like you described . I felt like I'd jagged my finger on a staple or pin. It tingled for the rest of the day and was irritating not sore after about five minutes

Interesting to hear that they vary. I'm hoping I don't encounter any of those wasps. I've had a severe phobia of them for decades and pictured myself being in agony and with a huge swelling so it was rather anti-climatic. Not that I'm saying that I care to repeat the experience.

Sympathies EdWinchester. That sounds awful.

My last sting, last year, hurt like hell and my finger was fat and throbbing for approx 24h and sore for about a week, at which point I could see the sting on the surface

The sting prior to that was on my leg and was fairly painful at the time, but it soon subsided

It feels like hatred and evil.

I was stung (separate incidents) by both a wasp and a bee as a child and remembered it as the worst thing ever, was in floods of tears, etc. Then managed to avoid both for 30+ years until I was stung by a wasp last summer - sat down on the sofa and didn't see the wasp, it got me on the back of the leg. I was surprised by how mild it was - it was slightly more intense than a nettle sting. Perhaps it didn't manage to sting me very deeply, and I know there are varieties that can hurt more, but it's actually helped reduce my fear of them as I'd always been terrified of being stung again, given how badly I remembered it. Got a mild swelled patch and it bruised, but remarkably little pain.

Though thinking about it, both times I was stung as a child was on my fingers, which I can imagine is much more painful, less fat and more nerve endings...

The swelling is a mild allergic reaction. Most people have little or no swelling on their first sting for some reason. Not sure how it works but subsequent stings tend to be more dramatic.

I got stung either by a wasp or a bee. It was hard to tell because I stood on it, completely freaked out, saw something wasp/bee-ish stuck in foot and swatted it off and killed it flat. Then my foot went tingly and kind of went frozen in a claw shape. Eventually relaxed / unfroze after twenty minutes or so. It was very painful.

If it was a bee, I feel remorseful that I stood on it/ killed it. If it was a wasp, I feel nothing but vengeful.

A lot depends on where they get you. I got a bee sting on my wrist that was no biggie, and one on my neck (I think it got a gland) that was swollen and itchy and sore for a week or more.

My oh got a bumble bee sting on his toe knuckle, he was in agony, and his foot swelled up a lot!

It hurts like fuck!!!

Yes, it feels like being burnt, that ooouuff! shock 🤯

Like being jabbed with a shard of glass. I swell up like hell, some don't.

Like a long, painful injection. I reacted badly to it and was swollen and itchy for 2 weeks.

Thank you all even if you are scaring the hell out of me again.

I trod on one on the beach and my first thought was that I’d trodden on glass and slashed my toe. Was so pleased it was just a sting and the pain went away in a few mins. If it had been glass it would have been painful for days and poss needed stitches. Not what you want on holiday!

My ds is a magnet for stinging creatures. Bee stings aren't too bad but he got a wasp sting on his foot last year and his foot swelled up bright red and was painful for a few hours, even after paracetamol and piriton!

I’ll tell you what REALLY hurts...being stung by a hornet! I was attacked by one whilst on a D of E excursion. Put me off nature/being outside for a long time! Evil little bastards.

Apparently, if you have the presence of mind not to swipe away a bee that is stinging you, it will remove the sting and live.