What's the worst sting or bite you've ever had?

[bottlenose301]

I've been stung by jellyfish, wasps, bumble bees, and bitten by spiders (not big huge ones), red ants, mosquitos and those bitey flies. Oh and the odd cats and dogs.

For me the worst by far was the bumblebee. I put my hand on it not seeing it there and it hurt sooooooo much. Like my hand was on fire or something. I don't really remember completely what the actual pain felt like that as it was years ago but I do remember that it hurt like nothing else and for ages too. Poor thing didn't even mean to sting me, I put my hand on it!

Jellyfish did hurt but not agony - it was only one of those small ones you get. (In France)

Red ants can hurt and itch like mad too.

What's the most painful bite or sting you've ever had?

I have pet snakes and I used to have one who had mildly venomous fangs. I mean, he could have killed a baby mouse with them, but they're not on the CITES list of venomous species because it's such a rubbish venom. Anyway - it turns out I'm allergic to it, because when he tagged me one day, my hand and arm swelled up to the elbow. It looked ridiculous, like I had a baseball mitt under my skin. It didn't actually hurt but it was extremely annoying!

It's never much fun being bitten by even a non-venomous snake. It does happen occasionally and it tends to bleed a lot, which makes it look worse than it really is.

Weaver. I couldn't even stand up. I nearly threw up from the pain. I say this as someone with brittle bones disease who is usually quite tolerant of discomfort!

Many years ago, in the garden, I was bitten on the calf by I know not what. There was no pain, as I recall, but the saucer sized swelling was hot, hard and tight.
A course of antibiotics didn't work and the bite became infected - developing into a delightful abscess, removed under general anaesthetic.

Reading this thread leads me to suspect the evil bastard might have been a horse fly.

Sandflies are maddeningly itchy. I remember lieing fully clothed in a river to try and cool the itching.

I get bitten by red ants or other small insects in the garden and usually have cellulitis needing antibiotics every year. If it starts spreading before getting medication, it is very painful and I can't walk or even get shoes on.

Wasp on the eyelid. It got caught under the lens of my sunglasses and panicked (can’t say I was all that calm myself!). It hurt. And I looked like I’d been punched for a good three or four days.

Generally though, horseflies - I recant really badly to those. I got one on the arch of my foot last year and I hardly slept all nights due to the itching - even with antihistamine tablets and cream, and paracetamol and a cold wet cloth on it. It was horrendous!

Brown recluse spider. Helping my friend take firewood in. I felt a bit of a zing when placing the last log. Woke up three hours later with a hugely swollen hand. I felt very unwell. Finally, went to ER when my hand and arm were so swollen I couldn’t bend it. Ended up on a drip with antibiotics and painkillers. My hand peeled in layers as it healed, like a bad sunburn.

I'm also someone who always gets bitten and always comes up with a horrible reaction.

Worst one was definitely wasp at the back of my mouth. I was on my own and genuinely thought I was going to die as I could feel my tongue swelling up. 999 said it wasn't an emergency as I could still speak....

My husband sat on a sea anemone when we were skinny dipping on our honeymoon. It took a little romance out of it when he was lying buttocks-up in the medical centre having a big needle stuck in. He still has a little lump where it was. I can hear him now, 15 years later: 'my bottom's been decidedly stung'

Not technically a sting but I had a brush with Giant Hogweed when I was a child - huge, bulging blisters appeared on my legs. Apparently they are burns because the plant makes you photosensitive. If you don't know what it looks like, google it and avoid!

@AlCalavicci

Horse fly about 25 years ago it bite me on the side of my knee the my leg swelled from half way down my calf / shin to half way up me thigh. the skin was so tight I could not bend my leg and it was incredibly hot and pain full, and itchy It took a visit to the doc for strong antihistamine , then to the hospital to get the bite drained and dressed and about two weeks before it started to go down . it was 2 months before my leg looked anything like normal . I still have a lump about the size of a 50p under my skin.

I have been bitten by the little swines before and had a lump and itch for a few days but nothing like that.

And a few nights ago i got bitten 3 times on on foot and once on the other just while I was hanging some washing out , they itched for days too

Exactly the same thing happened to me, right down to the lump where it scarred (I was bitten about 20 years ago!).

Mosquitos in Singapore here too, each individual bite wasn’t too bad, but I had so many they sort of joined together in to one puss filled mega bite on each leg. I tried counting, had at least 20 on each leg plus a few on each arm. Horribly itchy and I only had shorts or tight jeans with me so had to buy an emergency pair of loose trousers as legs looked so hideous!

I recently had a tic attached to my side. I thought it was a mole as I couldn't see properly. DH came home and he was like 'err.. Lovelise, its got legs' 🤢 It was quite painful pulling it out, the little bugger didn't want to let go.

Horsefly for me. I was sitting astride a particularly jumpy pony, so trying not to make a fuss, and I could feel its bastard fangs or whatever the hell they have sinking into my ankle.

Still, many of these sound horrific. I never want to meet a tsetse fly, nor a mango fly (is that what the poor woman on here had burrowed in her arm last year or so? )

If you get a tick, it's worth trying tiger balm or Vicks in a circle round it. They don't like the fumes and may decide just to detach themselves, which means less risk of any of it being left behind than if you remove it. Ticks can be vectors for various diseases, so keep an eye on the appearance of the bite and any other symptoms.

I've never had to do this but a friend of the family's son in the US got a particularly nasty tick that had to be removed by the hospital.

He got another but a friend took him to friend's gran, who touched it with a lit cigarette, the thing pulled its head in and jumped off.

Pic for any bite sporners, you can see the recent bites and then below my knee the scars from the year before.

I discovered the plastic bracelet insect replants and now wear one on my ankle.

He got another but a friend took him to friend's gran, who touched it with a lit cigarette, the thing pulled its head in and jumped off.

Don't ever do that with a tick. They can regurgitate the stomach contents into the wound which makes it more likely that you'll develop an infection.

Jelly fish in Corsica. It felt like being electrocuted. Ever sympathetic DH told me I had imagined it. Then he was stung and it was a major medical emergency. Similarly, I was stung by a wasp in bed (this has happened to me twice, the only two times I’ve ever been stung by a wasp), massive wasp inside my pyjamas stung me, early one morning. DH’s reaction? “What time is it”?

A Gympie Gympie stinging tree in Australia. Horrific.

theconversation.com/the-worst-kind-of-pain-you-can-imagine-what-its-like-to-be-stung-by-a-stinging-tree-103220

My most serious was a tick bite. I ended up with a systemic infection that nearly had me admitted with an IV drip.
The most painful was a bastard wasp that stung me in my armpit.

What is it with Australia and all the different ways you can be bitten, stung or envenomated??

Jellyfish on my face when I was a kid...
Most recently ended up in hospital on antibiotics with some kind of unidentified bite that got infected and made me very poorly.

A Spanish wasp, on my back. The bugger was on the back of my chair and I leant back on it. Hurt like fuck at the time - far worse than the UK version! I had an allergic reaction to him too (clearly he wasn’t fond of me either!) so it hurt for ages afterwards too

I've a few, biggest reaction horse fly it looked like I had a cricket ball under my skin. Most painful a pea crab, it's just like it sounds but their pincers are like needles. Itchiest mozzie bites.

Probably a tie between a horsefly bite and a weever fish.