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natural epi pen?
Topic Started: May 8 2011, 08:33 AM (2,348 Views)
Raven
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Anyone have any idea what I could use as a natural alternative to an epi pen...turns out that I might be allergic to bees. I found this out when installing the package bees into our hive. Other beekeepers are saying that the bees are particularly angry this year.
Epi pens are only good for one year (supposedly) and you have to get a new perscription each year. Insurance won't cover it because they are considered "preventative" and not curative. They aren't cheap either! Any thoughts would be appreciated.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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I'll do a bit of research, but my off the cuff answer would be that there isn't truly an alternative. The fast action of the drug and instant delivery of the "pen" is what makes it effective. To counter anaphylactic shock you don't have time for anything slower. Also, there is some evidence that an allergic person's reactions to being stung get more severe and happen faster with each incident. However, there has been some research into desensitizing therapy using bee venom. I don't know how well that works, I do know it takes time and dedication as you have to do it over quite a period of time and in very tiny doses. Also, I am pretty sure insurance wouldn't pay for it as it too would be "preventive" treatment. I will do some digging and see if I can come up with anything that a person could do as a preventive measure or if there is some other treatment that works. In the meantime, I knew of a guy that used to take a boom box with soothing violin music out to the hives whenever he had to work around them. He claimed it was soothing to the bees (or maybe it just made him calmer?) Anyway, he swore by it! Oh, that and the hat with the netting would be good!! Just sayin.....
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Grizzly
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Yea, well she was wearing the veil and some how got stung on top of her head. I was standing next to her with only my everyday clothes on when she takes off running and leaves me standing there holding the hive. I thought, oh great now there going to turn on me next, but they never bothered me at all. I've done this often but there are certain times when you should suit up cause there isn't too much warning when they become upset. Anyway, she was fine till evening when the side off her face started swelling. She still went to work that night and about an hour later they were driving her home. I came out and her whole face was like a ball. Both eyes swollen shut! Three days before she could open both eyes again. I'm going to get a very good bee suit for her before she is allowed near them again. She seems to get stung often but I've only had it happen once in a while. I know what she went through cause last year I got stung near my eye and had no problem till the next morning when I couldn't open my eye (looked like she did) but it went away the next day. Oh the fun of bee keeping. We don't want to scare anyone away from it cause it is kind of a neat hobby and can be a money maker if you really get advanced with it. But becomming dead from it may be a deterent to some.
Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns
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Mommacat
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Maybe she smells better than you, Griz?!? No, wait, that isn't what I mean, I mean maybe she smells more flower-like than you!! ROFLMAO But actually, I think bees would be a perfect prepper enterprise - you get the honey, but you'd also get the wax, which has many uses - a source of light for one. Also, if you have fruit trees and shrubs, the bees are very necessary. According to the U of M, our wild honey bee population is seriously declining and I suppose if we're going to be good stewards of the land, we should at least try to keep that little eco-system going.
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Raven
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Unfortunately we live near Mr Monsanto's field...if spraying will kill it, more spray will kill it deader. I have yet to have any luck in wintering the bees over but I have heard of people putting the bees in a shed over the winter and if things get that bad it is an option. There is a federal law that says that numb nuts out there can't spray pesticide within a certain distance of my bees and the wind has to be just so etc. No one of course takes it seriously (but the beekeeper). This morning he was out if a decent breeze spraying ammonia all over...that shit STINKS. The warning labels on the tanks, of course, are ment as only suggestions.
In the meantime, I think I will have to scrounge up an epi pen...just in case.
Edited by Raven, May 9 2011, 08:07 AM.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Grizzly
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Smells more flower-like?? HA, more like pig sh@t. Maybe they think they're being attacked. As for the bees wax, I'm planning on putting together a solar wax melting box. There's not much to them and the bee shops have a crazy price on them. I'll put it in the green house so it should work twice as fast. I checked into candle wick cord and they aren't cheap either but I think it would be a good idea to have some on hand. Not planning on buying any candle molds though. We could use almost anything for that. Soup cans, toilet and paper towel card board rolls, I'm sure they're are many more ideas. I never knew, till recently, bees wax candles don't smoke. that's why churches use only them.
Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns
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Mommacat
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You are SOOOO gonna be sorry when Raven reads that, Grizzly!! As for using other things as molds, I have a kind of a foggy, not real specific memory of reading somewhere that you must dip bees wax candles because if you just pour the wax into a mold, it burns down too fast, or won't stay lit, something.... I could be wrong about that, but there must be some reason why any candle that has a label that says "hand-dipped" is ten times as expensive!! But, at any rate, its cool to know that the candles are smokeless, which means they could be used in close quarters without ill effects.

But, in thinking about candles, does anybody remember the hippie days and "rolled" candles? You took melted wax and put it in a shallow pan so it was only about 1/8" deep and let it cool just a bit, not so long that it hardened, cool enough to handle but still warm enough to be pliable. Then, you flipped it out of the pan, lay a length of wick at the very edge of one end, pressed it into the warm wax, then rolled it up like you would a cinnamon roll. After it hardened, it looked kinda cool and it didn't matter if there were little spaces between the layers cuz as the candle burned the melted wax filled them in. LOL Perhaps I had too much time on my hands when I was in my early 20s??

But, on a more serious note, this thread got me to thinking that it might be a wise move for a person to lay in some paraffin (for those of us not fortunate enough to have bees) and some wicking. We all think about oil lamps and etc., but the truth is, if a post-SHTF situ went on for a couple years, we may be out of fuel and down to relying on daylight. Non-food grade paraffin used to be pretty cheap and the wicking wasn't too bad if a person bought it in a larger quantity roll (the pre-cut kind is very expensive - some of it even has a little metal thingy on the end for people that can't find the bottom (with both hands!! LOL). But, candles would certainly be a better alternative than pine pitch torches, especially for reading in bed!
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Grizzly
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I started looking up different candle supply sites and found things like bulk wick is wayyy cheaper than at the bee supply shops. There are different sizes of wicks for different sizes of candles so one has to plan ahead as to what sizes you'll need. I was also thinking of getting paraffin to have around. You need alot of bees to get much wax.
Don't recall the rolled candles. You sure they were candles you were rolling??? Were you smoking any of those "candles"??? HA, your cornered now.
Our ancestors left Europe to get away from this crap...as seen on a bumpersticker fns
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Raven
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They still sell the waxed sheets to make the rolled candles. The problem with mold candles isn't the not burning well...it is because you have to make sure that the wick that you use is for the diameter of candle that you are making. Too small of wick and it won't burn, too large of wick and you will burn the candle down quickly.
Apparently this pig sh@t scented person has to get ready for work...at least he can't complain that I sit on my ovaries all day watching soaps and getting my nails painted.
The truth is not for all men, but only for those that seek it. Ayn Rand
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Mommacat
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Oh, I didn't realize that it came in sheets - we made our own sheets by melting wax in the oven. And, that makes sense about the wick size - thanks! As for just exactly what I was rolling way back then - that could just be another of those foggy, nothing specific memories of mine!! LOL
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