Dealing with an allergic reaction to bee or wasp stings

Pediatrician Lawrence Kagan, MD, shares advice for parents on how to best deal with an allergic reaction to a bee or wasp sting in a child, and what the signs of an allergic reaction are
How To Deal With An Allergic Reaction To Bee Or Wasp Stings In Kids
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Dealing with an allergic reaction to bee or wasp stings

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Most bee stings are actually local reactions, and they're nothing more than discomfort. Pain intensifies for one to two hours, and actually, for up to 36 hours, the diameter of the local reaction can increase up to 4 inches. Depending on if a child is scratching or how irritated they are by it, this local reaction can last up to a week, and that would be perfectly normal. Now, worsening pain, pus, fever, things like that could be signs of a secondary bacterial infection that absolutely needs to be evaluated by your pediatrician. Now, how do we differentiate between a local reaction and allergic reaction.? Allergic reaction is going to create symptoms away from the injection site so if you're stung on your leg, but if you have hives on your hands or your other leg or on your body, that's an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions can range from hives to trouble breathing to swelling to low blood pressure to even death. So if you have a child who's experiencing an allergic reaction, I encourage you to give benadryl right away, call 911. If your child has a history of allergic reactions and they have an epi-pen at home, use it. There are good studies that show that it's actually so many people think that oh this one's not that bad and they don't use their epi-pen, and those are the kids that get into trouble.

Pediatrician Lawrence Kagan, MD, shares advice for parents on how to best deal with an allergic reaction to a bee or wasp sting in a child, and what the signs of an allergic reaction are

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Lawrence Kagan, MD

Pediatrician

Lawrence Kagan, MD, FAAP, is a UCLA honors graduate, with a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry. He received medical training at USC Keck School of Medicine, and completed his internship and residency in Pediatrics at Children's Hospital Los Angeles. In addition to passionately studying neonatal, general pediatric and adolescent medicine at CHLA, he had the opportunity to train under some of the greatest minds in subspecialty pediatrics, diagnosing and managing the rarest and most complicated childhood ailments. Prior to opening Westside Pediatrics, he worked as an attending physician at the CHLA Emergency Department as well as at Cedars Sinai Urgent Care. Dr. Kagan is a native of Los Angeles and is happily married with two children.

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Transcription: 
Most bee stings are actually local reactions, and they're nothing more than discomfort. Pain intensifies for one to two hours, and actually, for up to 36 hours, the diameter of the local reaction can increase up to 4 inches. Depending on if a child is scratching or how irritated they are by it, this local reaction can last up to a week, and that would be perfectly normal. Now, worsening pain, pus, fever, things like that could be signs of a secondary bacterial infection that absolutely needs to be evaluated by your pediatrician. Now, how do we differentiate between a local reaction and allergic reaction.? Allergic reaction is going to create symptoms away from the injection site so if you're stung on your leg, but if you have hives on your hands or your other leg or on your body, that's an allergic reaction. Allergic reactions can range from hives to trouble breathing to swelling to low blood pressure to even death. So if you have a child who's experiencing an allergic reaction, I encourage you to give benadryl right away, call 911. If your child has a history of allergic reactions and they have an epi-pen at home, use it. There are good studies that show that it's actually so many people think that oh this one's not that bad and they don't use their epi-pen, and those are the kids that get into trouble.