I'm allergic to bees. An epipen is awkward to carry and I dont like getting it hot. If some of you are alleric to bees, what do you carry. I carry a couple Benadryll with me. I'm paranoid of one of them flying into be a stinging me while I'm riding. Anyone here have any experience with this???

Thanks,

Ray

I'm mildly allergic. The bites get really swollen and nasty and stay that way for over a week. I've also gotten mildly light headed after being stung.

If you are seriously allergic, you need to get a hypo of epinephrine(?) and know how to use it in an emergency.

The OP mentioned that an epipen is cumbersome to carry.

But if you are that allergic, you should probably find someway of keeping one on you.

if you dont have go out for hours at the time , you can carry your epipen in your back pocket, as long as the temperature is not below 59 degrees or above 86.

if you are going to be out for a long period of time and know you have a life threatning allergie to bee stink, you should definitly carry it although you may not like to carry it, it shouldnt even be a choice and for that, you can find some sort of little case ( made of material) you can store crushed ice in a plastic baggie on one side of the wallet and your epipen on the other, that way your epipen wont overheat and it wont get too cold since the ice would be on the other side of the wallet and it should fit in your back pocket or the bag attached to your bike.

but of course if it's for hours at the time, you need to find a way to refill the ice! but a stop at a store to keep that epipen working is worth it, since we're talking about your life here.
minor adjustments, but it's duable

Extremely.
I carry an epipen with 2 benadryll in the case. If you're allergic and don't carry one you're a fool. Make sure you carry benedryl in your epipens or once the addren wears off you're going to be in bad shape again.

I've been stung on two occassions while riding, once in the mouth and once in the arm. I didn't have an epipen on the former occassion and it almost got ugly since we were mtn biking and 20 mins from the cars and another 15 from civilization.
I've had mine in plenty of hot situations many times over and over and over and they never darken which is the sign it's gone bad. I leave a couple in my med kit in the car and that gets to well over 100f in the summer. I wouldn't worry too much about the temperature.

carry mine in one of my pocket jersey's as well as my cell phone.
I take my epi kit with me rather hot or cold weather.

MS 150 ride in June I got stung 3 times in the neck, stopped used my epi-kit popped the needle into my quad, ride marshall's stopped called the paramedics, checked me out and said I should wait or not ride.
Anyway went and finished the ride but @ 3 of the rest area's/stops the paramedics were looking for me and I stopped to let them check me out..
Finished the ride with no side-effects even though the ride was a lot slower than I anticipated

No

I do, my daughter had one go bad and leak after bring it to the beach for a couple hours last year.

In 20 years of carrying them I've never had a single one go bad and I've never once given them any attention at all with regard to temperature.

same thing happened with her, we have carried it for 12 years and never thought twice until that incident, never again would I do that in hot temperature, she's my baby, what if she had needed it?
I cant take that chance. talked to the allergiste and she told us how to take care of it in hot temps, it does happend fellows...Im going to do anything I can to not let it happend again

I'm not that allergic to bees, but once I was riding and got stung in the mouth. Didn't hurt much, but my tongue felt like it had a golf ball in it. However, I did get to spit a bee out of my mouth, which was a bit weird. Anyway, back to topic, if you're allergic enough that you need to carry an epipen, you NEED to carry an epipen. Benedryl orally, and alone, probably wont cut it if you're that allergic.

If you don't like carrying an EPI-Pen than carry a will.

Glad I'm not allergic, because I got stung on my ride this afternoon, right on the forehead. The thing flew right in my face and got stuck under my helmet and stung me.

I was always afraid to get the Epipen in the heat afraid it would go bad. I didnt know what it looked like if it went bad and was afraid to shoot myself with it and make the situation worse. If I get stung only once, I have a bit of trouble breathing. Two or three stings and I cant breathe hardly at all. I always carry two or three Benadryll no matter what. I appreciate all your input and I'll feel easier about carrying the Epipen in my jersey pocket.

Be safe and stay cool,

Ray

A few months ago I rounded a corner at 20 mph and rode smack into a swarm of bees. The city had just knocked down a beehive and in a matter of seconds I was covered in them, 20-30 crawling into my helmet vents.

Luckily I'm not allergic, but keep in mind that these things do happen.

thankfully no, cause i got stung on the leg on my ride this afternoon.

I am supposed to be allergic but I have been stung at least 5 times in the last 10 years with no adverse reactions.
I think you can have a test performed by your doctor to determine how allergic you are.

not everything that stings is a honeybee. Yellow jackets are mean and they don't die when they've stung you, hence they have "attitude" that the gentler bees don't have.
I have a small bee yard in my back field and usually get 10-20 stings a weekend. It hurts and will itch for a few days but nothing compared to hornets!

Please, please please carry an epipen, especially if you are by yourself. Benadryl WILL NOT SAVE YOUR LIFE or abort an anaphylactic reation if you have one!!!! And yes, I am a physician, and yes, I know this from experience as well as review of the literature on it.

I also just got stung by a wasp (although thankfully I am not allergic) a few days ago on my ride and it itches like nothing I have ever felt before.

I'm not allergic, but if I was, I'd carry one. I got stung twice about halfway through a road race out in the middle of nowhere. I often wind up riding places with little or no cell reception, many miles away from the nearest hospital. I wouldn't bet on Benadryl alone.

My boyfriend was allergic to honeybees and got the desensitizing shots when he was a kid (dad kept bees). He doesn't know the eficacy of the shots at this point, twenty five years later, but he carries the pink benadryl with him. He caught a wasp in the mouth last month and the benadryls made him a little goofy but he was able to get home okay and zonked out on the couch afterward.

I never leave home without the Epi. I carry it in the tool bag and leave it there so I never forget it. Had to use it once on a ride, but if I didn't and passed out while riding, my wife would have killed me if the bee sting didn't.
Never worried about the heat but I will now. I replace mine every two years.

glad you chimes in Doc!
I always shake my head when I hear people talking about benadryl for a substitute, those who can deal with an allergic reaction from bee sting with benadryl obviously are not suffering from a life threatning allergie, benadryl will not take care of an anaphylactic reaction and because you give yourself the epipen also doesnt mean that it will garantie saving your life either, in most case it does but for some it buys them time to make it to the hospital for further treatments.

Thanks for the info Doc. Its awkward to carry, but my main reason for not carrying it was, I didn't know what the heat would do to it, and if the heat ruined it, would that make the situation worse if I injected it. I know now I can carry it and not have to worry.

Thanks for all your input and concern. You all are great and I'm proud to be a member of a forum with such good people.

Thanks again,

Ray

Just an FYI - wasps can easily sting thru jerseys. One flew onto my chest this Summer and when the deal was done, he had stung me 3 times on my left oblique muscle. I don't like wasps.