A dab of bleach on a cotton swab - presto! Gone.

I tried most remedies, but nothing seemed to work. After 6 hours of still experiencing the sting, trying to ignore the pain, I began to read about my recent purchase of ecloths. Zappo. A light bulb went off! I rubbed an ecloth over my fingers about 20 times, then repeated this. The sting disappeared nearly instantaneously! Note that an ecloth is not the same as a microfiber cloth.

Clairabelle, I imagine that your husband got a dose of Benadryl antihistamine at the hospital. Over-the-counter antihistamines are recommended by WebMD, The Children's Hospital in Denver, and countless other internet sites. Here's what the Children's Hospital at the University of Michigan has to say about what to do for children with a severe allergic reaction (trouble breathing or passing out): Call 911 IMMEDIATELY. Give epinephrine (requires prescription) Give an antihistamine - If you have Benadryl at home, give it. Treat stings - If a bee stinger is left in the skin, remove it. Do this by scraping the stinger off with a knife blade or credit card rather than by squeezing it. Many sites recommend acetaminophen or ibuprofen. The only time I take aspirin (acetyl salicylic acid) is when stung so I'd go with the anti-inflammatory ibuprofen to help reduce the swelling before just trying to kill the pain with acetaminophen. Aspercreme has trolamine salicylate as a topical analgesic. Many liniments contain methyl salicylate including BenGay, Icy Hot, Mentholatum Deep Heat. There are a number of different Tiger Balm products. Some do not contain any salicylate analgesics. A bag of frozen vegetables will help with the immediate pain and swelling. Solarcaine sunburn spray does a good job with stopping the pain and I can find 2 eight year-olds to testify to that. I have a certain amount of allergic reaction to bee stings. My wife claims that 2 stings will kill me but I've never been stung by more than 1 bee at a time. As a child, my mother would use the baking soda paste . . . absolutely zero help. Lucky I didn't die before antihistamines came into common use. Steve

The first time I was ever stung, I was 3 years old and sat on a bee when I was sitting down on the grass next to the garden to pick peas. I ran in SCREAMING, and (when they finally figured out what was wrong) my parents put the baking soda paste on itand it did nothing. I think that bee sting is my first "real" memoryÂthatÂs not from pictures! So baking soda didnÂt work for me, but I definitely want to agree with what David said about ammonia. Years ago I bought an expensive little applicator thingie called Afterbite. It worked for mosquito and ant bites, but I used it up very quickly and since I didnÂt want to spend a bunch more for another one, I tried to figure out what was in it. There was no list of ingredients, and the only thing that I could clearly smell was ammonia, so the next time I got a mosquito bite I saturated a folded up little square of paper towel with ammonia and plastered it over the mosquito bite. NO ITCHING! It really works. Try it, youÂll like it! As a kid I cut the grass barefoot and stepped on multiple bees every summer. Baking soda didnÂt work, so I started running the garden hose cold water over my foot each time, and in 15 minutes the "sting" would go awayÂand IÂd finish the grass! Then, for 10 years or so, I never got stungÂturned into a shoe-wearing city girl! Then one fine day when I happened to go outside barefoot I stepped on a beeÂor somethingÂnever did see it. I ran in and stuck my foot in the sink and ran cold water over it, but it felt very strangeÂdifferent than it had when I was a kid. By the next morning my entire leg was swollen up, all the way up to my hip, and it ITCHED FROM THE INSIDE OUT! We went to an emergency room and they said I was allergic to bees and gave me a tetanus shot and antihistaminesÂwhich did absolutely nothing for the itching. It took nearly a week for it to go away, and my foot was so swollen up that I couldnÂt put anything but the loosest sandals on. After that I got and carried a bee sting kit with me for years, but the next time I got stung I was working at the first garden center here in Denver, and when it happened I sat down with my bee sting kit and waited to start going into anaphylactic shock! One of the other girls got me some ice which I put on it immediately, and I never did have any trouble with breathing, so I didnÂt stick the needle in myself! ThatÂs when I discovered that if I got ice on it IMMEDIATELY, the venom absorbed slowly enough that I didnÂt get all swollen up, and I didnÂt itch! I kept the ice on it for almost 24 hoursÂI was afraid to take it off. Ever since then IÂve used the ice method whenever I get stung. I worried for years that since I hadnÂt been at all allergic for 20-some years, that the allergy I had developed that caused the swelling and itching could suddenly worsen to an anaphylactic reaction type allergy, but IÂve had a doctor tell me that that rarely happens. I donÂt carry a bee sting kit anymore, but I do still worry a little bit when I get stung, and I get ice on it right away. All that being said, itÂs been years now since IÂve been stung, which is pretty amazing considering how many bees IÂm around out in the yard, especially around the veggies. ItÂs pretty amazing how if you just leave them along, they leave you alone. I think youÂre pretty unlikely to get stung unless you accidentally squoosh them somehowÂlike swatting at them, or grabbing themÂlike you accidentally did, Bonnie, or getting them inside your clothes somehow, like you did, Alice (thatÂs how I got stung at the garden centerÂit got inside my sleeve). But one other thing I want to mention. DonÂt assume that just because a bee is dead, it canÂt sting! That might sound ridiculous, but another time, years agoÂand before I had discovered the ice methodÂI sat down on the carpet by the slider and put my hand down on the carpet and got stung. When I looked, there was the back half of a DEAD bee stuck to my hand. Apparently I put my hand on it just the right way that it "self injected!" That time I guess I figured that since it was dead it wouldnÂt be a problem, but the next day my hand and arm, up to my elbow, were all swollen and itching! Whoda thunk a dead bee could sting??? So I know better now, and even when I see a dead bee laying somewhere, I pick it up and dispose of it VERY carefully! IÂve never even tried the ammonia method on bees, David. Just never thought of it! But next time I get stungÂand IÂm sure there will be a next timeÂIÂm gonna put an ammonia patch under the ice and see how much difference it makes. IÂm still gonna use the ice, since IÂm allergic, but maybe the ammonia will "fix it" faster! Skybird