I first got stung by a bee when I was about five. I think it's a bee anyway  - I didn't actually see it, not that my ability to identify a bee vs. a wasp was reliable at that age!  I was Ok, though. I remember my mother putting a baking soda and water paste on it.  It seemed to help, and I was fine, and went on my merry way.

I first got stung by a wasp when I was about 7, when I got too close to an active nest. Two stung me on my back. I got two huge welts (6-8 inches across) where they got me. But everything was fine.

I next got stung when I was home on vacation from college, and I was OK then too, but I felt a little funny.  And from then on, whenever I got stung, I actually felt a little funny. Mom even called the doctor to double check. I recovered after 30 minutes or so. At the time, my mother and I both chalked it up to a fear-based psychosomatic reaction, but in retrospect, I'm not so sure.

Then, when I was 30, we moved into our home in the woods of NJ, and during the 4 years we lived there, I got stung at least once per summer. We had hornets building full-fledged nests next to our driveway, and hanging from our eaves. We tried to leave the nest next to the driveway alone, as it was impressive and beautiful, but they freaked out during a storm, and 5-6 hornets entered our house threw an airconditioner.  In 4 years, we located, and eradicated at least 5 in-ground yellow-jacket nests (YJ are the WORST - meanest bugs ever).  We had to clean out paper wasp nests from our wood pile ever year as well.   Then in 2004, I was out watering the plants at dusk, and did so while unknowingly standing on a paving/stepping stone that formed the roof of a yellow-jacket nest.  Two of them stung me, one on each calf.  I came inside and attempted to use my mother's baking-soda-and-water remedy, but my husband had to help, as the only position that would work was if I was lying face down on the floor.  After 10 minutes or so, I got up, and noticed that I was ITCHING.  My groin and genitals.  My face. My ear canals.  It was an incredibly intense itch, too. My face was also red, and a little puffy.

Then all of a sudden, I felt an sudden and irresistable urge to lie down.  THAT got my husband worried.  He looked up sting reactions on the internet, and came back 2 minutes later, white as a sheet.  He said "It COULD be psychosomatic, I suppose, but you've got many of the classic symptoms of a systemic allergic reaction. We're going to the hospital."

My husband, two kids and I got in the car and rushed to Princeton Medical center, where I was evaluated and found to have low (though not dangerously) blood pressure and anaphalaxis, and taken to the front of the queue.  I was put on oxygen, a heart monitor, and given a shot of epinephrine which really got me revved up. Then they injected me with benedryl which slowed me way down at the same time. It wasn't fun. They also gave me something to settle my stomach. They would also have given me a steroid to combat any swelling of my airways, but I was on oral cortesone for a poison ivy reaction, so they decided against it.  Somewhere along the way, I discovered that I had hives all over my belly and back.

The ER doc told me to find myself an allergist, and released me after 3 hours.  The next day, I felt HORRIBLE (Epi causes a "crash" of certain brain chemicals that leaves you feeling like a train wreck).  The allergy testing was NOT fun - I got stuck 32 times! I was found to be allergic to ALL OF THEM!  Bees, wasps, yellow jackets, and 2 kinds of hornets.

I've had the treatment - I'm still getting shots ever 6 weeks, but I still carry the epipens as a precaution. They are in a pouch, clipped inside my purse.

Word of warning - MAKE SURE YOUR PENS ARE SECURE -FINDABLE, BUT SECURE!  I once dropped my pens outside an elementary school - a kid turned it in to the office, and the office ladies recognized what they were, and turned them in to the nurse, who locked them up.  She returned them to me, when I came frantically looking for them.  I was having horrible visions of a couple of 4th graders horsing around and injecting each other or something, and epinephrine is DANGEROUS for anyone not in anaphalaxis, and can cause arhythmias and even cardiac arrest.  And this was an adult dose, not a child's dose, and it would have been my fault, if anything happened. Ever since then, I make sure my pens are actually CLIPPED into my purse, so they can't fall out.