[Newsbot]

Title: Bee stung woman says onion saved her life
Category: Health
Posted By: Strutz
Date: 2010-07-15 09:17:19
Canadian

[Strutz]

I've never heard of onion juice being effective in treating stings. Anyone here ever tried it and does it actually work?

[QBall]

The article states an onion can be used to treat local irritation from a bee sting, which is on the surface of the body. However if you're in anaphylactic shock I don't see how rubbing something on the entry point of the toxin is going to do anything. An Epipen injects epinephrine into the body to combat the shock. I don't see how rubbing an onion on your skin and waiting around for several dozen minutes waiting to see if the juice gets absorbed through the skin and into the bloodstream is the way to go in a life or death situation, assuming it even works (it's sort of like being bitten by a rattle snake and spraying Bactine on the bite to combat the venom). Could the allergy (and the supposed cure) be psychosomatic?

[kenmore]

I have had clients who used home remedies for some things they had while hospitalized. I had a family put an onion plaster on a young guys chest to "cure" a respitory track infection.. it worked according to them. He was started on antibiotics but had only been on them a few days when symptoms stopped. So I guess there is some benefit from home remedies.

[ShepherdsDog]

I highly doubt the veracity of her claim, but whenever I got stung as a child(my granduncle kept bees in our backyard close to his clover fields), my grandmother put a tea bag on the sting. The tannin works effectively as an anti inflammatory. I've only been stung a few times, but I found wasps were worse because they could nail you numerous times, unlike the one time only bee.

[QBall]

Yeah but inflammation around a bee sting area isn't life threatening. Anaphylactic shock is a medical emergency. It's a treat-me-now-or-die situation. That's why I'm having a hard time believing this woman's treatment works as I can't see rubbing an onion around a bee sting being an effective treatment for Anaphylactic shcok. These kinds of stories can give people with bee allergies false hope that there is an alternative to an Epipen.