Favorite Home Remedies: Dozens of amazing treatments for over 45 common health conditions. With drug costs through the roof, why not give a home remedy a try? Only $12.95 +s/h
Guide to Home Remedies: Learn to make your own low-cost remedies at home for only $2
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Q. I was adjusting my sprinkler timer and did not realize my arm was bumping against a wasp nest. That's how I just got stung on the elbow by four or five wasps.
Last weekend I heard on The People's Pharmacy radio show that people have used soy sauce on burns. I rushed into the house and emptied one of those little soy packs you get with take-out Chinese food. It's not very much, but it reduced the pain by about 90 percent.
A. Thank you for sharing your innovation. We have suggested several other home remedies for wasp stings, ranging from a cut onion to meat tenderizer or baking soda. But we had not imagined using soy sauce on a sting.
Soy sauce is quite helpful in reducing the pain and redness from a burn. A really serious burn requires prompt medical attention, of course, and so would an allergic reaction to an insect sting.
You may be interested in another reader's story, though some maintain this remedy is an urban legend: "Several years ago a woman told our family about the healing virtues of a penny when applied to a bee or wasp sting. Our boys got quite a laugh and often repeated the phrase, 'put a penny on it...put a penny on it.'
"Not long after our conversation, I was stung by a bee, removed the stinger and was alarmed by the terrible pain on my arm. Without hesitating, I taped a penny over the wound. Wouldn't you know, the pain disappeared immediately.
"A year later, my husband was stung while tending his bees. Once again he 'put a penny on it' and cured his pain right away."
Here's another one I can attest to:
Toothpaste (not the gel kind). The lady who used it on my friend's son (she was a school secretary) swore by Colgate brand. It worked almost immediately, and we had already tried lots of other remedies that I can't remember now. I'm sure other brands work too, but I keep a little tube around just for that, and have used several times it to good effect since then.
Last summer, I heard on the Peoples Phamacy radio show about placing a punctured cut lemon on bee stings working to relieve pain and allergic reaction. The next week I was stung by a white-faced hornet, I think. He seemed to attack for no real reason, other than walking close to his locale, and he left the scene promptly. So, I did not get a good look.
MY BACKGROUND (HENCE, MY FEAR): 43 years ago in the north woods of Michigan at the age of 13, I was blueberry picking and encountered an entire hive of ground hornets protecting a very juicy bush full of berries. Startled and backing up, I fell over another plant and they swarmed me stinging me 30 to 40 times. Well, since then, the doctor warned me to carry Epinephrine, fearing a severe allergic reaction similar to what happened that day.
Anyway, I found the lemon treatment for about one-half hour very soothing and I did not have an allergic reaction. In fact, the sting site did not swell much at all nor hurt thereafter. It was very painful at first. The lemon had been in the refrigerator and I think the cold helped, as well. I'm a believer now in lemon power!