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Q. Last week a red wasp stung my finger. It had gotten in one of the drawers in my bathroom and nailed me when I reached for my hairbrush. That hurt so much! Within minutes my whole finger was twice its size and I could not do anything for the excruciating pain as my entire hand started to swell.
In desperation I went online looking for something to help and found your website after 30 agonizing minutes. I cut an onion and started rubbing the cut end on the sting. Within seven minutes the pain began to ease and within 30 the pain was almost gone. The swelling had subsided by almost half and I was able to get ready for work.
I taped the onion on my finger and within a couple of hours all of the swelling was gone. Onion works well for a red wasp sting.
A. We have been writing about raw onion for stings for more than 20 years. Eric Block, PhD, is one of the world's leading experts on onion chemistry. He told us that onions contain an enzyme that can break down the inflammatory compounds that cause pain and swelling in response to a sting.
If you like such approaches, we have many more sting solutions and hundreds of other simple treatments in our new book from National Geographic (The People's Pharmacy Quick & Handy Home Remedies). Although such therapies can help many, those who are allergic to insect stings must be alert for a life-threatening reaction called anaphylactic shock. This requires an epinephrine injection and emergency medical attention.
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I wonder if using onion on ant bites would be effective, too. Ants and wasps are related. I have terrible reactions to both and will try onion on my bites next time.
Will any type onion work?
I'd not heard of onions fighting insect stings. Thanks for that. I use meat tenderizer, and make a wet poultice of it I use a bandaid to keep it on a few minutes. I find it always works for me if I can put it on before the swelling starts. It stops the sting almost immediately..
Toothpaste also works. I've tried it for stings and it takes the pain away in minutes.
Yup onion works for insect bites. We've had it in my tradition for years and it works!! try it on a mosquito bites :D
My 14 month old son was stung 5 times on the arm. My sister-in-law rubbed a sliced onion over the inflamed area and right away the inflammation and swelling went away. All you could see were five dots where the wasp stung him and that was it! He was running and playing afterwards like nothing ever happened. We instantly called his doctor and were on the look out for an allergic reaction but thankfully everything ended well.