Filed Under "Who Came Up With That??"

This afternoon for the second time in my life I got stung by a bee. (I did not die.)

We were in the pool and as I was climbing out I felt a sharp sting and looked down at my arm and discovered the offending stinger. I was secretly glad it left its stinger in my arm because most likely that means it was a suicide attack.  HA! Die, bee! Die!

Within just a minute or two I had a raised and splotchy welt about 3 inches in diameter. When the initial sting died off, a burning sensation followed.

Nicco looked at my arm and said, "That's terrible, Mom! It hurts me more than it hurts you." Well, I doubt it, but thanks for the empathy.

Patrice suggested vinegar.

I took to the internets and saw a few different places that suggested taping a penny to the sting for 15 minutes.

Huh. A penny. I figured I had nothing to lose. If it worked, awesome! If not, it probably wouldn't get much worse.

I secured a penny to my wound with a band-aid and took it off 15 minutes later.

Believe it or not, the swelling went down, the splotches disappeared, and there was no more burning.(You'll just have to take my word. I tried to take pictures, but it was difficult. None of them turned out.)

The spot is still a little tiny bit tender and who knows whether the symptoms would have lasted beyond the 15 minutes I had the penny on my arm. What I do know is that with the penny, the symptoms disappeared.

So the question of the day is, who was the first person to come up with that solution? How and why did someone think to tape a penny to a bee sting?

Someone should make a Real Men of Genius commercial about Mr. Tape a Penny to a Bee Sting Guy.