Natural First Aid for Bites and Stings

Are you surprised that I might give you some pearls in the form of health tips? Then you probably haven't read my profile :-) In some parts of the world it will soon be summer, so I thought it might be helpful to focus on insect bites etc... When our son was just five years old and learning to ride his first mini-bike, my husband took him to a reserve with plenty of room and a nice little hill. Attempting to negotiate that rise, our son was supposed to open the throttle just a little to get a good run up, but his run up the hill turned into a jump across it - straight into a bull ant's nest. While superboy ended up with a couple of quickly forgotten bruises, his father suffered quite some time from a number of bull ant bites. Had I known then what I know now, those bites would have been little more than a momentary inconvenience.

Some years later, an old bushie told me about his secret weapon: Coke, Coca Cola or Pepsi, diet or normal, they all seem to work like a treat. We always keep a can in our first aid kit, and as soon as anyone suffers a bull ant bite, wasp attack, or (non-deadly :-) scorpion sting, we run for the can, shake it vigorously, open it, and spray the Coke all over the bite area. The result is amazing: hardly any swelling, pain or itching. It seems to work for bee stings as well, although I first scrape away the stinger without squeezing more poison into the skin. By the way, Coke or Pepsi also helps to remove dead insects from the windscreen or front bumper of our car. Spray, soak, and easily wash away! I wish you all sparkling health!

Cheers, Margaret