Stings--variable venom?

[winginit]

Do some strains of bees have more venom? Is this why the old beekeeper that sold me one of my hives is rabid about wearing his suit?

Worked my bees today, wearing a suit, and got two stings. First one was through the suit on my underarm (must have crushed her), typical in that it felt more like a pin prick, hurt for ten seconds then pretty much no more pain. I can't even find it now.

Second one hurt a LOT more, and immediately. I brushed it off but maybe not the stinger--it's hard to get to that through a sock. That will teach me to not forget the boots. Now it hurts to walk, I have more swelling than usual (but not horrible), and a purple mark that is starting to creep. BF thinks it's a snake bite LOL. I didn't think it was a hornet but I didn't exactly stop and examine it.

Nothing like Rail's symptoms. But odd that the pain and reaction were so different, even given differing times the stinger may have been in.

[iddee]

Individual bee's venom will vary from the same hive. They don't have to be different strains.

[blanc]

Been stung about ten times past couple weeks and some spots are more sensitive than others but on a whole my body has built up pretty good immunity to them. Carry around benadryl with me when doing cutouts just in case of a bad reaction. I have heard to keep a lot of vitamin C in your body to help your immune system out.