I'm totally thrilled at how good this works! Got stung by a bee yesterday, in the soft area between my pinkie and ringfinger. I chewed up a few young willow leaves and spat them on there to act as a poultice (willow has painkilling, antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties). After 5 minutes, the pain subsided. I left the green goo on there for another 10 minutes maybe and thought no more about it - there was a very slight swelling yesterday and no more pain.
This morning, the swelling was a lot more pronounced, the area pretty warm to the touch and hurt slightly. I thought I'd try commercial stuff on it this time, first witch hazel (cooled it for a bit, but no lasting effect), then hydrocortisone cream (took a bit of the ouch away but the area was still swollen and hot). After waiting for a more pronounced effect than this for three hours and none appearing, I went and applied another willow spit poultice, leaving it on for 30 minutes this time. Since then, the swelling has gone down, the spot is no hotter than the rest of my hand and it doesn't hurt anymore.
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