I have wondered this for a while now and never had an answer I can rely on - what is it about doc leaves that makes some so good at relieving stinging nettle stings, but not other stings?

Thanks!

I believe it is because a stinging nettle sting is acidic, and doc leaves are alkaline and therefore neutralise the sting. It should work for other stings too provided they are acidic.

You beat me too it!

Xeract is right, some of the stongs it should work for are bees and ants (although I didn't really know ants had much of a sting). It won't work for wasp stings as they are an alkaline, but vinegar will (apparently, I've never tried it) as vinegar is an acid.

Hope that helps!

This was one of the questions in the excellent New Scientist book "Why don't penguins feet freeze" which I would recommend to everyone. Some of the questions seem a bit obscure, but some are things that I have always taken for granted until I read the book.

Fire Ants in the southern United States are notorious for their painful stings. I think Australia has an ant known as the Jack-Jumper which also has a very nasty sting.

Kingfisher

I saw a documentary on fire ants, they cause deaths each year as they frequently bring out violent allergic reactions in people, and as they are so small, people don't realise they are there until its too late.

Also, like bees, they tend to 'swarm' whatever they are attacking. However, fire ants 'bite' first in order to anchor themselves for a sting, so if at all possible, brush off! Fire ants are apparently adapting to cooler climates--it's possible that they will appear in the UK one day .

Kingfisher

Kingfisher

My dog once was overcome by bites or acid stings from some ants when she was routing through long grass one August when they start to fly. She had a major allergic reaction & it nearly killed her. Luckily she survived but all the dock leaves in the world would not have helped because of her hair.
A family member only commented the other day that when her nephew was stung by nettles last week they were hard pressed to find some dock leaves. Does that mean they are on the decline?

Now that you mention it it seems that you don't see them around as much as you used to, but that might be in my imagination as I have not had the cause to look for the m recently.
Where the ants that stung your dog red or black ants?

I think they were black, she came up with large lumps with multiple bites all aroung the base & some in the middle.

This post was last modified: 06-06-2007 04:10 PM by tibbar.