Holly stings?

rosie383

I got properly prickled by holly in the garden 2 days ago and now my hands and arms look like I'm covered in mosquito bites.
I can't find anything about this online but I'm sure that it was the holly that was the culprit.
I was wearing gardening gloves, long sleeves and a thin coat.

Is this normal? I'm putting aloe vera on them as they are quite sore and a bit itchy.

madjackslam

Although this is from a US website, and not a massively authoritative one, it makes sense to me "The tips of holly leaves are sharp enough to puncture the skin. ... Sometimes, the puncture itself is the only injury. In other cases, histamine is released; the victim has a puncture wound plus local itching. And, any break in the skin can lead to infection."
My garden is full of brambles, wild roses, hawthorn, holly and other scratchy things, and though I wear gloves most of the time, I know for the first couple of days of the next week, I'll have itchy/sore "bites" where I've been attacked. I normally put an antihistamine cream on if they're itchy, or savlon if they look like they might get infected. Sounds like your case is a bit more widespread so something like piriton would help too. Keep an eye on it to make sure it's getting better not worse, and seek medical advice (ie, not from us lot!) if worse.

rosie383

Thanks MJS.
It seems like a histamine reaction. I've taken antihistamines the past 2 days but more and more are popping up and getting quite angry looking. Savlon is a good idea.
I'm just surprised how nasty these are. Will get hubby to do any holly stuff next time as he is a much less allergic person than me.

DigForVictory

My neighbours let me lop their variegated holly each year as he's definitely allergic to it but OK with the ordinary green holly. I get the stripey seasonal decorations, & trim it tidy, we're all happy.

Do please keep an eye on these 'bites' as they should be calming after 48 hours, especially with antihistamines?

rosie383

Now there's a thing. Usually it's the variegated one that I get prickled by and haven't had a problem. This was a green one that was growing over some rhubarb crowns.
Will get hubby to put the remaining bits into the bin once it gets emptied this week.
I will keep an eye on them. They are acting in the same way that mozzie bites usually do with me. Nothing for a day or two, then they start to come up. Should start to settle down soon hopefully. I'm not feeling very well (not very unwell, just not great) so I'm wondering if it has a kind of systemic affect as well as a local reaction.
I'm a nurse so I will know if I need to do anything more so don't be worrying!

Apodemus

I did my holly a couple of weeks ago, with a ladder leaning well into the tree. As usual, it was only getting into the shower that night I realised just how punctured I was!

With regard to using antihistamines, if you do have a skin response to the holly prickles, it is possible that by the time you realise you have a problem it is already too late for antihistamine cream to have much effect. Once the mast cells have degranulated, the genie is out of the bottle!