Bee stings/arthiritus

[JackM]

Wish I could try it, I react way too severely to be stung on purpose.  Even not getting the stinger in me, just a bump and I have a severe reaction, disabling that whole limb at the last one.  Managed only one sting so far this year and that was due to carelessness.  A good reminder to keep the epi pen close.

[sc-bee]

just a bump and I have a severe reaction, disabling that whole limb at the last one.  

Say What!!! There's your sign......

[BeeMaster2]

It does work. Of the three main ingrediants in bee venom (there are over 50) one is a very powerful anti-inflammatory. To test, let her get stung once and monitor her reaction. Very few people are actually allergic and being brother/sister and you show no adverse rection than odds are she wont either.
One method I've read is to chill HER skin with an icepak so the sting hurt isnt too bad. Take a few bees and put them in a jar and then set them in the refridgerator for a lil while. The cold slows down the bees to where they can be handled. Then using tweezers or something, take a bee and push the hind end where she needs therapy. Then drop the spent bee in a glass of alcohol. Let that stinger sit for 15-30 seconds and then squeeze the sac pushing what little is left into her. Start off with the number of stings slowly. Maybe only one or two her first time. I read that after a tolerance is built up, that some take as many as 50-60 stings!!  Now thats a lot and I would not advocate that unless it was very serious and her tolerance to bee venomn was maxed out.  I have a touch of arthritis in my knuckles and after stinging...they hurt a lot less than before. Now if I could only do something about the itching!!!
Now I'm certainly not a doctor so please read and study on this before starting.

I just take a pair of hemostats, go out to a hive catch a bee by a wing with the hemostats, lock them. Take it to the person and place it on the affected area. The bee will sting on its own. The first few times I would only leave the stinger in for a few seconds and then scrape it out, not squeeze it. Build up the tollerence slowly before increasing the time. Put Benydril and Hydrocortizone on it to reduce reaction.
Jim

[sc-bee]

I have customers that depend on bees to survive. They take one sting per day.
Jim

Customers as in pay..... I am sure you mean honey customers, right? The other..... please Jim tell me it ain't so! I feel sure you would not go that route, just the use of the word customer in the context scared me  :-D or you would have said patient  :shock:

[BeeMaster2]

I have customers that depend on bees to survive. They take one sting per day.
Jim

Customers as in pay..... I am sure you mean honey customers, right? The other..... please Jim tell me it ain't so! I feel sure you would not go that route, just the use of the word customer in the context scared me  :-D or you would have said patient :shock:

No, a woman came to me looking for bees to sting her with. 20 years ago she was totally bed ridden until someone introduced her to Apitherapy. She gets a sting everyday. She has been out and about ever since. She does have bad days from time to time but life is much better now. She used to pay for a jar every week but I talked her into maintaining her own hive. When it gets too strong, I go to her house and remove a few frames of bees to reduce the number of bees she has and let them build up again.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

I have customers that depend on bees to survive. They take one sting per day.
Jim

Customers as in pay..... I am sure you mean honey customers, right? The other..... please Jim tell me it ain't so! I feel sure you would not go that route, just the use of the word customer in the context scared me  :-D or you would have said patient  :shock:

[sc-bee]

And folks post and worry about the liability of selling a jar of honey...... I will ask no further questions  :-D And the main thing... glad it helps the lady......

[GSF]

Well my sister came by a little while ago for her first shot/sting. She selected the most painful spot which was her thumb middle knuckle. It was funny! She had to turn her head and look the other way, I tried to get her to look at the bee trying to get loose from it's stinger but she just couldn't do it. She took it like a champ though. No squirming, girlie stuff.

The relief? It was immediate. Once she got past the sting pain she could feel a difference in her knuckle. Ten minutes she had greater motion range with her thumb. She has several other spots she'd like to administer some stings to but we are going to just do one for the first time and then maybe build up.

Thanks guys and gals for your input. Life's just full of little nuggets like this.

[flyboy]

Thanks GSF,

Keep us posted on how long it lasts etc. I know that PPL will ask me this in the future when I tell them about it.

[BeeMaster2]

And folks post and worry about the liability of selling a jar of honey...... I will ask no further questions  :-D And the main thing... glad it helps the lady......

SC,
She was buying bees from another beek. She came to me because the other beek stopped beeing a beek for some reason. Adage I think. I talked her into getting her own bees. Some one gave her an old hive but would not maintain it. I just keep it under control by removing bees so that it does not get too large.
Jim

[BeeMaster2]

Well my sister came by a little while ago for her first shot/sting. She selected the most painful spot which was her thumb middle knuckle. It was funny! She had to turn her head and look the other way, I tried to get her to look at the bee trying to get loose from it's stinger but she just couldn't do it. She took it like a champ though. No squirming, girlie stuff.

The relief? It was immediate. Once she got past the sting pain she could feel a difference in her knuckle. Ten minutes she had greater motion range with her thumb. She has several other spots  she'd like to administer some stings to but we are going to just do one for the first time and then maybe build up.

Thanks guys and gals for your input. Life's just full of little nuggets like this.

Gary,
Go slow with the number of stings you give her and how long you leave the stinger pumping. Use Benadryl and hydrocortisone cream to reduce the swelling and to stop the reaction. I did this for my son's severe back pain. Worked great. He loved it and would ask for one every day.
Then his feet started swelling real bad and we thought it was the bee stings. We stopped the stings but the swelling persisted. The swelling did not go down until after his doctor changed one of his numerous prescriptions the swelling went down. The doctor put him back on that same prescription, seraquil, a week ago and his feet are again like balloons, the skin is stretched to the max. It really helps with his depression and pain but there are always side effects.
I am now wondering if we start the stings back up and take away the seraquil if we get the same results without the swelling.
Jim

[RichBees]

I used to read about apitherapy but didn't really practice it until I met a female beekeeper at a conference who showed me pictures of her face before ( that's when she had the swelling from an injury) and during apitherapy. She asked me to look at face again. I was amazed at what bees could do.
Today, I apply bee stings deliberately on any painful or swollen joint on my body. It is very effective.
I suggest you take some bees home if you keep aggressive ones, try to grab one by the wings and place the abdomen on the spot in question. If the bee isn't very weak, it will sting. Of course there will be pain but just for a minute or two and itching will follow after a couple of days. However, its effect is long lasting. The number of bee stings depends on one's allergy and pain threshold.
Wish you a good experience.

[iddee]

I take a small jar to the hive and catch a bee or two. Place the jar in the frig for 10 to 15 minutes. It really slows the bees down to a crawl. I have a pair of 6 inch tweezers I use to pick them out of the jar and place where needed. Yes, it is very effective on most people, not so much on a few. Of course, that is true with most things.

[flyboy]

The couple who spoke at our bee club about treating the husband with stings for MS showed us a treatment.

She simple plucked a bee from the side of the hive by the abdomen with long tweezers and put it on her husband's back on an acupuncture point that led towards the side of his body affected by the MS.

After the stinger went it she simply squeezed the bee to death so it would not suffer and then dropped it to pick up another and sting him on another point.

I am trying to screw up the courage to sting one of my toes that is a hammer toe.  :-\

[GLOCK]

I had problems with my thumb joints.
I started to use thickster gloves and I get  stung  most every time I dig in to the brood nests of my 30+ hives.
On a average I get stung on my hands 10 or more a week and I now have no pain in my hands at all.
mosquito bites swell worst then honey bee stings ever do now.
Honey bee's are great. :bee: :bee: :bee: :bee: :bee: :bee: :bee:

[BeeMaster2]

When I need a bee for apitherapy I take a pair of hemostats to a hive, pick one up by the wing, always moving slowly, then I just place the bee on the spot to bee stung and the bee does the rest.
Jim