Anecdotal evidence? Let's hear some.

I talked my bro-in-law into buying bees with me a few years ago. As we talked about bees while driving out to where we kept the bees, I mentioned that beekeepers don't get arthritis, or at least not often. He got all excited and wanted to try it on his tennis elbow. So for about 6 weeks I caught 2 bees and stung him right on his elbow every Saturday. His pain went away and hasn't returned. We also tried it on his knees with complete satisfaction.

As for me, I don't go looking for stings, but I when i feel like I need some I just "forget" to be slow and careful when working my bees and get all I need. I was having pain in my hands and a couple of knuckles were beginning to make noise when I moved. That has completely gone away since I took up beekeeping.

So, let's hear it from all you other beekeepers.

I have regular joint arthritis and a sting on the joints seem to help.

I've only done it once on purpose. My suit has really worn out on the knees so I get stung on the knees often during the summer.

Now thats anecdotal!

I was taking pain killers and Flexerall (muscle relaxers) several times a week for years. Started Apitherapy about 8 months ago and have not taking either one since. I have very little pain nowdays and when I start having some I have my wife give me 15 to 20 stings up and down my spine and I am pain free about 30 minutes later.

I know that if I get at least two stings anywhere on my body, my hips don't hurt for about two weeks.

I was injured pretty bad when I was in the US Army, that's why my hips hurt. I would like to try to administer the stings in better places than on my fingers and forearms though.

Regards,
Albert

I have diabetic neuropathy in my feet. I had one apitherapy treatment in March. It seemed to help. I haven't followed up with another. But, the other day, a friend and I were re-queening his hives. The first hive I opened(no smoke, hoping to be able to locate the queen more easily)the bes wrapped me up. I've NEVER seen bees this defensive. By the time I had fled and pulled my coverall sleeves down, I had been stung about 20 times on my forearms and hands. Hardly any swelling, not much pain. But, my ankles got stung about 4-5 times. I had neglectd to roll my coverall cuffs down, was wearing white socks. I never had stings hurt so bad. By that evening, my ankles had swollen so bad and were so painful I could barely walk. Today (3rd day) I'm still having intermittent stabbing pains at random points on my ankles, but my neuropathy seems better. Maybe it's only a comparative pain study, but I'm goingto try apitherapy on the acupuncture and pulse points where I was shown to apply it.

The American Apitherapy Society's conference and classes were held in April in Raleigh, NC. Did any one attend? Can we get a report on this from someone?

Susan

It's been a while since my hands have had symptoms, but when they ached I noticed that a sting once in a while really helped.


Jim

Here's a cool story for you. Back in grad school in Madison, Wisconsin in the mid 1980s, my landlord and landlady were Mansel (yes, that's his first name) and Dottie Johns. Mansel told me that, some years before meeting me, his wife had developed very serious arthritis. They somehow heard about a German doctor who supposedly came over to the USA in the 1950s (if I'm remember the story correctly) and this doctor was recommending beestings for arthritis. Mansel said that the AMA was so infuriated that they somehow got this doctor deported. I'm not sure how the Johns found out about the doctor's treatment, but they decided to give it a try since Mansel was a beekeeper. According to Mansel, he gave his wife about 30 beestings, and her arthritis cleared up, never to return. Every year, she insisted on a "booster" shot of about a dozen bees, if I remember correctly, but it wasn't clear that she needed the boosters. Anyway, the Johns were as honest as the day is long, so I'm sure their story is true.

Last month I helped remove a ferel colony from a house. On day 1 I got between 30 and 50 stings through my glove on my right hand and 4 or 5 on my left ankle. The hand stings did not bother me after 2 or 3 days but the ankle stings bothered me for for over 2 weeks. It could be because return blood flow from the legs is more difficult for the body to handle than from the arms.

I had fairly severe CMC (at the base of the thumb) joint arthritis as a result, I think, of many falls from horses onto outstretched hands over the years. Figured it was just my lot. Began keeping bees a few years ago, and after the first summer realised the pain in my hands was gone. I'd heard of this phenomena before but not only wasn't looking for it, I tend to be pretty skeptical of this sort of claim. I'd certainly taken my share of stings to the hands that first season, trying to work without gloves.

I attended the apitherapy group conference in Raleigh, NC, this past spring, and got a headfull. I'm an RN with a fair amount of orthopaedic background; I'm convinced there's real substance to apitherapy. I could talk all night about this stuff, but you have to convince yourself.

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Originally Posted by SweetBettyBees

...I attended the apitherapy group conference in Raleigh, NC, this past spring, and got a headfull...

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I've been trying to find someone who attended that conference! I wanted to go but it was bad timing for me to put out that much cash. Tell us all about the classes, please.
Susan

Quote:

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Originally Posted by SweetBettyBees

but you have to convince yourself.

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Should you have to work at it?

Keith

Susan, I'll try to write up a bit of a review. As you might imagine, there were hours and hours of excellent presentation and demonstration - quite overwhelming - and I am certain anything I could offer you in the way of "tell us all about it" would fall woefully short of adequate. But I'll work on it.

and Keith, LOL! no, you shouldn't have to work on it, if that means subjecting yourself to unnecessary encounters with the business end of the bee, or even if it means looking for things to happen that might not, otherwise, were you not looking for them, if that makes sense.

I try to go into most new things without any preconceived notions. There's little to no disappointment, and lots of times, many pleasant surprises. Had I been more aware of apitherapy I might have been anticipating relief of my arthritis with the ample number of stings I was getting simply in the course of dealing with the bees. As it was, I had no expectations and ended up being quite amazed with the outcome.

I do believe that faith often creates its own outcome, but in my case, I don't think my reaction the the stings was enhanced by any anticipation of certain results.

So I guess my advice (not that you asked for any!) would be to just try it and be open to whatever happens. And good luck!

Yours,
Lyne

Susan, I'll try to write up a bit of a review. As you might imagine, there were hours and hours of excellent presentation and demonstration - quite overwhelming - and I am certain anything I could offer you in the way of "tell us all about it" would fall woefully short of adequate. But I'll work on it.

and Keith, LOL! no, you shouldn't have to work convincing yourself, if that means being subjected to unnecessary encounters with the business end of the bee, or even if it means looking for things to happen that might not, otherwise, were you not looking for them, if that makes sense.

I try to go into most new things without any preconceived notions. There's little to no disappointment, and lots of times, many pleasant surprises. Had I been more aware of apitherapy I might have been anticipating relief of my arthritis with the ample number of stings I was getting simply in the course of dealing with the bees. As it was, I had no expectations and ended up being quite amazed with the outcome.

I do believe that faith often creates its own outcome, but in my case, I don't think my reaction the the stings was enhanced by any anticipation of certain results.

We have to be cautious in assuming a change is a result of some action we've taken. If it's simply time that has allowed a disease process to play itself out (if that is possible) and the end of symptoms happens to coincide with a certain treatment, we naturally tend to attribute the healing to whatever it is we have done to care for ourselves, and this isn't always the case.

So I guess my advice (not that you asked for any!) would be to just try it and be open to whatever happens. And good luck!

Yours,
Lyne