venom therapy questions

[beehugger]

Hi all,
I started beekeeping last summer and have been following the threads here. I have the Health and the Honeybee book, and just watched the 3 videos The Art of the Sting.
I noticed it was mentioned BVT helps with Tennis Elbow. I don't have tennis elbow, but somehow I hurt my shoulder about a month ago painting the ceiling. I'm curious if it helps the inflammation from tennis elbow, if it might help my shoulder problem. I gave myself one sting today at the joint where it was most tender. How do I know if/when to give myself additional stings? I wasn't quite sure from the video how you know. Do I try it again the next day? Do I try two next time? Not quite sure how to progress.

[RayMarler]

Each person reacts differently to bee stings, so bvt procedures may differ from person to person and it's usually advised to start slowly and test the ground as you walk through it. If starting out with one sting caused no adverse reactions but did not help your shoulder, then try two the next day, try three the next, and see how that does. If it takes three with no feelings of pain reducing in your shoulder, then maybe bvt won't work for your particular condition.

I've found stings to help with arthritis and nerve pains from back injuries, it helps when the small bones in my hands and feet hurt. It has never helped when my elbow joints hurt and they do not help for muscular pains, for me.

[Gregory and Susan Fariss]

I have been using BVT for a neck and shoulder problem. There are eight locations I sting on the advice of an apitherapist/accupuncturist. The first one is at the base of the skull on the affected side of the body. The second is midway between the neck and the affected shoulder. Then, I run my finger across the shoulder until my finger reaches a depression where my arm attaches to the shoulder. That is the third site. Then I bend my elbow and sting right where the crease ends, and then another an inch below that. Next is the top of the wrist (not the palm side) and then at the bottom of the V that forms between my thumb and first finger when I hold them apart. (Not in the thin fleshy part, but the where the bones meet.) Last is the index finger, beside the nail. That one is on the side of the nail that is closest to the thumb. The relief is immediate.

I also have a friend who uses this for arm weakness and tremors from MS, but she doesn't like getting stung on the finger so she stops after the one in the V.

Susan

[Bee Bliss]

I am not familiar with the videos "The Art of the Sting". Are they on You Tube or sold?

First, be patient. The BVT will trigger your body to do the healing. Healing/body repair takes time.

BVT will treat infections, inflammation, pain, scarring, help nerves reconnect, etc. etc.
It increases blood flow (oxygen) to an area. Bee venom is antiviral, antibacterial and antifungal.
BVT treats many ailments and adds beneficial chemicals that already exist in your body.
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When an apitherapist taught us how to do BVT, we learned to:

Ice the area you will sting! Helps a great deal with the pain of the sting.

Do a test sting; stinger is in for a few minutes then removed. Wait 15 minutes to make sure allergic reaction does not occur. Then you can take a few more stings if not allergic. Build up slowly adding a few stings for each session. Typically, when you are built up, you will not itch and there will be little or no swelling. Leave each stinger in for 15 minutes before removing.

We were told to do BVT three times a week (some do 2x). As long as your stings are not over 2 weeks apart, there is no need to do another test sting.

We were taught to sting the spine area, specific location(s) and trigger spots (painful when pressed firmly with a thumb pad) along main nerve pathways. The spinal area to sting corresponds to the other area you sting. Upper spine for arms, etc. Middle spine for organs. Lower spine for legs, etc.

Our apitherapist's husband built up to 30 stings per session for rotator cuff problems to deal with pain. She said that now all he needs is one maintenance sting per month to keep the benefits going.

I am not sure how many stings you need. While doing BVT treating several things, I also stung my thumb joint. At times it would get quite an ache in it. Hurt bad. Two stings and I haven't had any pain since. My ankle still needs more stings.

Chart/record the stings making sure to differentiate between right and left sides of the body.
Do not have alcohol in your system 24 hours before or after bee stings. Alcohol will negate the benefit of stinging and may even cause symptoms of anaphylactic shock to show.
A beta-blocker medication will interfere with the effectiveness of an epi pen.
You must take Vitamin C....about 3,000 daily. Your body may show anaphylactic shock from a bee sting when the problem is really that your body cannot produce cortisol (sp) naturally as it is deficient in Vitamin C thus your body reacts.
Be sure to sting deep scars or surgical scars. Eventually sting all around it and on it for each inch along the scar. Very important due to incisions cutting nerves/meridian.

[beehugger]

Thanks for all the advice! Lots of good info here.

The videos were something I checked out of our Beekeeping Club's library. They were done in 1998 by James Higgins. Each one is about 30 minutes long.

For finding the acupuncture points, is it ok if you're close but not exact?

Where does one find the long locking tweezers? Can you just pick them up at Wal-Mart? I just used tweezers but was worried about squeezing too hard or not hard enough.

[Bee Bliss]

I added some important information to my post (#4) in this thread. It was added to that post to make it more complete in case someone copies it for reference. And this comment here calls attention to that edit so it is not missed by those who may have already read the thread to this point.

Locking tweezers: Get the ones that don't have the wide tip, but are tapered at the end. The bee will be crushed less. We bought ours while at the apitherapist's home.