Please check out this recent thread called "Anxiety or Allergy?" on the Bee Forum part of this site. Lot of good discussion/information.
Good luck!
Good luck!
Both my Dr and Allergist tell me that the desensitization treatment is far more effective for stinging insects than it is for other types of allergies. The fast track treatment they are putting me on basically takes six weeks (four shots a week), then one shot every month to maintain the effect. I can live with one shot a month to maintain my hobby.Densensitization therapy takes two years of intensive shot therapy and even then it doesnt work in 1 out of 5 people.
Yeah, like next month when there is a dearth, or the month after that when you are stealing your honey crop, or when your hive goes Queenless..........These things ( veil, gloves, smoke ) all have their place.......
But I went from a very minor reaction to my are swelling up like a giant sausage. So what's going to happen to me next time? Back to minor irritation, another sausage fest, or a coma? I almost want to get stung again so I at least know what is going to happen. But then again, I think I will stay fully suited and gloved for now, and get an epipen.Many people (and some doctors) mistakenly think if there is quite a bit of swelling that that must mean they are allergic. That is not true. Great swelling is a sign of a good immune system per apitherapists, etc. In fact, apitherapists like to see swelling as it is an indication that the sting therapy will be effective. Early on in BVT a person may have a great swell and then they no longer get that big reaction as they build up to the bee venom, but the therapy will continue to benefit them.