Bee venom therapy - an idea whose time has come back?
Background: I developed CIS 4 yrs ago and was diagnosed 18 months later. No new lesions since but disability has worsened, mostly in the past 12 months.
I have never accepted the idea of alternative or complementary medicine. If a treatment is proved effective through rigorous testing, it is medicine. If not , it is woo (scientific term for BS).
But this week, something shook that firmly-held view. We were on vacation in Thailand. I experienced a sudden and dramatic improvement that has no explanation other than the bee stings I sustained less than 24 hrs earlier.
All of a sudden I was walking normally. No foot drop, no knee buckling, no drifting.i mean walking normally as I had last done over a year earlier. Even my pace was close to normal.
And I could stand still for prolonged periods without my leg collapsing and I was totally steady.
I could even look up into the trees without falling backwards. Which is pretty essential for birding.
This lasted 3.5 days and then gradually wore off.
ALL the studies on this concluded that there are NO benefits of bee venom therapy except one tiny study of EAE in a mouse model.
I don’t know what to think, what to do. If this works for me, it would mean an enormous improvement in my quality of life. I’ve been at high risk of losing my ability to do the things I love most in life not to mention struggling with ordinary activities. We even tried catching bees but they did not sting me (only the females sting so apparently we only caught males).
I wrote to my neurologist and he replied (another miracle) almost immediately. He said, "Very interesting!! Thank you for the update.
Bee sting therapies were very popular in the 90's and early 2000's but became less popular due to adverse effects patients experiences. When you get bee stings, your body gets a "shock" in which the hormonal system produces excessive amounts of cortisol ( a steroidal hormone). It is possible that's the explanation for the improvement (..or just an speculation)."
But I already found a doctor who offers bee venom therapy aka apitherapy and I feel I have to give this a try.
The hitch: having elevated levels of cortisol is not a good thing. Causes myriad problems. In fact, if you have consistently high levels of cortisol, your body can get used to having too much cortisol in your blood, which can lead to inflammation and a weakened immune system. Can also cause high blood pressure, hyperglycemia, Type 2 diabetes, and osteoporosis. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/22187-cortisol
But at my age, maybe it is worth a try. I'm already 68 and would like to be able to enjoy at least a few more good years. My increasing disability is interfering with the two activities I love and quality of life is a big issue with me.
Would appreciate hearing your thoughts, especially if you have tried been venom therapy.
Thanks.
Hi,
!
I am so glad you got to experience some symptom free days on vacation! What a gift!
It sounds like you have done your research and are going into this possible treatment with your eyes wide open, so I really don't have much to add.
As you mentioned, the scientific data doesn't support bee venom therapy, but I can't discount your personal experience, either.
My only caution would be to not get overcharged for the treatment at the doctor's office and to maybe even look into his/her practice a bit more, for your safety.
And, as you noted, the effects may be short lived. But, I also realize that *any* time without MS symptoms can be a gift.
I hope more of our members can chime in with their experiences with bee venom therapy. And, should you pursue this treatment, I would be fascinated to follow your journey, so please feel free to share updates if you would like.
Best, Erin, MultipleSclerosis.net Team Member.My father raised honey bees just for using them to give himself bee venom for rheumatoid arthritis he eventually gave up on the idea not saying it won’t help for another disease.. I was getting ketamine infusions for several years helped my spasticity issues but Covid ended that
,
Thanks so much for chiming in.
I'm intrigued by this whole bee concept.
I'm guessing it wasn't successful for your Dad?
~Doreen (Team Member)
it's really interesting to hear how many people have explored this. I haven't heard of this as a therapy before, but apparently, I've been in the dark. Did he have customers that got relief?
I'm sorry to hear that you're not getting relief any more, are you referring to the spasticity? It sounds like you experience covid and afterwards the treatments weren't effective anymore? Am I understanding that correctly? If so, I'm sorry to hear that. Covid certainly has through a wrench in a lot of treatments and people's health conditions to say the absolutely least! Do you have another option to help address spasticity now?
Best
Alene, moderator
I mentioned my experience to a number of friends and two mentioned that they had family members who raised honey bees and often let the bees sting them to help reduce their arthritis pain.
that's pretty fascinating! I doubt someone would go through that if they didn't get the payoff! Thanks for sharing their experience, it's always helpful to learn from other's firsthand experiences.
Best
Alene, moderator
Update: I met with my primary care physician yesterday. She expressed concern about the side effects of long-term elevated cortisol levels (which had been one of my concerns). Before meeting with her, I had contacted a doctor of osteopathy who lists been venom therapy on his website (doesn't specific the condtions). When I inquired, I was told that he no longer offers it because he can't obtain the bee sting product he used to use. Assuming that the product was melittin (synthetic form of the active component of bee venom), I don't know why that would be the case. I see it advertised on line. I also contacted a bee keeper and she does offer bee venom therapy (using bees) but I have decided against it given that this would have to be long-term, if not permanent therapy, and I really don't want to take the risks of elevated cortisol levels, which can be very serious.
Also, it became clear from my research that your body does develop tolerance, so the # of stings (or dosage, if using melittin) has to increase over time. I read some articles about people who were having 25-40 stings a week!
Nonetheless, I would still be interested in hearing from anyone who has tried it and what your experience was.
Thanks!that's really interesting thanks for sharing. It's eye opening to hear that you develop a tolerance and could require up to 25-40 stings a week! That's a lot, and I can't imagine that it would feel good as you're also experiencing increased cortisol levels. Do you have an alternative option that you're considering in place of the bee therapy?
Best
Alene, moderator
