Bee sting therapy for arthritis.

[van from Arkansas]

I do not recommend any person deliberately apply bee sting therapy.  Stings can be very dangerous.

However, contrary to above advice, I deliberately encourage a field bee to sting my arthritic finger joint with great results.  It ok to laugh or to make fun of my sting adventure.

For two days, I have endured a painful arthritic finger joint that was oscillating between pain and an insane itch.  I would wake up in my sleep due to scratching my finger.  Scratching my finger joint throughout the day.  Scratch, scratch, scratch,,,This is really beginning to bug me as the ,itch is deep in between the bones so scratching only provided minor relief but the itch is constant.  Ok, now I am getting desperate, it?s like a mosquito was feeding on my finger for two days.  I was about ready to put my finger in a mouse trap when I looked at a honeybee perched on my screen porch.

Ahhhh, now I know what to do for relief.  I grabbed the lil bee and placed her abdomen against my finger joint, kinda on the side and top of the finger.  The bee gladly accepted my offer to sting me, sinking her stinger all the way to my bone.  Did I mention my finger was inflamed, sore from arthritis??  Ok, here goes the stinger into my finger joint;  I almost lost bladder control.  My finger was already sore and I just deliberately jabbed a bee stinger deep into the bone and let the stinger pump venom for 30 seconds.

Then, I removed the stinger and the severe pain subsided half a minute later.  By 16 minutes, I set my timer, the deep arthritis itch and pain was gone.  Oh my!!!!  Well worth the sting.

After the severe very painful 30 seconds of bee sting, I decided to look up the position of the nerves in the fingers.  Yep, you probably guessed what I did.  I placed the stinger right in top of a nerve.  Just brilliant of me to look up the nerve position AFTER I already nailed it, jabbing a sharp poisonous stinger into the nerve.  Sometimes ya just gotta laugh.  I wanted relief so bad I was willing to try anything.  The stinger did work, my arthritic joint immediately felt better after 30 seconds of lightening bolt pain to the very sore joint.  Next time, I am going to look up the nerve position before I impale myself with a stinger.

So glad to have a finger joint that no longer has a two day insane itch, no more scratching!!!

Health to your bees!

Van

[paus]

Been there done that but never "on purpose" the ladies always accommodated me.  I was in front of a hive that I often sit and watch and got stung on my left hand stung while holding golf cart steering wheel.  Within a few minutes aurthur was gone in my fingers.  I had a high school boy that wants to have a bee project in FFA with me and we moved a quarter mile to some more hives and he got stung on his leg, No provocation just sitting in cart watching   Damp weather makes the bees grouchy.  Back to your point, a sting works to stop my hand pain in less than 30 min. and usually helps for about 2 weeks.

[Ben Framed]

I took a sting on the end of my nose Sunday past, right where the outside skin and inside membrane meet! My nose was not itching, but it would not have mattered if it had been!!  Actually it would not have mattered where I may have had an itch at that point! I wound not have noticed. Lol!

Phillip Hall

[iddee]

In 2012, the doctors wanted to operate on my backbone in my neck by going through from the front, moving my esophagus to the side and going all the way to the backbone. The pain at that time covered my neck, left shoulder and left breast, including the whole left lung area. I decided to try venom therapy. For 3 months, I placed 3 stings on each side of the back of my neck every 2 to 3 days. Then 2 stings for another month. Since then, I place 2 stings on the left side about 5 or 6 times a year. 8 years now, and the pain is hardly noticeable and NO OPERATION. My wife and her sister both use a couple stings every other month or so, as needed, for the same type neck pain.

[The15thMember]

Van, that is very funny and also awesome!  No pain, no gain, right?  Iddee, that's a great story too!  My mom has some sort of weird joint pain in her thumb.  I've been trying to get her to try being stung there, but she's too scared. 

[Oldbeavo]

Not to doubt your relief, but you may have got relief from an acupuncture effect on the nerve, just a thought.

[paus]

As many times as I have been stung and observed reduced or no pain it is exponentially improbable that the bee stung me on a nerve every time.

[tycrnp]

I had to cut of my wedding band because my hand swelled so bad after a sting.  I'll pass.

[Bob Wilson]

How many of you beeks swell up when stung? I have barely a little bump and no swelling at all. A few minutes later, I can't even tell.

[van from Arkansas]

Mr. Bob, I am same as you described, lil reaction most of my life.  Beginning about 60 years of age: a sting maybe reactive or not.  I never know in advance, nor do I worry about a sting.  I can take predisone, steroid, if I react.

Health to your bees.

Van

[BeeMaster2]

Van,
Wesley used to beg for a sting in his back almost every day to relieve back pain.
I have had problems with my shoulders if I do not get stung regularly, especially during winter.
I have a friend who has been getting stung every day for over 25 years. If she isn?t able to get bee stings she is bed ridden until she does.
Another friend is alive today because she started beekeeping after being diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer over 17 years ago. She gets a sting every day. She did not start for a good reason, she knew she was allergic when she was young.
Apitherapy is real and very helpful especially for arthritis and Fibromyalgia.
Jim Altmiller

[Beelab]

Yes, apitherapy works on many levels, including all bee products.
There is limited information out there, but not a great deal of reviewed scientific research.
We treat wounds, however bad, with fresh honey, and had exceptional healing results. No scaring either.
When the doctor said we sure need antibiotics. Ha.

[CoolBees]

How many of you beeks swell up when stung? I have barely a little bump and no swelling at all. A few minutes later, I can't even tell.

It seems to depend on the sting, for me - sometimes I swell, sometimes I don't.

[Nock]

I don?t have any symptoms till about 24 hours  later.  May swell slightly just depends on location. Mostly itches.

[The15thMember]

I swell up like crazy every time, although I don't get stung very often.  The swelling gets worse for 24 hrs. and then starts to go down.  I've started to always take Benadryl after a sting, and that has helped a little bit. 

[Ben Framed]

"I swell up like crazy every time, although I don't get stung very often.  The swelling gets worse for 24 hrs. and then starts to go down.  I've started to always take Benadryl after a sting, and that has helped a little bit. "

I had the same problem at first. Jim helped me with this along with one of our members which is a Emergency room nurse.  I combined the two suggestions for great results until I built up a tolerance. I used the benadryl and hydrocortisone cream combined, with a benadryl and a zantac tablet. That combination did the trick. However my first sting of this season, I did swell. Since that sting, I have been stung several more times and things are back to normal.

Phillip Hall

[Ralphee]

I looked into this briefly a while ago and thought it made a lot of sense.
Bee venom has strong anti-bac and anti-inflammatory properties
I have a "gut issue" that is inflammatory and triggered by stress - i love the irony here, how stressful is it to intentionally get stung?? ha ha ha ha
Professionals use a mesh that stops the stinger from lodging in the skin - not sure how that works, has anyone ever done this??
Can you buy this mesh? I know we have thousands of 'volunteers' to sting me, but if there is a better way to do it...

[BeeMaster2]

Ralphee,
I suspect what you are referring to is putting something over the skin to make removing the stinger easy. Just sting through a piece of cloth and then pull the cloth away to remove the stinger.
Caution, use a piece of rag and throw it away. It will have venom dust on it and this can cause an allergic reaction to anyone tho breathes it in and actually does not get stung. Ie. spouses and family members that do the laundry.
Jim Altmiller

[jimineycricket]

       When I accidentally get stung and scrape the stinger off immediately, get almost no swelling at all.  Cannot even fnd the sting site in 20 minutes.  However, when I deliberately invite a sting and watch the full injection for a minute or so, then there is slight swelling in a 2 inch diameter circle, hardly noticeable to another person.  It lasts maybe two days.

         I hope this doesn't get lost in the rest of the comments, but do you other folks who administer sting therapy for arthritis sting yourself at the arthritis location, or does some other location on your body work just as well?

        jimmy

[iddee]

As old beavo mentioned, acupuncture works. The bee venom works, along with the sting working as acupuncture, so a sting on the pain site works better than one remote to the pain.