By Janet Martin, Ezine Articles, 10/24/2007A bee sting can be painful and dangerous, especially if you're allergic to bee venom. But some doctors claim the latter can help people with arthritis who don't respond well to traditional medications.
That's the buzz from Dr. Christopher Kim, medical director of the Monmouth Pain Institute in Red Bank, New Jersey, who has used bee venom therapy or apitherapy on 3,000 patients. Writing in the German medical journal "Rheumatologie," Kim said that apitherapy is safe, effective, and free of serious side effects.
Kim's endorsement of bee venom therapy follows a two-year- study he conducted on 108 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis who were not helped by conventional painkillers. He first gave the subjects twice weekly injections of been venom and gradually increased the shots. After 12 injections, most of the patients showed marked improvement.
Kim is not the only doctor using this controversial technique. Over 50 American physicians report good results using bee venom to treat not only pain but arthritic conditions, multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, asthma, hearing loss, and even premenstrual syndrome…
At the eighth annual Asian Apicultural Association conference at the University of West Australia, Nepalese entomologist Ratna Thapa said he had a 50 - 60 percent success rate in treating arthritis with bee venom, and a 90 percent success rate when this substance was used to treat lower back and shoulder pain. But the idea is not new.
"Bee venom therapy has been around for thousands of years. Reference to the treatment can be found in ancient Egypt and Greek medical writings. Also known as apitherapy, the technique is more widely used in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. Treatments supposedly started after beekeepers, who were stung many times, noticed their arthritis pains were relieved. Some practitioners still use live bee stings to deliver the venom," according to Charles Downey of WebMD.
What's the secret behind the success of bee venom? Cohen says it contains mellitin, an anti-inflammatory agent that is a hundred times stronger than cortisone, and adolapin which also fights inflammation and pain. Practitioners believe these ingredients work together and help the body release natural healing compounds that improve blood circulation and reduce swelling…
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