By Mark John, My Q10, 10/30/2008
As far back as 400 B.C., Hippocrates - the Greek physician, used bee venom to treat joint pain and swelling, in fact bee venom therapy has been with us since the birth of medicine itself. Reference’s to the treatment go all the way back to ancient Egypt and Greece. The medical or correct name for the procedure is ‘Apitherapy’, the technique is more widely used in Eastern Europe, Asia and South America. Today many people still find this therapy helpful when addressing conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and osteoarthritis (OA).
Honeybee venom contains many active substances one of which is ‘Mellitin’, an anti-inflammatory agent which is known to be more than one hundred times stronger than cortisone. These substances stimulate the body’s release of the hormone cortisol as well as neurotransmitters such as dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin, all of which can help relieve the pain, stiffness and swelling of arthritis…
Is Bee Venom A Proven Method for treating Arthritis?
Apitherapy remains a largely unproven method, but having said that, a small number of doctors have reported some good results using the substance to treat arthritic conditions…
If you do decide you would like to try bee stings, speak with your doctor. It’s important that you be prepared for a severe allergic reaction by having a bee sting allergy kit on hand - even if you’ve never reacted negatively to bee stings in the past. Although the side effects of bee-venom therapy usually are mild, an allergic reaction to a sting could potentially be deadly…
If this method also is based on stimulating neurotransmitters, bee venom seems a natural analogue of the prescription painkillers... I haven't heard of such a use of apitherapy, and that's a thing I'm going to try. Thanks a lot.
ReplyDeleteHi...very good article. But i'm thinking, bee venom therapy is a medical use of bee venom. When we use the work therapy, it's mean that we are going to treat a patient.
ReplyDeleteSo, how about the bee venom application for prevention of disease such as arthritis and etc?
Can healthy person get a bee stung?
Kindly email me at honeyrc_um@yahoo.com
Best wishes,
Mohd Nuruddin Abd Manap
Malaysia