Bee Venom Therapy

Bee venom therapy or BVT is a very ancient form of medicine, we know that it was used in ancient Mesopotomia as well as China. It was mainly used for the treatment of arthritis and joint pain. Austrian physician Phillip Terc initiated the modern study of bee venom and intentional bee stings when he published his article "Report about a Peculiar Connection Between the Beestings and Rheumatism" in 1888. "Everything on earth is venom, nothing lacks venomousness. Only a dose turns substance into venom or medicine", Paracelcus the great healer used to say more than 500 years ago.
Indeed the venom of many animals in small doses has been successfully used for healing various diseases as in orthodox and alternative medicine from ancient times. Bee venom is the leader in this list.

Bee venom is produced by the bee's special gland for its natural defense, Unlike many other hymenopterans, honeybees are not likely to sting unless provoked. The workers bee (female) defend their hive with their sting, they do so by pushing the tip of their sting into the surface of the intruder, then the venom pouch begins to to contract rythmically to pump the venom into its offender. Generally the bee pulls itself away leaving the venom pouch and sting behind. The bee will die from it within an hour.

Bee venom is administered either by needle or by actual bee sting. Chemical studies show that venom contains a number of powerful anti-inflammatory substances, including adolapin and melittin. Said to be a hundred times more powerful than hydrocortisone, melittin stimulates the production of cortisol, a natural steroid that also acts as an anti-inflammatory. Not surprisingly, bee venom therapy (or BVT) is often used for conditions that involve inflammation, such as tendinitis, bursitis, and rheumatoid and osteoarthritis. It can be applied externally using a base cream with bee venom or internally by eating Honey with Bee venom or in tablets form using dry bee venom.

How Bee Venom works?

Bee venom peptides have systemic action: anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-pyretic, stimulating ACTH , stimulating vascular permeability. The major peptide melittin has powerful bactericidal and cytotoxic properties , and stimulates the body's adrenal and pituitary system to produce cortisol, and natural steroid. Naturally produced steroids do not produce the medical complications of synthetic steroids ( Vick, 1972 ). Peptide 401 is a powerful anti-inflammatory agent, found to be up to one hundred times more effective than cortison when administered at equivalent dosages (Billinghan et al,1973)

What is Bee venom?

 Bee venom is constitued of a large range of proteins (50%), enzymes, catecholamins. The complexity and compositions of the bee venom is related to the nectar, the pollen, the bee ages as well as its species. It's pH is slightly acidic: 5 to 5.5. The range of properties is enormous, due to the very high biological activity of bee venom, it has multiple beneficial effects on the organism.  

 The main action of Mellitin (peptide) is its activity on the nervous system, specially on the hypophysis-adrenal axis. It acts as a "blocker" of the nervous influx by consequence releasing the activation of the defense mechanism of the body. Little after the pain factor, the inflammatory response is inhibited, the pain diminishes.

Bee venom is cardiotonic, regulatory of the  arterial hypertension, it has great effect on psoriasis or other dermatosis, it diminishes headaches, lower the symptoms of Menieres disease, and much more. One of its main known amazing result is in the treatment of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) , the USA, Cuba, China, Romania all have extensive number of patients treated with Bee venom therapy each year

Bee sting therapy and Bee venom herapy must be handle with great care. You should always refer to a knowledgeable therapist. The therapist will test you for allergy and he keeps an emergency kit with him. Bee venom producess a toxin that is able to create an anaphylactic shock, this is a very serious reaction, it can be lethal. Neverthereless the Apitherapy commission has no knowledge of any lethal incident caused by bee sting therapy.

Phot: Pedro Perez