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Is Bee Venom Therapy an Ancient Remedy or Buzz-Worthy Trend?
We all watched in amazement as Jenny forced bees to sting her
“Oh, there’s another one,” she exclaimed. Jenny scooped the unsuspecting bee out of the pool water. Saved from its drowning fate, this poor bee had no idea it was in for a different kind of death.
As Jenny explained how her autoimmune disease caused pain and inflammation in her joints, she grabbed the bee and pressed it into her knee until the bee did what instinct told her to do: release her stinger and die.
“Learn something new every day,” a fellow swimmer muttered, raising her eyebrows in disbelief or amusement.
Bee Venom Therapy or BVT
While many of us do everything we can to save the bees, a small group of people use bees to treat chronic conditions such as arthritis, fibromyalgia, and lupus. This is called Bee Venom Therapy or BVT.
While not approved by the medical establishment as a therapy, the use of BVT for inflammatory diseases has been recognized for about 3000 years. Treatment typically consists of applications of bee stings three times a week, about every other day, and is applied to different body parts on a rotating basis.