Apitherapy

Suzi Q said:

I'm wondering how he allows the bee to sting him without it killing the bee.

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With care this is easily achieved
The sting has to penetrate a fair depth in order to have the barbs attach !
Many's the time a bee has stung me and escaped intact .
I doubt "giving the bees back" would be an option .
VM

Richard, If your bees are anything like mine at this time of year, there will be some rejects lying about outside the hive. Provided they are not too torpid they can be revived for stinging duty. I tried this last year in the snow when, after a few minutes in my hand, they came round and flew. I know its a well known phenomena but could save you having to open up to get a bee.

rockdoc said:

Richard, If your bees are anything like mine at this time of year, there will be some rejects lying about outside the hive. Provided they are not too torpid they can be revived for stinging duty. I tried this last year in the snow when, after a few minutes in my hand, they came round and flew. I know its a well known phenomena but could save you having to open up to get a bee.

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I experimented on the notion of reviving torpid bees yday. Felt fairly sure they were dead so put three on top of my boiler (does not get very hot). Turned out one was alive and made it into my kitchen where it was duly dispatched by our demtia suffering uncle before I had a chance to rescue it!

beeno said:

I experimented on the notion of reviving torpid bees yday. Felt fairly sure they were dead so put three on top of my boiler (does not get very hot).

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Hmm - that's an idea, I wonder if SWMBO would mind me bringing the hives into the kitchen to weather this promised cold snap?

jenkinsbrynmair said:

Hmm - that's an idea, I wonder if SWMBO would mind me bringing the hives into the kitchen to weather this promised cold snap?

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Hi jenkinsbrynmair,
I hasten to add that there is a door between the kitchen and the boiler room. Someone must have opened it. Must put a note on next time!

The problem is, they are killing bees!

An interesting afternoon, by the time we'd finished chatting in my 'bee hut' it was too dark to do other than trap a few bees in a container from over the feed hole for him to take away and use tomorrow.

His apitherapist in Chile is a US trained medical doctor and also a member of the American Apitherapy Society...... the possibility of treating his type of apolecia with bee venom only arose after a link with arthritis was discovered last year- involving the auto-immune system.each

He's already had 7 'once-a-week' treatments in Santiago comprising 5 stings of 3 secs duration at different points around his scalp, the first 5 done by his doctor (to monitor any adverse reactions) and the next 2 self administered under her supervision. The bees are held in a tailor made forceps gadget with a tiny filter pad between the bee and the skin that stops the barb penetrating.

Thanks to Beebopalula for contact details re UK Apitherapy Society which he'll try tomorrow.

...any comments?

PS

"The problem is, they are killing bees!"

so do I, every time I do my weekly inspection

I'm wouldn't let somebody do this to my bees for (what seem to be primarily) cosmetic reasons. I know from personal experience that losing your hair can be very distressing, but there are alternatives

ellypatt

no, not just cosmetic.... eyelashes are also hair

thepliedes said:

The problem is, they are killing bees!

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A family of swallows must have tucked in to a couple of hundred of my girls over the 'summer'.

Ever seen a cast swarm in October ? Thousands of bees bent on self-destruction.

And hundreds of drones kicked out because the season's ended.

Some beeks dose a handful with ether when looking for Varroa.

When considering all these, personally I find it a bit difficult to get excited over a few being used for medical purposes, regardless of whether they survive the treatment or not.

LJ

You're quite right; I had temporarily lost perspective. Good luck to him Please do let us know how it turns out, especially whether or not it works.

"UK Apitherapy society in N. London run by Sue Claydon and Barbara Dolby" the info on them is 15 years defunct

Does anyone have another UK Apitherapy contact?

jenkinsbrynmair said:

Hmm - that's an idea, I wonder if SWMBO would mind me bringing the hives into the kitchen to weather this promised cold snap?

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i bought 50 bees home for a nosema test and put them in the fridge prior to taking them down the the chest freezer in the garage ...and forgot them

next morning the Bee Widow put them in the compost caddy on the kitchen window cill...( not allowed to put bee in the kitchen fridge of kitchen freezer........................... two hours later, mayhem in the kitchen 30 of them survived the chill

richardbees said:

"UK Apitherapy society in N. London run by Sue Claydon and Barbara Dolby" the info on them is 15 years defunct

Does anyone have another UK Apitherapy contact?

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The chap I heard is John Drakes. He was in Wales but has moved to Yorkshire. His still around giving talks. Here is a link to a Sleaford BKA'S talk at the end of last year. Perhaps you can contact him from this.

http://www.freelists.org/post/sleafordbka-admin/Fw-autumn-lecture

Black Comb

Thank you very much indeed, yours is the only lead from all the avenues I'm trying!
As a first step I've just emailed the RBI for N Yorkshire @ fera for a contact address for him

richard

Dear Richardbees,
Any news with your apitherapy? My partner has Multiple sclerosis and we are looking for apitherapist in London but it occurred that there is none. Apitherapy is widely spread in the USA, but not in the UK. I found a Russian clinic for apitherapy but it is quite expensive. We are considering to go to Russia and then administer apitherapy by ourselves.
Are you aware for beetherapy during the winter? I have a close beekeeeper in Bulgaria and he said that there is no problem to give me bees during the winter as well, but he has no idea how apitherapy works. I read lots of information for bee venom therapy and some beekeepers said that wintertime is not good to take out bees as they are not active.

Please, if you find any apitherapist in UK or any contact details, let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Take care!

Mishelina said:

Dear Richardbees,
Any news with your apitherapy? My partner has Multiple sclerosis and we are looking for apitherapist in London but it occurred that there is none. Apitherapy is widely spread in the USA, but not in the UK. I found a Russian clinic for apitherapy but it is quite expensive. We are considering to go to Russia and then administer apitherapy by ourselves.
Are you aware for beetherapy during the winter? I have a close beekeeeper in Bulgaria and he said that there is no problem to give me bees during the winter as well, but he has no idea how apitherapy works. I read lots of information for bee venom therapy and some beekeepers said that wintertime is not good to take out bees as they are not active.

Please, if you find any apitherapist in UK or any contact details, let me know.
Thanks in advance.
Take care!

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I am just jointing in this forum. However, I have practiced bee venom therapy for Vitiligo with good results for a while. I would like to meet anyone who is interested in this direction.

Be very careful of Russian Clinics, many are fraudulent, I worked in Russia for a time and found it difficult to trust anyone most were just interested in $$$s. Take for example the Stem Cell therapy offered for a cure for MS by a Russian some years ago, this was a complete fraud. My wife also suffers from MS.

Mike

Thanks for your comments Mike,
best wishes, Richard

Black Comb said:

We had a talk by a chap at the association (and demos on volunteers) on bee sting therapy. It all sounded very plausible, until he expanded the list of things it "cures", when he mentioned baldness I switched off.

However, the condition he has is not nice so perhaps you can overcome my scepticism and do someone a good turn.

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If stings helped baldness, I'd look like 'cousin It' from the Adams Family.

I don't. (Not saying ant more!)