The Irony: Bees Kill Much More Often Than Lyme Disease
Dr. Richard Gunderman calls bees Americas most lethal animal. In 2018, scientists found that hornets, wasps, and bees were responsible for about 220,000 visits to the emergency department and 60 deaths every year.
While bee deaths are rare, deaths associated with Lyme disease are even more rare. One study found fewer deaths in Lyme patients than typical Americans, a year after diagnosis. LymeSciences literature review found 13 reliably reported deaths associated with Lyme disease from the 1970s to 2019.
How Herbal Supplements Can Help
The best way to gain the level of phytochemical protection you need to help your immune system win the internal battle against invasive microbes is to take herbal supplements specifically, standardized botanical extracts.
Standardized botanical extracts take herbal supplements to the next level. Theyre made with wild plants or plants that have been cultivated to enhance their phytochemical content and are grown in an environment that doesnt introduce unwanted chemical toxins. The extraction process also yields the greatest concentration and the widest spectrum of phytochemicals in the plant. And the final product is standardized to a concentration of one or several key phytochemicals in the plant, so you know what youre getting.
Below are a few of my favorite herbs for mitigating the systemic chronic inflammation associated with chronic Lyme disease. Though all of the herbs have value in suppressing microbes and reducing inflammation, three of the herbs mentioned below Japanese knotweed, cats claw, and Chinese skullcap were found in a 2020 study from Johns Hopkins University to have greater activity against Borrelia burgdorferi than the antibiotics, doxycycline and azithromycin.
What Conditions Does Bee Venom Help
Bee venom has been used for a long time in other countries and cultures for a multitude of conditions such as Multiple sclerosis, high blood pressure, asthma, hearing loss, premenstrual syndrome, arthritis, injuries, Lyme Disease, pain, skin conditions, HIV, cancer, animal treatment and other conditions.
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Bee In Balance: A Guide To Healing The Whole Person With Honeybees Oriental Medicine & Common Sense By Amber Rose
About the Author
Rev. Dr. Amber Rose, L.Ac., LMSW, has been a healer all her life. After graduating with special honors from the Universities of Chicago and Iowa, she went on to study at the Traditional Acupuncture Institute in Columbia, MD. She also graduated from the New Seminary in NY. Just as her psychotherapy experience alerted her to the value of acupuncture, Ambers acupuncture experience led her to Bee Venom Therapy . In this book Amber shares her discoveries of the healing miracles of BVT available for patients who are suffering with Lyme disease and Co-Infections. This pioneering and revolutionary approach to healing is unlike anything youve ever seen before. It is bound to be a classic and a Bible for healing Lyme with Bee Venom Therapy.
Join her Facebook Support Group Here
How Bvt In Lyme Could Help
Most of the research on BVT is done in laboratory animal studies. These non-Lyme disease studies show BVT
- lowers activation of NF-kB which is a cellular messenger that triggers cytokine production.
Inflammation cytokines, created by the immune system attacking Lyme, cause most of the Lyme symptoms. So lowering them could help a person significantly. These non-Lyme animal studies may indicate what happens in humans however, the effect in humans may not be the same.
To read more about these cytokines and ways to lower them see Control Cytokines: A Guide to Fix Lyme Symptoms & The Immune System.
There is only one study about Lyme and BVT. In this study Lyme researcher Eva Sapi, PhD, carried out modified petri dish experiments in her lab. She found that one BVT component called melittin and whole bee venom both
- reduce Lyme biofilms,
- kill spirochetes, and
- kill round bodies .
So it is possible one other benefit of BVT is that it is an antimicrobial that can treat regular lyme and persister Lyme. And BVT could remove Lyme biofilms that block treatment. One word of caution here – it is very possible that this laboratory result does not correctly predict what happens in living people.
Read more about biofilms and effective treatment options in Biofilms: Lyme Disease Gated Communities. Read more about antimicrobial strategies for Lyme in A Lyme Disease Antibiotic Guide. Read more about persister Lyme and possible treatment approaches in How to Treat Persister Lyme. What Works?
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Recommended Bee Venom Protocol For Lyme Patients
Bee Venom Therapy is used for many conditions including Lyme Disease. Bee venom has been found to kill the Lyme spirochete in labs .
Our protocol includes BVT three times a week . Along with BVT it is important to follow a regimen of detoxing which includes Epsom salt baths, drinking plenty of water and apple cider vinegar.
People with Lyme Disease undergoing BVT experience side effects due to the toxins given off by the pathogens as they die. This phenomenon is known as the Jarisch-Herxheimer Reaction and is also known as herx or herxing. Herxing is believed to occur when pathogens are destroyed and release their endotoxins into the blood and tissues faster than the body can comfortably handle it. This provokes a a cascade of sudden and exaggerated inflammatory responses.
The most common symptoms of herxing reported include increased fatigue, joint or muscle pain, skin rashes, photosensitivity, irritability, paresthesia, dizziness, sleep disturbances, muscle cramps, night sweats, hypertension, hypotension, headaches and swollen glands. Some experience heavy perspiration, metallic taste in mouth, chills, nausea, bloating, constipation or diarrhea, low grade fever, heart palpitations, tachycardia, facial palsy, tinnitus, mental confusion, uncoordinated movement, pruritus, bone pain, flu-like syndrome, and conjunctivitis.
Recommendations:
Note: BVT is contraindicated during pregnancy and while breastfeeding.
Absolutely Necessary
Detoxing
LYME DISEASE PROTOCOL
Bad Medical Advice Spreads Via Social Media And Support Groups
If you go to a chronic Lyme support group meeting, someone might say they felt better with BVT. Or if youre in a Facebook group, someone might sing the praises of the bizarre practice.
The NIH has reported that as high as 40% of patients receiving placebo had a positive response. In other words, a fake treatment may seem to be effective when it is not having any effect.
A site called LymeWarrior.usclaims with no compelling scientific evidence, Bee venom therapy targets all forms of Lyme bacteria. Despite having a known bee sting allergy, a woman featured on Lyme Disease UK stung herself with bees and reported improvements.
Thousands of people have gathered in Facebook groups that legitimize both chronic lyme disease and bee venom therapy. There is even a group for Australians, even though there is no Lyme disease in Australia.
There was a Meetup group in Oakland, CA called Bee Venom Therapy for Lyme Disease and Coinfections with 161 members as of May 1, 2018. However, in 2016, there were only 90 confirmed cases of Lyme disease reported in California.
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Are There Any Proven Benefits Associated With Bee Sting Therapy
Although bee venom has been used for centuries for its medicinal properties, there isnt one piece of singular evidence or sound collective data in regard to its clinical effectiveness. There are a few small studies done on its benefits in terms of skin health, inflammatory conditions such as Rheumatoid arthritis, Dr. Posina explains, but its not enough to say it is definitively a helpful holistic practice for treating medical conditions.
A randomized control study done in China in 120 people showed that bee-venom acupuncture showed some symptomatic relief similar to Rheumatoid arthritis medications such as Methotrexate and Celecoxib, she adds. However, we do need larger studies, including randomized control trials, to know that its effects are substantial and to initiate these treatments.
Those who turn to bee venom for topical beauty treatments, however, may actually be onto something. Experts say the venom could potentially manage aging effects on skin: In skin, there is some evidence suggesting its antimicrobial and anti-wrinkle effects. One study showed increased collagen protein synthesis, stimulated skin cell turnover, and recovery of damaged cells, Dr. Posina says. But many leading healthcare experts agree: There needs to be more scientific evidence to validate any benefits before consumers can feel comfortable about any claims.
Read Also: What Are The Lasting Effects Of Lyme Disease
Injections Acupuncture Or Bee Stings
The main applications of bee venom are needle injections, acupuncture needles and bee stings.
Injections are typical in most doctors offices. And acupuncturists utilize sterile bee venom dipping canisters. But there is another option that is, being stung directly by bees.
Apitherapists have training in handling bees and applying these to patients.
An apitherapist may utilize tweezers to apply a bee directly to the skin. Or they may utilize bee therapy boxes. This will allow a brave patient to put their arm inside a container containing stinging bees. There are also larger chambers that apitherapists utilize.
And there are smaller bee therapy kits. While a person can learn to self-apply bee stings, it is important that an experienced apitherapist apply such methods, at least initially. An apitherapist will have epinephrine on hand in the case of allergic response. And an apitherapist will also pull out the stinger shortly after the sting and reduce reaction with an appropriate skin application.
So far in clinical research, acupuncture bee venom therapy has proven useful for pain and inflammation issues. But injections and bee stings serve to get more mellitin into the body for the antibiotic effects.
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Holly Owens On Bee Venom Therapy And Lyme Disease
Today, we welcome Holly Owens to the pod. You may know Holly from Wellthy Belly, a wellness Instagram account that has amassed a significant following due to Hollys innate ability to share her experience and knowledge in a way that is relatable and authentic.
Holly has had plenty of direct experience with health challenges. After realizing that her body was struggling and that there was something wrong, she turned to all manner of doctors from functional, to naturopaths, to gastrologists to help her identify the root issue. Eventually, an integrative doctor diagnosed her with Lyme Disease. After considering multiple treatment paths, she opted for Bee Venom Therapy and for the next two years, began to sting herself with bees to help heal herself.
BVT is a treatment that simultaneously flies under the radar but, as Holly explains, is also surprisingly accessible all over the globe. Its also not relegated to only healing Lyme Disease as there are a number of conditions such as arthritis, MS, and Parkinsons that are also aided by Bee Venom Therapy.
Holly and Nikki also chat about the side effects of choosing a non-traditional healing path and strategies to help you navigate conversations with family and friends. They also chat about the commitment and sacrifice that comes with healing paths that require more of a slow build approach over a quick fix.
Referenced in this episode:
Hi Welcome To Britterbeez
I am so glad youre here and open to learning how bee venom therapy can help in your healing journey!
In short, bee venom therapy is the process of stinging oneself with bees, and yes I know that sounds a little scary-ok, A LOT scary. Im here to guide you through the process and provide simple and easy resources that Ive found to work best during this treatment.
Choosing bee venom therapy has been the best decision I have made. Ill admit, its not an easy journey but together , we can all heal.
BEE kind to yourself through this journey and know that you are in the process of positive changes.
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Bee Venom Therapy For Lyme
Bee Venom Therapy uses bee venom to improve Lyme symptoms.
BVT is given directly through bee stings or through injection by a healthcare provider. One protocol developed by a person living with Lyme calls for ten bee stings three times a week at spots located along the spine. For more information about this protocol see the Resources section below.
To be clear, there is no research in Lyme disease showing how often or how much bee venom through stings per treatment is the most useful. My research on this shows that the protocols and treatment methods have been learned by trial and error.
Bee Sting Therapy Is What It Sounds Like
As portrayed on the show, bee sting therapy involves using a tweezer to place a live bee on a particular part of the body. It might go on the knee in an effort to treat osteoarthritis, for example.
The bee then stings the skin and the practitioner removes the body but lets the stinger remain for several seconds. People may pursue the treatments several times a week for years.
Brooke Geahan, founder of the Heal Hive, a retreat where people with chronic Lyme disease are introduced to the therapy, said the practice cured her chronic Lyme within three months.
“I went from being in a wheelchair and being unable to remember my own birth date, to literally three months later, dancing on a table at sunset beach.”
Others testified the treatment healed pain from a compressed spine, improved joint mobility, helped their children’s hair grow or hearing improve, eased multiple sclerosis symptoms, and, when used in a cream, made them look 10 years younger.
“It’s like having your picture taken with a soft focus lens,” Deborah Mitchell, founder of Heaven Skincare in the UK, said in the episode.
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What Is Bee Venom Therapy And How Does It Work
Dr. Solbrig: Anything thats from the bee is called apitherapy propolis, pollen, lighting bees wax candles, technically, thats all a part of the definition. But when you hear apitherapy in the lyme world theyre referring to bee venom therapy.
Bees created venom to induce a pain response in our body. Why? so we run away from the hive. It so happens that our pain response is vital in how our immune system works.
Healing is about guiding the blood where it needs to go. Bee venom therapy promotes healing by getting blood out of capillaries into scars and other tissue that needs healing. Bee venom therapy gives specific areas of the body an opportunity to heal.
Antibiotics Typically Given For Lyme Disease
Regardless of where the Lyme disease is contracted, conventional treatment is spearheaded by the use of antibiotics. The most popular of these antibiotics used by doctors is doxycycline. Other antibiotics used against the Lyme bacteria include cefoperazone, daptomycin, amoxicillin, tigecycline, metronidazole and tinidazole.
Sometimes doxy is the only antibiotic used. Other doctors will retest Lyme levels after a course of doxycycline and if the tests come up positive, will try the other antibiotics.
In some cases, a combination of these antibiotics will be given in combination in an attempt to fight the Lyme disease infection of B. burgdorferi bacteria.
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Bee Venom Therapy Used To Treat Lyme Disease
May 17, 2017 / 11:05 PM CDT
May 17, 2017 / 11:05 PM CDT
ST. LOUIS Dave Seyer was infected with Lyme disease while helping a buddy build a hunting cabin in northern Missouri. Two tick bites changed his life.
I would have testicle pain, I would have seizuresthrobbing pain, headaches, fatigue major, major fatigue with it, Seyer said.
After dozens of doctors appointments, hundreds of treatments, and finally going on disability, his desperation for a cureor even reliefled him to Nancy Dolan.
I had lost the ability to read and write, I didnt know my name, every nerve group and every nerve in my body was severely damaged, Dolan said.
She had seen 26 doctors and was taking 67 pills a day. Shes been on bee venom therapy for the last three years.
She said her medical providers began noticing improvements in her health within three months. In five months, she was off all of her medication, and within a year she got her life back. Dolans story has given Seyer the hope he desperately needed.
The BVT protocol requires live bees for the treatment. The patient works up to 10 bees, five on each side of the spine, every other day, three days a week, with two days of detox. The stingers are left in the skin for 20 minutes and then carefully removed. Two to three years of treatments are recommended.
Seyer said its worth it because pain from the sting is nothing compared to Lyme.
My Experience With Bee Venom Therapy By Rebecca Hayward
Bee Venom Therapy is a controversial alternative treatment used by some patients with Lyme disease. Lyme Disease UK doesnt endorse any particular treatment and any opinion stated in our guest blog is that of the author. Do not attempt self treatment without precautionary measures and oversight by a medical professional.
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Bee Venom Fights Lyme Disease Reduces Inflammation
by Case Adams, PhD·
Lyme disease bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi
Recent research has proven out the ability of bee venom therapy for fighting Lyme disease, along with other inflammatory conditions. A 2017 study has confirmed that bee venom will kill the tick bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi better than popular antibiotics used for Lyme.
In this article
Avoid Arginine Take Lysine Moxa
I was plagued with shingles for years until I found out that I really had Lyme Disease with herpes 6 as one of the coinfections. Finally doing well with a few small outbreaks here and there if I eat foods with too much arginine and dont take enough lysine to compensate. Two grams of lysine 3x per day is as effective as Rx to supress the virus. Also, I notice a difference in my tendons, they make a clicking sound as if they are too tight, just before an outbreak. If I up the dose Lysine at the first click, no rash develops. Moxa is very effective in halting the outbreak of rash and stopping the itch/pain instantly heat the area with a moxa stick to a zing sensation 3 times for instant relief. Search: Canadian Lyme Assoc Symptoms and arginine foods. All my fave foods were loaded with arginine. Good luck!
How and where did you get this specific of testing done? I cant find a Dr.willing to test my mother for anything this investigative/ detailed. Thanks
Bee Venom
Hi everyone, I just want to share with you an information about the bee venom and Lyme disease. The Bee venom contains a peptide called Melittin and this peptide has shown to have a very potent antimicrobial activity against Borrelia. spp as well as Candida spp and mycobacteria spp. I dont know if there is a remedy using the bee venom but it seems promising as an alternative for the sufferer with Lyme disease.
I hope this post helps someone else as it helps me.
God bless
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