Bee-sting therapy for auto-immune diseases: Does it work? Is it safe?

Bee Venom Therapy for Multiple Sclerosis and Arhtritis has ardent supporters. Let us see if it is warranted:

_**Efficacy: **_

There are not too many true clinical studies of the efficacy of bee sting therapy on MS. We could find only one [1]  ,performed in the Netherlands, it consisted of "…26 patients with relapsing-remitting or relapsing secondary progressive MS to 24 weeks of medically supervised bee sting therapy or 24 weeks of no treatment. Live bees (up to a maximum of 20) were used to administer bee venom three times per week…

MS progression markers were followed:

* News brain lesions as seen on MRIs
* relapse rate
* disability level, fatigue

_There was no improvement at any level. Hmmm…._

However, an Israeli study on bee venom therapy [4] is more positive, "..Bee Venom Immunotherapy is effective in most patients immediately after the conventional Maintenance Dose  has been reached…" The scope of that immunotherapy is not mentioned , though.

[![][1]][2]

Pretty Bee..

_** **_

_**How would it work? **_"..Bee venom also contains a substance known as adolapin, which is both anti-inflammatory and pain-blocking.." [6]

_**A blog post in about.com **_by Julie Stachowiak  [2] also quotes the above Dutch study, but  interestingly says that ".."…Despite a lack of scientific evidence, bee sting therapy has been reported by people with MS to increase stability, as well as reduce fatigue and spasticity. More than 1,300 people with MS have sent testimonials to the American Apitherapy Society in support of the therapy…"

You bet, in [3] you can find a typical glowing  testimony for the MS benefits of bee stinging sent to the Apitherapy Society, an incorporated(?) non profit society (it site has a .org suffix)

To this, I will add that i know personally an MS patient who swears by it, and only stopped because of a lack of stinging session assistant…

_**A Note of caution: Bee venom therapy is not without risks.**_ As a matter of fact it is much easier to find medical litterature of the risks than about the benefits…

Quoting the journal of hepatology [5]:

"..Multiple stings are known to cause hemolysis, kidney injury, hepatotoxicity and myocardial infarction. The toxicity can be immediate or can manifest itself only weeks after the exposure.."

This on top of severe allergies that can occur.

_**Conclusion:**_ As an article on Bee Venom Therapy in medicine.net [6] says, it is still a controversial therapy, but a georgetown university is starting, and Ross Hauser, at the Caring Medical & Rehabilitation Service in Oak Park, Illinois  has obtained results showing "…Fifty-eight percent had a very positive response and got significantly better," says Hauser. "But 30 percent had no benefit, and one patient got worse."

That sounds worth following to me, but watch for the risks we mentioned

_**Talk to your Doctor**_

Sources:

[1] [Neurology][3] ; "A randomized crossover study of bee sting therapy for multiple sclerosis" ; 2005

[2] [About.com ; " Bee Venom therapy for MS"][4] ; sep 2011

[3] [Apitherapy Society Testimonial; ][5]2009;

[4] [Allergy][6] ; "Bee venom immunotherapy - how early is it effective? ; 2009

[5][ world journal of hepatology ][7]; "Bee sting therapy-induced hepatotoxicity: A case report." ; 2011

[6]  [medicine.net :sting the pain away"][8] ; Jan 2005

Technorati Tags: [alternative medicine][9], [Auto-Immune Diseases][10], [Bee sting therapy][11], [Bee venom][12], [Does it work?][13], [Is it safe?][14], [multiple sclerosis][15]

[![Email][16]][17][![Share][18]][19]

[1]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bees_canstockphoto54152993-e1320867708461.jpg (Bees_canstockphoto5415299)
[2]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Bees_canstockphoto54152993.jpg
[3]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16221950
[4]: http://ms.about.com/od/alternativemedicine/a/bee_stings.htm
[5]: http://www.apitherapy.org/656/bee-venom-therapy-for-ms/
[6]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19839973
[7]: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22059110
[8]: http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=50602
[9]: http://technorati.com/tag/alternative+medicine
[10]: http://technorati.com/tag/Auto-Immune+Diseases
[11]: http://technorati.com/tag/Bee+sting+therapy
[12]: http://technorati.com/tag/Bee+venom
[13]: http://technorati.com/tag/Does+it+work%3F
[14]: http://technorati.com/tag/Is+it+safe%3F
[15]: http://technorati.com/tag/multiple+sclerosis
[16]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/icons/email.png
[17]: http://www.addtoany.com/add_to/email?linkurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.medinewsdigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D3135&linkname=Bee-sting%20therapy%20for%20auto-immune%20diseases%3A%20Does%20it%20work%3F%20Is%20it%20safe%3F (Email)
[18]: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/wp-content/plugins/add-to-any/share_save_256_24.png
[19]: http://www.addtoany.com/share_save#url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.medinewsdigest.com%2F%3Fp%3D3135&title=Bee-sting%20therapy%20for%20auto-immune%20diseases%3A%20Does%20it%20work%3F%20Is%20it%20safe%3F

URL: http://www.medinewsdigest.com/?p=3135