Apitherapy, the "healthy" bee venom

Apitherapy

Good weather, at least in the northern hemisphere, and with it comes the desire to spend more time away from home and enjoy the outdoors and nature, but also there are the bugs that appear with the spring and are so annoying us. However, some such as the bees are essential for the maintenance of the ecosystem, and also to keep great secrets to our health and well-being.
Apitherapy is a natural therapy that involves the use of the products of bees - and especially the poison that inoculated through their sting, bee- to improve health, and relieve the pain and symptoms of various diseases (hypertension, problems related to the heart rtitmo...).
While there are still more structured trials to check the possibilities offered by apitherapy for humans, it is already an alternative used by many people, and even in some South American countries it is integrated within its national health care system.
The benefits of honey to mitigate the nuisance effects of winter colds, were already known, for example, but the apitherapy is much more than that. Although also used products derived from the work of bees, their flagship is the bee, the poison that is in the sting of the bee, applied in very small and localized doses, can help to improve the well-being of the people, provided they are not allergic to the substance.

Benefits of apitherapy and contraindications

Based on the administration of apitoxin apitherapy should be applied by a professional, since it is produced by the bee venom and, if not used properly, can be very dangerous to the health.
Apitherapy defenders point out that the contents of the venom has great health benefits, and while it takes more scientific studies, among the properties attributed to this natural therapy include:
  • Bee venom components (mainly melittin, although also other peptides and proteins) have effects antibacterial, antifungal, anti-inflammatory, analgesic, euphoric and up to antitumor.
  • It is a natural product and therefore chemical substances present in other treatments and their possible side effects are avoided.
  • Apitherapy can also help people with high blood pressure problems, and contributes to improve metabolism and eliminate toxins and edemas.
  • It promotes the cardiovascular system, the venom is anticoagulant and lowers the heart rate.
  • To combat the pain. One of the most important applications of apitherapy is precisely the relief to patients suffering from illnesses accompanied by chronic or occasional pain, because it is a very powerful analgesic . For this reason, it is often administered to patients with musculoskeletal pain and joint.
  • It is indicated to treat problems related to stress or anxiety.

Contraindications of apitherapy

It apitherapy with venom is not suitable for everyone and, for example, pregnant women should wait to give birth before undergoing this type of treatment to avoid complications to the fetus. Also, persons suffering from infectious or sexually transmitted, heart disease, cancer, disease, or other chronic diseases, cannot have to bee venom prick. As always, it is consulting with the specialist want to apitherapy, and be the one who assess whether it is advisable or not.

Good bee products for health

Apitherapy takes advantage of the tireless work of the bees to treat certain problems of health of human being. Although the fundamental basis of apitherapy is this flying insect venom, venom, the rest of the products that are also made these small insects are part of this natural treatment:

Honey

Honey is the best-known product of bees. Although we do not use it every day, there are probably a boat of this sweet and viscous fluid in some of our kitchen cabinet waiting to relieve the symptoms of winter cold. In addition, honey is energy and nurturing, healing, disinfectant, and helps make the digestion due to its high enzyme content.

Wax

Serves not only for hair removal, it is also good for the health, since it is nutritious for skin and hair and, therefore, perfect for inclusion in certain masks, and has emollient and anti-inflammatory properties.

Royal Jelly

Although it seems aesthetically honey, Royal Jelly is prepared without pollen and is intended exclusively for the bees Queens, which gives us an idea of its excellent properties. Royal Jelly has numerous health benefits, notably that it is stimulating and revitalising, has vasodilatory effects, improves blood circulation, helps to control cholesterol levels and blood glucose due to its high content of Pantothenic acid, stimulates metabolic processes and boosts the content of hemoglobin in blood.

Propooleo

Also known as propolis, it has analgesic, healing, and antibacterial properties, and ongoing studies that support its use for respiratory, cardiovascular disease or urinary tract.

Pollen

With revitalizing and invigorating properties, the pollen is ideal for people who suffer from fatigue or tiredness. In addition, it has anti-inflammatory and analgesic properties.

How is a session of apitherapy

Each session of apitherapy is different, since it is a treatment that is customized according to the problems and objectives of the person who is going to receive. However, there are generalized guidelines that most of the patients are still in their treatments.
The first and fundamental is sure that the candidate not you are allergic to the venom of bees, so it will need to have a medical test, allergy test, which confirm that the patient is unsuitable. Therefore, it is recommended to previously attend the allergist and comment you desire to enter the world of apitherapy. Moreover, many centres applied apitherapy have agreements with clinics that perform the specific allergy to bee venom test; for this purpose, a blood test is done (don't need to be on fasting) and the results are delivered in less than a week. This step is essential, since people who are allergic to the venom may suffer an anaphylactic shock that can lead to death.
After the previous step, the professional will perform a new indirect proof to have a second confirmation that there are no problems in administering this treatment.
The first session of apitherapy will be informative, and while waiting for the result of allergic tests, professional will instruct the patient to take other products produced by bees (propolis, honey, Royal Jelly...) to enhance subsequent treatment with the bee. It is also possible that the specialist advise taking vitamin supplements, especially vitamin C, so that the benefits of the components of the venom of bee assimilate better.
With the initial study data specialist will assess where and at what doses must be applied the bee venom, while there are some professionals who do not consider that the admin area is important, because that will be the body which is responsible for transporting it to where it is needed. Once is hard to say where to apply the venom, the expert will catch a bee with special pliers and will bring it to the chosen place so she cut the patient.
While not pleasant, pain caused by controlled a bee sting is very acceptable (although it depends on the individual pain threshold), and the discomfort lasted no more than one minute.
In addition, should take into account that it is possible to appear subsequently swelling, edema, or some pain after Peck of the bee; in principle, no worrying about these side effects because they are completely normal and the specialist will handle them in the following sessions.
Usually begins with a single bee - some specialists prefer to inject the venom themselves without living bees - and in weekly sessions, to go gradually increasing the dose if necessary, and spacing in time sessions. Depending on the medical condition to be treated and the patient tolerance, you will notice improvement even from the first 2-3 sessions, whose price individual tends to be from the 40 euros.
Article contributed for educational purposes
Health and Wellness