Over the years, science has proven the effectiveness of using different bee products—such as beeswax, honey, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly—in treating various kinds of diseases. Bee stings were also added to these methods. It is believed that stings are effective in curing the symptoms of a wide variety of diseases, including arthritis, multiple sclerosis, tendonitis, and fibromyalgia.
Although the use of bee venom therapy for patients suffering from rheumatism or arthritis has been traced back to ancient Egypt, Greece, and China, the results of scientific research in this field are not conclusive until now.
When bees sting people, they inject their venom into their skin using their barbed stingers. Although it is considered a painful experience, hundreds of people around the globe believe in the power of the apitherapy (bee products therapy), and some of them get themselves stung about 60 times a day.
According to Natural News, a science-based natural health advocacy organisation, bee venom contains about 40 different healing components, one of which is melittin, a compound identified in a 2009 Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts study as an anti-inflammatory and anti-arthritic element.
The simple process of bee venom therapy includes picking some honey bees using long tweezers, putting them closer to the patient’s skin, and waiting for the bee to inject its venom naturally. Some doctors have reported injecting their patients with the bee venom as an alternative to the natural way. However, bee stings are certainly not safe. It was proven that approximately 2% of people have allergic reactions to stings from bees and wasps.
All pictures taken by Mohammed Omar