Bee Venom Therapy (BVT)

I begin my journey with Bee Venom Therapy (BVT) on February 19, 2018, in my 8th year of onset with Morgellons. Right now there are only a few people with Morgellon's that I know of using this treatment. BVT has been very successful for treating Lyme, which is why I am giving it a shot. This is my place to journal my experience. I will update this page with my progress periodically.

Bee Venom Therapy, has been used for thousands of years to treat illness. Treatment involves using live bees to sting the body strategically on either side of the spine. Ellie Lobel, a Lyme sufferer discovered the power of bee venom by accident after she went to California with a prognosis of 4 to 6 months to live from advanced Lyme. She was attacked by africanized bees and thought the end of her life had come sooner than expected. Lo and behold, after an intense herx she recovered. That's when she began researching BVT, formulating a protocol and getting the word out to the Lyme community.

The protocol in a nutshell, is to build up slowly to a tolerance of 10 stings each session. This is done 3 times a week for a total of 30 stings every week. If anyone is interested in the details of the protocol, you should join the Facebook group, search "Bee Venom Therapy for Lyme Disease" Be sure to explore the 'Files' section. 

After the bee stings the recipient, their stinger and venom sac is left on the skin and pumps venom into the body over a period of 15 minutes. Then sac and stinger are removed.

I had not been treating myself for infection(s) in recent years, as I had no lasting success with either herbal or rife treatments and refused to compromise my gut with antibiotics. While I haven't relapsed with any major Morgellons symptoms, over time, I've increasingly felt exhausted and was aware of some low level sensation in my right jaw, ear and nasal cavity making itself known on and off. During the winter of 2018 I found myself immune compromised for about 1.5 months. I didn't get fully sick, but I always felt I was on the verge of a cold or flu and had a cough that wouldn't go away as well as a sore throat that came on every night. Test results showed I had reactivated Epstein Barr. I felt I needed to take action. A friend with Lyme was treating with bee venom and having great results. This convinced me to try BVT.

Before beginning therapy, I got a prescription for an epinephrine injector. It is imperative to have one on hand with every stinging session in case of anaphylactic shock. The first test sting one does, is where the stinger and venom sac are left on the skin for 30 seconds, then removed to make sure the body will not have an allergic reaction. Mine went well. Two days later I did my first 'real' sting in which the sac was allowed to stay on the skin for 15 mins. The next day delivered a herxheimer from hell. It lasted 10 days and sent me reeling to a cardiologist to make sure I hadn't damaged my heart. For days I had nausea, queasiness, rolling sensations in the bowels, exhaustion, brain fog and shakiness, plus soreness on my left side and around the heart. The moisture in my eyes felt like glue. 

I have many genes that are compromised for metabolism including MTHFR, so detoxing is a problem for me. When the body is overwhelmed with toxins caused by die off of bacteria, a herxheimer reaction will occur causing inflammation. Herxing can be very dangerous if it's too intense, but it's necessary, and even a welcome sign that die off is occuring. So learning one's tolerance and how to manage it, takes trial and error. Being attentive and moving slowly is so important.

After my intense reaction, I saw the need to back up and reapproach my first stings much more gradually. My next real sting was for three minutes only. Let that be a word to the wise. If you decide to attempt this therapy and you know in general you don't do well with treatments, GO IN SLOW and test your tolerance. Even 3 mins, I herxed enough to be leveled out. My next sting was for 5 mins. I continued to herx. but the severity of the episodes lessened over the first few weeks. After I reached 5 stings per treatment, I was able to leave the stingers in for 15 mins.

I see many people rushing to get their tolerance up to 10 stings per session quickly by often jumping ahead 2 stings at a time. If they don't herx up front and immediately the day after stinging, then eventually a serious herx is bound to catch them up. If you've ever seen the brakes put on a train running full speed ahead, you know it can't immediately be stopped. Same with an intense herxheimer reaction. It will have to play out it's course, even when you've pulled out of treatment. 

Some of the ways I've used to remove toxins from the body during herxheimer reactions are: sauna, charcoal pills (the day after stinging), alka seltzer gold, apple cider vinegar, and yucca, lemon juice in water, coffee enemas. Supporting the liver is recommended (TUDCA, milk thistle, dandelion) and adrenal support of 3,000 mgs. of vitamin C per day is mandatory. 

Note that bee venom therapy is a longterm committent with treatment lasting approximately 2-3 years to totally rid oneself of infection.The venom appears to go after multiple bacterial infections as well as viral. It will kick up symptoms both physical and mental, and can be challenging as one cycles through die off reactions. Journal of my treatment below...

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A note on epipens: after the pharmaceutical companies raked consumers over the coals by inflating epipen cost to more than $600, CVS came up with a cheaper version called The generic epinephrine auto-injector, or Epinephrine Adrenaclick 

https://www.cvs.com/content/epipen-alternative. One needs a doctor's prescripiton to get it, and the prescription needs to be worded as above. If the doctor uses the wording 'Epipen' in the prescription, the pharmacy will default to the expensive brand, so it's important your doctor get it right. Insurance covers the cost in some cases, otherwise the least expensive is for $110 at CVS. If your doctor refuses to give a prescription, one can purchase it from New Zealand. https://www.kiwidrug.com/mylan/epipen_adult/?fbclid=IwAR3-UUfVZy8W7zyvGBt3KiDNPEt4JAUaCp4qa10juQP0bYi8OhS5xt2k3yc


Above: My lower back. Each sting session is alternated between the upper and lower section of the torso. One is not supposed to sting below the natural waist until they have been at 10 stings for 3 months.

June 4, 2018 I hit the goal of 10 stings per session, which is when one begins the countdown of "officially" treating at full dosage. It took about 3.5 months to get here (for perspective it takes most 3-5 months to ramp up to 10 stings). For once, I took my time. My herxes were mostly early. I ran into breathing problems when I hit 5 stings. When I hit 8 stings, breathlessness with air hunger got more pronounced, so I dropped back down to 5 stings and held. Currently, I try not to take any unnecessay herbs that might interfere with the venom, but at the time of air hunger, I felt if I didn't do something, I wouldn't be able to continue long-term treatment. I resumed taking a cocktail of various powders that I had been consuming for some months before BVT and during the early stages of stinging. These were ashwaghanda, hawthorn, spirulina, nopal cactus, moringa and mangosteen. I made a cocktail of these and I think that is what helped my breathing problem. I stopped taking them when breathing normalized.

Symptoms along the way: When I went up to 2 stings, a patch of skin on my back got red and felt hot. For about an hour, I had the sensations of randomly being stung hard in that spot (even though I had never stung that spot). This alternated with the feeling that glass was being dragged across that section of skin. Another time, I had some burning on my lower buttocks and the feeling of pins being stuck in me. Most recently, I had a Bartonella rash appear on the skin. It lasted close to 3 hours before fading. I've also begun to have pain behind my eyes when in bright sunlight. I feel the venom is kicking things up. 

Generally, I've been feeling good. Stronger, more energetic. A number of people have told me I'm looking better. On sting days I feel energetic and in the afternoon long to nap. It's too soon to know what the long-term effects of the treatment will be.

Nov 1, 2018 Incorporated Mimosa into my treatment (parasite cleanse). Mimosa has been a trial. At two pills a day it causes constipation and headaches. Supplementing with chia and psyllium husks to keep things moving. The mimosa is pulling ropey gunk out through the stool. I know the consensus is that it kills parasites. Frankly, I believe what it's doing is removing some sort of muscosal buildup or biofilm communities from the intestines. Maybe within that biofilm parasites can exist, but a closeup under the microscope convinces me that these aren't "worms." This debris is like a film of plastic and if this stuff is coating our intestines, then I cannot see how our precious (expensive) supplements are getting through their shield. I stopped the Mimosa when I found out it is anti-venom.

Jan 5, 2019 Seven months treating with bee venom! I continue to feel good. There has been a lot more activity in the head in recent weeks. Headaches, pressure in the head, pain behind the eyes, an occasional stiff neck. These symptoms come and go in a strange fashion, as I might have pain in the right eye then suddenly move to the left eye before disappearing. In the last 2 weeks I've experienced slight pain around the heart area. Attributing this to clearing Bartonella issues which love to set up shop in the heart tissue. There are still fibers and particles in the skin.

One of the biggest changes has been to the herpes virus. I believe the venom is taming the beast. Up till now I had never experienced a change to the virus no matter what I threw at it (and I threw a lot at it: supplements; herbs; cremes, and most recently Acyclovir and Valcyclovir.) Even Valcyclovir was hard pressed to stop an outbreak!

Outbreaks have always been triggered by stress, exhaustion, but mostly by certain foods (nuts, chocolate, sugar, coffee, hot spices, lemons). With onset of Morgellons, the herpes virus became much more virulent. The new norm was having one outbreak after another, with the virus bouncing from my butt to my genitals and sometimes back to the butt—and genital outbreaks were new for me starting with the onset of Morgellons. I attribute all these outbreaks to an overwhelmed immune system, weakened in it's ability to fend off pathogens.

Early on in treating with bee venom there seemed to be more herpe outbreaks as the venom made the virus acute. These have dropped off. I have experimented with trying to provoke outbreaks with food (I'm always trying to see what I can get away with), and it is no longer easily provoked. Whereas I used to tolerate maybe 7 nuts before having an outbreak, I can now eat 10 handfuls if I want.

When I started the bee venom, I had a friend sting me. I've now taken over self-stinging and have gotten good at it. This is easily done with 2 mirrors. For those interested in bee venom but have no one to help, it is quite doable once you get over the fear. I don't even ice my back anymore as the pain is neglibible.

Update June 2019: One year anniversary of treating with 10 stings, 3x a week. My last blood work tested high for IgM Mycoplasma P. (something I was never tested for before), as well as Epstein Barr. I'm hoping BVT will address that. I lost 2 teeth this year. One of them was an old periodontal problem I had been addressing way before onset of Morgellons. I had not been aware of any infection in my other tooth though, and the way it was discovered was with cone beam scan that my dentist updated his practice with, so it would not have shown up on the older types of x-ray. In retrospect, I went through a period of jaw issues this year and felt it was a retrace of symptoms, but now see it was an actual infection.

I feel generally very well. I still need naps on most days to recharge, but energy is good and I can work. I've had some cat scratches appear on the skin, and my fingers get 'papercut' lesions, or a pinpoint lesion on occasion, as it did before BVT treatment. I no longer get itchy, or feel pins and needle stabs when I sweat from exertion. Mentioned above, herpes is so much better. What I learned about the virus over this past year, is that I was able to provoke an outbreak if I stung along the dermatomes one inch from either side of the spine, right at the top level of the butt crack. That seems to be where the virus lives. So I was fairly aggressive stinging those points and intentionally looking to provoke an outbreak (which usually came on about 6 hours after stinging). The last 4 sting sessions where I worked on those points no longer provoked any viral reaction. In this respect, BVT has been life-changing!

I remain very happy about bee venom as a treatment. I do not know if it will eradicate Morgellons, but it is supporting the body and I continue with the idea that it is taking away whatever infections it can. I still see fibers and particles on the skin under the scope, and I could swear they are fewer, but I need to continue to monitor them. Onwards and upwards!

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I stopped BVT treatment around March 17, 2020 when I went into isolation for the covid-19 virus. I didn't want to have to go into the post office. In truth, I was also finding it more and more difficult to have to kill the bees and that is what holds me back from resuming the therapy now. 

Did it 'cure' Morgellons? No. Right now I don't have access to my camera to check the skin, but even so, I know it did not rid me of whatever this infection is. I can tell because I still have that itchy patch on my abdomen that comes and goes as well as occasional stinging when I exert myself and am sweating. Did it help my health. Yes. It was amazing for herpes reducing outbreaks and allowing me to eat foods that previously would have triggered me to outbreaks. I did have a number of outbreaks starting the week before I ended BVT which I attribute to adding liquorice root into my diet (it is supposed to help with covid-19). I think it was creating what is known in Chinese medicine as 'internal heat.' Once I realized, I stopped taking it and outbreaks stopped. Now I will wait to see if the herpe outbreaks go back to being frequent, or if the BVT made a permanent dent.

Would I recommend BVT? Yes. But an emphatic YES, if you know you have Lyme. If you can knock Lyme out of the equation, you have a chance to get your immune system that much closer to being strong enough to get back online. I have never felt I have Lyme disease.

A note to all Morgellons sufferers that might want to use BVT as a treatment. You will probably see some symptoms get worse before getting better. I remember having more particles come from the skin, especially around my face, when I began treatment. Another Morgellons sufferer mentioned that she was panicked because there were more fibers coming from her. Symptoms kicking up at the beginning of treatment are a normal process during healing. They need to be pushed through. This person has since told me that she leveled out and is doing fine now. My nutritionist had warned me when I first started working with her program of supplementation, that I would probably get worse before better, so I was prepared for this when starting BVT.

Above: Unusual activity of blue particles rising to the surface of the skin during BVT treatment. These only appeared in one little patch on the face. Below: Enlargement of blue particles.

If you are interested in viewing the full protocol for BVT treatment join the facebook group 'Bee Venom Therapy for Lyme Disease.' You will need to answer the questions before admittance. 

I use the Beeza hut to store my bees and recommend it simply because it has two compartments. If one is having bees delivered weekly, you cannot mix new ones with the old, as the bees from different hives will war with each other—hence two compartments. Demo of the hut (note, this is a little earlier model of the one I use): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FDYN05MexUs

To purchase a Beeza hut: https://www.etsy.com/listing/265321585/beezza-hutfree-shipping-in-the-usa-we

Ellie Lobel's website: http://bvtforlyme.com

Dr. Eva Sapi's study – Antimicrobial Activity of Bee Venom and Melittin against Borrelia burgdorferi
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5745474

Additional info. honeybeehealers.com/information-to-get-started-with-bee-venom-therapy-for-lyme-disease

Antimicrobial Activity of Bee Venom and Melittin Against Borellia Burgdorferi https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29186026

Link to scientific studies: http://www.apitoxin.se/research.html

Antifungal – ‪https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29606818 

The the bee venom in its whole form delivered a significant level of inhibition and we concluded that the venom in separated forms are not effective. Moreover, BV based products may exert as potential antifungal therapeutics.

Antiparasite – ‪https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23562368

Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are components of the innate immune response that represent desirable alternatives to conventional pharmaceuticals, as they have a fast mode of action, a low likelihood of resistance development and can act in conjunction with existing drug regimens. AMPs exhibit strong inhibitory activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, fungi, viruses, metazoans and other parasites, such as the protozoan Leishmania. Melittin is a naturally occurring AMP, which comprises 40-50% of the dry weight of Apis mellifera venom. Our group has recently shown that crude A. mellifera venom is lethal to Trypanosoma cruzi, the Chagas disease etiologic agent, and generates a variety of cell death phenotypes among treated parasites. Here, we demonstrate that the melittin affected all of T. cruzi developmental forms, including the intracellular amastigotes. The ultrastructural changes induced by melittin suggested the occurrence of different programmed cell death pathways, as was observed in A. mellifera-treated parasites. Autophagic cell death appeared to be the main death mechanism in epimastigotes. In contrast, melittin-treated trypomastigotes appeared to be dying via an apoptotic mechanism. Our findings confirm the great potential of AMPs, including melittin, as a potential source of new drugs for the treatment of neglected diseases, such as Chagas disease.

Antiviral – ‪https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27888461

BVT is safe for human treatments dose dependently and proven to possess different healing properties including antibacterial and antiparasitidal properties. Nevertheless, antiviral properties of BV have not well investigated. Hence, we identified the potential antiviral properties of BV and its component against a broad panel of viruses.

Antibacterial and anti-biofilm – ‪https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28943153

Melittin presents desirable effects in combating microorganisms studied both at your disposal, biofilm destruction and inhibition of the formation, and maybe used in future studies of new strategies to combat infections caused by these pathogens.

ALS – ‪https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/?term=melittin+ALS

melittin treatment reduced α-synuclein misfolding and restored the proteasomal activity in the brainstem and spinal cord of symptomatic hSOD1G93A transgenic mice. Our research suggests a potential functional link between melittin and the inhibition of neuroinflammation in an ALS animal model.