Bee Venom Therapy (BVT)

I begin my journey with Bee Venom Therapy on February 19, 2018, in my 8th year since onset of Morgellons. Right now there are only a few people with Morgellon's that I know of using this treatment. I am not suggesting people run out and try this therapy. This is my place to journal my experience. I will update this page with my progress periodically.

Bee Venom Therapy (BVT), has been used for thousands of years. Treatment involves having live bees sting the body strategically on either side of the spine, so that their venom get into the body. Ellie Lobel, a Lyme sufferer discovered this treatment by accident after she went to California with a prognosis of 4 to 6 months to live from advanced Lyme. She was attacked by killer 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 is to build up slowly to a tolerance of 10 stings each treatment. This is done 3 times a week for a total of 30 stings each week. 

After the bee stings the recipient, their stinger and venom sac is left on the skin, to pump venom into the body over a period of 20 minutes--then sac and stinger are removed. After years of traditional and alternative treatment for Lyme, a friend of mine was having great results using BVT. There are many success stories within the Lyme community, so I decided to give it a go.

In recent years I have not been actively trying to kill my own infection(s), 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 of the 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 more than one and a half 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. The BVT came into my life right when I felt I needed to take a greater stance with my health.

Before beginning, 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 20 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 with queasiness, rolling sensations of needing to evacuate 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.

This is intense medicine and it needs respecting! I saw the need to back up and reapproach my first sting 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, GO IN SLOW and gradually build up tolerance. Believe me, at even 3 mins, I herxed enough to be leveled out. My next sting was for 5 mins. So far, my herxes (except for the first one), have been manageable.

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.

I see many people rushing to get their tolerance up to 10 stings a session quickly by often jumping ahead 2 stings at a time. Personally, I am horrified by this. 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 a bad herxheimer reaction. It will have to play out it's course, even when you've pulled out of treatment.

Granted my body is very sensitive and so I am attuned to these types of issues. Others may be better able to tolerate moving forward more quickly, but if moving slowly when starting this therapy will help someone from a crash and burn experience, then I've got to point it out.

Some of the ways I've used to help remove toxins from the body are with sauna, charcoal pills, alka seltzer gold, apple cider vinegar, and yucca. If this therapy is of interest, there is lots of information out there. Just google it. Look on youtube, and there is a facebook group called Bee Venom Therapy for Lyme Disease. Read the protocol carefully, and see how they support the system. Be sure to explore their 'Files' section. 

Note that bee venom therapy is a long treatment lasting around 3 years to totally rid oneself of infection (it 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.
honeybeehealers.com/information-to-get-started-with-bee-venom-therapy-for-lyme-disease

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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. In my case, the pharmacy had to be called by the doctor's office, as my doc didn't have a generic epinephrine in their database of prescriptions. If one is lucky, insurance will cover the cost, otherwise the least expensive is for $110 at CVS.