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(Editor's Note: The following suggests a therapy that must not be acted upon without the careful coordination of treatment with the patient's primary care doctor and, preferably, an allergist.

Bee sting venom can cause anaphylactic shock which can cause sudden death. The risk of shock is unacceptably high to try bee sting therapy without the supervision of an allergist.)

~This Is Un~Bee~lievable!~More Info~

Discovery Health :: Bee Sting Therapy and MS

Discovery Health :: Bee Sting Therapy: Healing from the Hive

~Bee Facts~

Bee facts

Her philosophy: Just let it bee

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MORNINGVIEW � She isn't really going to do this, is she? That's a bee lying there, body trapped in a pair of tweezers, six legs wriggling furiously.

This can't be good.

�I almost threw up the first time I did it,� Margaret Walter admits. �It goes against your natural inclination not to inflict pain.�

She grabs the tweezers and maneuvers the bee onto her hip. At first it does nothing. Then, finally, it strikes.

Ms. Walter doesn't flinch. The bee, having imbedded its stinger in human flesh, begins the process of dying.

�These guys are like a miracle,� Ms. Walter says. �They're God's first hypodermic needle.�

Nonetheless, she cautions against anyone trying this at home.

Not that we would.

Holding a bee in a pair of tweezers, Margaret Walker prepares to let it sting her.
(Patrick Reddy photo)
| ZOOM |

Ms. Walter, 43, is one of those people who takes an off-kilter approach to problems. A former draftswoman in the Navy, she lives with her husband and sons on a hilltop in rural Kenton County, where she keeps a Phoenix rooster for its long tail feathers and a goat named Bender for weed control. The cat is more of a hanger-on.

When Y2K threatened, Ms. Walter wasn't content to be like the rest of us, watching CNN and maybe buying a few cans of tuna. She started making an underground shelter.

And when the time came to give up smoking, she couldn't just switch to gum. She had to try gnawing on beeswax.

That's how her obsession began.

Beeswax from health stores is expensive, so Ms. Walter decided to get her own hive. Soon she was researching the industrious creatures and harvesting all their handiwork � not just honey and wax but also pollen and propolis, the caulk-like material bees use to plug holes. Believing pollen has healthful properties, Ms. Walter started eating small amounts of it.

She also stings herself. She and others think bee venom stimulates the body's immune system in a way that relieves certain symptoms of disease. A seminar on the concept, known as apitherapy, will take place July 26-28 at the Drawbridge Inn in Fort Mitchell.

When the osteoarthritis in her hip starts hurting, Ms. Walter coaxes a bee to sting her there, and the pain disappears for several days, she says. As a result, she no longer takes Celebrex or gets cortisone shots.

There is no scientific evidence that bee-venom therapy works.

People with multiple sclerosis have tried it, however, so the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America funded a safety study in 2000. The results are pending, Program Director Peter Damiri says. If it indicates bee stings are safe, the next step will be to test their effectiveness.

For now, �We do not recommend MS patients going out and getting bee stings,� Mr. Damiri says.

Still, one Northern Kentucky woman with MS receives stings from Ms. Walter, who does not charge for the service. The woman, a friend of hers, is hoping the stings will help her regain feeling in her feet, Ms. Walter says.

She keeps medicine on hand to counter allergic reactions, should they occur, and she emphasizes that people taking beta-blockers should not try bee stings. Their blood-pressure medicine renders the allergy treatment ineffective, Ms. Walter says.

In her homemade beekeeping hat, she's a walking Discovery Channel of interesting bee facts.

Honey, she says, is the only food that won't spoil. Bees always wipe their feet before entering their hives, to keep the environment germ-free. They also invented air-conditioning; when the hive is in danger of overheating, select bees bring back water and dribble it around. They they all gather at one end and flap their wings in the same direction.

�I'm hooked. I can't stop,� Ms. Walter says of her bee investigations. �If it has to do with bees, I drop everything and listen.�

Happily, she also has stopped smoking.

Contact: (859) 578-5584 or ksamples@enquirer.com.

Veronica Davidson/ mommyv : founder and owner of Friends With MS.com.

www.friendswithms.com

~Un-Bee-lievable~

How does bee venom therapy work?

A: Bee Venom therapy (BVT) uses bee venom to relieve the symptoms associated with multiple sclerosis. A bee is held to a person's skin and allowed to sting, releasing its "venom" into the recipient. The principal active component of bee venom is melittin, a powerful anti-inflammatory substance, said to be 100 times more potent than hydrocortisone.

Melittin also helps to activate the body's adrenal glands, which causes one's own natural healing response. Another component, adolapin, is known for its painkilling properties. These compounds seem to greatly improve vision, coordination, mobility, and sensitivity to touch, among other things, in MS patients. They also decrease pain, can add to a feeling of overall well-being, and even boost energy levels.

Reference: www.discoverychannel.com

~Another Look At Bee Sting Therapy~

A Randomized Crossover Study of Bee Sting Therapy for MS

Bee sting therapy is growing increasingly popular as treatment for patients with MS in the confidence that it can stabilize or even ameliorate the disease. There have been no clinical studies, however, to justify its use scientifically.

In a randomized, crossover study, a group of researchers from the University Medical Center Groningen in The Netherlands assigned 26 patients with relapsing-remitting or relapsing secondary progressive MS to 24 weeks of either medically supervised bee sting therapy or no treatment. Live bees (up to a maximum of 20) were used to administer bee venom three times per week. The results of this study were published in the December 2005 issue of Neurology.

The principle concern was the cumulative number of new gadolinium-enhancing lesions on T1-weighted MRI of the brain. Secondary areas of interest were lesion load on T2*-weighted MRI, relapse rate, disability (Expanded Disability Status Scale, Multiple Sclerosis Functional Composite, Guy�s Neurologic Disability Scale), fatigue (Abbreviated Fatigue Questionnaire, Fatigue Impact Scale), and health-related quality of life (Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short Form General Health Survey).

The authors report that during bee sting therapy, there was no significant reduction in the cumulative number of new gadoliniumenhancing lesions, the T2*-weighted lesion load further progressed, and there was no significant reduction in relapse rate. Furthermore, no improvement of disability, fatigue, or quality of life was observed. Bee sting therapy, however, was well tolerated and no serious adverse side-effects occurred. It was concluded in this trial that treatment with bee venom in patients with relapsing MS did not reduce disease activity, disability, or fatigue and showed no improvement in quality of life. (Available from: http://www.pubmed.gov, PMID: 16221950)

Article taken from......

Multiple Sclerosis Quarterly Report � Blog Archive � A Randomized Crossover Study of Bee Sting Therapy for MS

~The Science Behind Acupuncture~

The Science Behind Acupuncture

According to Chinese traditional medicine, acupuncture affects the life force called "chi." More than 2000 acupuncture points in the body are connected by meridians, or pathways, through which energy must pass freely for optimal wellness. Disturbances in this flow result in illness or dysfunction.

Over the years, research has shown that acupuncture affects a variety of biological systems --relaseing hormones, disabling receptors, and activating anti-inflammatory chemicals. It has been suggested that the healing power of acupuncture comes from its effect on the nervous chemicals called endorphins or help cells from the immune system fight infection, according to the NIH.

Intricate networks of connective tissue--which extend throughout the body--may be at the crux of acupuncture, acoording to other studies. It's evident when an acupuncture needle is inserted into the body. Like a fork in a plate of spaghetti, the needle grabs up tiny bits of connective tissue and nerve bundles between muscles.

The body's pull on that tissue is intense, which both the practitioner and the patient can feel, says Wayne. "That needle is being held by the body, it gets sucked in. If you turn the needle a little bit, it is grasped by the body, the body doesn't want to let go, "Wayne explains.

The turning and manipulation of that needle instantly affects the connective tissue in its plane -- including more distant points in the plane. All this has been documented using high resolution ultrasound, Wayne says.

Acupuncture is not mainstream yet. Wayne tells WebMD. "But a lot of progress has been made. Some of that is because of credibility gained from clincal trials. The continued momentum of consumer usage and satisfaction has driven a lot of the research. People are using acupuncture, spending money on it, and they have some valikd questions whether this is the best use of their resources."

Acupuncturists are better trained today than they were in the past, he adds. "They're trained in a way that they can integrate better with conventional medicine. They can speak articulately about research going on and limitations of that researc. It legitimizes what we do in a way that makes sense."

Bottom Line: Finding an Acupuncturist

A qualified acupuncturist gets thousands of hours of training. A MD with acupuncture training, however, gets only 200 hours or so of training. "There's a big difference, "says Wayne. A qualified acupuncturist will be licensed through state and national boards. Ask the practitioner about his or her years of clinical experience -- that also makes a difference.

With increasing studies of acupuncture, it's been shown that safety "is phenomenally good," Wayne tells WebMD. "The adverse effects are very, very low with a trained acupuncturist. Some conditions where licensed acupuncturist would know what the can and can't do. In pregnant women, there are certain areas you wouldn't touch. But safety is the first thing you're taught," he says.

Published Jan. 24, 2005.
Medically updated March 2006.

SOURCES: Peter Wayne, PhD, director of research at the New England School of Acupuncture. WebMD Medical News: "Acupuncture Entering the Mainstream." WebMD Feature: "The Ancient Art of Infertility Treatment." WebMD Feature: "Acupuncture May Help Chemotherapy Side Effects." WebMD Feature: "Why Acupuncture Works."

~Yoga Matters: Exercise for MS~

By Christine Haran

In the last few years, yoga has resurfaced as an exercise, not to mention fashion, craze. One of the remarkable things about this historic Indian form of exercise and relaxation is that it can be tailored to the fantastically fit or those with physical limitations. And a number of studies have shown that yoga may have specific health benefits for people with joint pain, insomnia and even those with certain lung diseases. A study funded by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine at the National Institutes of Health recently examined its benefits in people with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Lead researcher Barry Oken, MD, director of the Oregon Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Neurological Disorders in Portland, was interested in providing health professionals with data that would allow them to recommend specific exercise strategies. His study randomized 69 people with MS to one of three groups for six months. One group attended a weekly yoga group and the second group went to a weekly aerobic exercise group run by a physical therapist; the exercise involved riding at stationary bicycle in class and at home. The third group maintained their normal state of activity.

Below, Dr. Oken discusses his study's finding that people in both the yoga and aerobic exercise groups experienced less fatigue, and what people with MS should keep in mind when choosing an exercise program.

Why did you decide to look at the benefits of yoga in MS patients?
I thought that yoga might be beneficial in terms of cognitive function in multiple sclerosis, where there are significant cognitive problems, such as difficulty concentrating. So cognitive function was the primary outcome measure in the study, and the all the quality of life measures such as fatigue and mood were secondary outcome measures.

Yoga and aerobic exercise have a lot of similar properties, but yoga might offer some other plusses. Yoga has a stress reduction or relaxation component, which may be helpful for people with MS or other conditions. For example, you concentrate on your breathing. People who are doing aerobic exercise may be doing that as well, but it may not be quite as overt. Yoga also improves joint flexibility through stretching, which is not as important in most exercise routines. Joint flexibility may be good in arthritis and other kinds of joint symptoms.

There are also yoga poses where there is significant strengthening of, for example, the shoulder girdle muscles, which is not happening if somebody is running or doing an exercise bicycle. And yoga improves balance.

What did the yoga classes involve?
We chose to do a 90-minute Iyangar yoga class because Iyangar lends itself to easy adaptability with props. A lot of the patients needed chairs, blankets and other props in order to be able to do the poses because they had problems with balance and strength.

After a fair amount of work, we designed a series of poses that we thought would be feasible for people with MS. There were more restorative or rest poses than there would be in a standard class, and poses weren't maintained for as long as they might be in a normal class; poses were only held for about 10 to 30 seconds. The class was pretty structured, with each week being fairly similar to the previous week.

What did the study find?
There was no improvement in cognitive measures, actually. The changes were in the measures of fatigue. Statistically, the improvements in fatigue were equivalent in the bicycling and yoga groups.

Fatigue in MS is a major issue. More than three-quarters of people who have MS have significant fatigue. There are a couple of causes of this fatigue. Some people who are depressed may complain of fatigue, and depression is not uncommon in multiple sclerosis. But even people who are not depressed�and those who do have not significant physical disability�have problems with fatigue, to the point that there are prescription medications that are used to treat the fatigue in MS.

The results of our study, however, might have been partly due to the class structure. There was a bit of a support group atmosphere because it was a group of people with MS who were doing this exercise class together.

Do you think exercise should be recommended to people with MS?
Ten years ago, doctors were recommending that people with MS not exercise. At this point, I think the recommendation should be that people with MS should engage in some kind of exercise program, be it aerobic exercise, such as the stationary bicycle, or yoga. The reason we stress the stationary bicycle is that, unlike walking, it is a physical exercise that people with MS can continue fairly readily as the disease progresses. And swimming is sometimes impractical.

While our yoga results may be translatable to somebody with MS taking a general yoga class, I'm not sure of it. Certainly, the yoga class attended by someone with MS has to be fairly tailored to them. So I'm not sure people who have significant symptoms from MS should just go into the corner yoga studio. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society has been interested in yoga and has been recommending it, and there is the sense that people with MS want yoga classes. We published the design of the class so yoga teachers could have access to what a class specifically designed for people with MS should look like.

Personal trainers working with people with MS on aerobic exercise need to be fully attuned to limitations as well. For example, overheating is an issue in MS. MS damages myelin, a protective coating that covers the nerves. As best we know, electrical conduction in the nerves doesn't function as well when you lose the myelin covering of the nerves. And so, the body is more sensitive to high temperature changes than it would be if there was good myelin covering of the nerve.

Still, I think people with MS should engage in some form of physical activity, be it aerobic exercise or yoga, or whatever exercise they think they can maintain for a number of years.