Sami Chugg via Bristol Gareth Iwan Jones/SWNS.Com
Fox News and others have been talking about Sami Chugg from Bristol, England and her Bee Venom Therapy (BVT) also called Apitherapy.
She was bedridden due to the multiple sclerosis (MS) she was diagnosed with 12 years ago and it had numbed her to the point where she was unable to walk.
Apitherapy is a treatment where a live bee is held with a pair of tweezers, is made to sting the patient and many have said that it helps ease the pain of MS syptoms and also helps the body to fight back against the disease.
Miss Chugg saw a the therapy where bees were being held to a sufferer's back so they could sting that person's spine and is now saying that her therapy has her back on her feet and "feels much better for it".
She is quoted as saying, "Most people would be terrified by the prospect of being stung by a bee. But when you have a condition like MS, that involves the numbing of the body, any kind of sensation is welcome - even if it's from a bee sting."
Researchers regarding Apitherapy say that some of the compounds in bee venom reduces inflammation and pain and that it is the combination of all of its ingredients that helps the MS sufferer's body to release natural healing compounds.
"You use a pair of tweezers and get hold of a single bee," Miss Chugg says. "Then you gradually de-sensitise your body to the sting by injecting it in and out of your skin a few times. Sadly bees are killed by stinging, so you certainly only want to do this for a very good cause. But the relief it gave me was tremendous."
It is a treatment that begins slowly as the body needs to be 'de-sensitised' but that it does eventually lead up to multiple bees that are being used at one time and to be left in the skin for sometimes up to 20 minutes. Miss Chugg was treated twice a week at three locations with stings.
She says, "Above the shoulders, the middle back, and then the lumbar area. It's all centered around your spine. It's changed my life and my approach to life."
There are risks, of course, in that some people go into anaphylactic shock* after being stung and, as of today, it still remains an unproven therapy.
The exact composition, meaning what is in the venom, is unknown. They only know that it is a cocktail of enzymes and proteins and a MS Society representative has said before that U.S. trials on purified bee venom extract hasn't been found to have any lasting effect.
This spokesperson, found by a reporter at the Associated Newspapers, has also said that "some patients had fewer symptoms than others or even none at times, making it difficult to tell whether therapy was working."
Apitherapy is a theory based on 'counter irritation'. Counter Irritation simply means that the body's immune system is "fired up" because of the pain, lessening the effects of the exhisting condition.
Miss Chugg campaigns now for the 'Safe Land for Bees' project because, as she says, "I became very concerned. I owed bees an awful lot and I felt they were a vital part of our ecosystem. Life without them would be unimaginable, because the work they do as pollinators basically keeps our environment ticking over."
For more information on Apitherapists around Lima, Ohio:
Unfortunately, because Apitherapy hasn't really caught on in Ohio as of yet, there aren't any close to Lima, but the links below, especially the first link, will help get anyone who is interested on the right track. If anyone knows of anyone I have missed and would like that information included in this article, please see below:
- The American Apitherapy Society, Inc -- 5535 Balboa Blvd Ste 225, Encino, CA 91316 Phone: (818) 501–0446 e-mail: aasoffice@apitherapy.org/web site: www.apitherapy.org
- Floyd Alexander and Karen Hughes of Fowler, Ohio -- can be reached at (330) 898-3545
More Interesting Link About Bees and Honey Therapy:
- Relief breaks out in The Hive by Denise Dick
- Apitherapy News -- The Internet's Best Source of Information About the Medicinal Use of Bee Products
- Beginning Beekeeping Workship (Lima Ohio) -- Unfortunately this was already missed as it was just done in February, but there are names and phone numbers, along with this link to the NWOBA, to see if you want to get started for next year! Plus it can't hurt to ask as spring has just started.
- Hillynuts Health Hut -- County Market Trade Center, 14 20 N Cole Street; Lima, OH 45801
419-204-6133; here is a Google Map and information.
Sources: Daily Mail www.dailymail.co.uk/health; Fox News www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,590407,00; Associated Newspapers Ltd; The Vindicator
For those who live in Lima the Northwestern Ohio MS Chapter can be reached at: Tomahawk Drive at (419) 897-7263. They are located approximately an hour and a half from Lima, Ohio and 45 minutes from Findlay, Ohio. For directions please click here at Google Maps.
For any corrections of factual information or to contact the writer please use - LWF.Examiner@Gmail.Com
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*Because of the possible serious complications that could happen with doing Apitherapy by yourself and without an unlicensed physician, please do NOT try this on your own!
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