For Donna Domby of Michigan, just
getting through the days was a chore. The 42-year-old mother of two grown
children was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1977. At first she felt
numbness in various parts of her body, had poor vision, and was very
clumsy. Even with the fatigue and vision problems, she still was able to
walk and take care of her children and to work at a video store for 10
years. When her fatigue worsened and her vision started to go, she was
forced to quit her job. Eventually her physical health deteriorated to the
point where she was almost totally bedridden. "I couldn't get up the
stairs to sleep, so a day bed was put in the living room. I needed help
going to the bathroom. My mother had to come in and help me every day to
make meals and do housework", Donna remembers.
Then one night her
daughter and husband watched a story on bee venom therapy (BVT) reported
by Connie Chung on television. The segment shared the stories of MS
patients who found some relief from their symptoms with the use of bee
venom stings. Highly skeptical since no other treatment had worked for
her, Donna finally agreed - after much insistence from her family - to try
BVT. Donna and her family traveled nearly 500 miles to the home of a noted
BVT activist Pat Wagner, who also suffers from multiple sclerosis. Known
as the "Bee Lady", Pat has stung more than 7,000 people with
honeybees and has applied 17,900 bee stings to herself to alleviate her MS
symptoms. "That evening after only one day of bee venom therapy, I
could feel spasms in my feet, and I could feel my husband applying
pressure to my toes," Donna remembers. "It was the first time I
had felt anything but numbness there in many years."
Armed with a jar of bees, Donna
began her regimen of receiving 60 stings every other day. A year later,
she walked across the room at an MS support group meeting without the use
of her cane. The other members couldn't believe her progress, and wanted
to know her secret. To help others like herself, for three years Donna
opened her house to MS patients from all over the country and Canada to
learn more about bee venom therapy. Five years after receiving the therapy
for the first time, Donna now only gets stung on an "as needed
basis".
Donna knows it
works for her because she once agreed to stop being stung to participate
in a BVT study and her symptoms worsened. When she resumed BVT, her
symptoms again improved.
"Bee venom
therapy is not a cure. But until they find a cure for MS or come up with
something better, it's what I have to rely on. What caused my MS may be
different than what caused it for another person," Donna explains.
"That's why this therapy may not work for everyone. It works for
me."
One of the patients
Donna helped was Ann Meythaler, also of Michigan. Diagnosed with chronic
progressive MS in 1985, Ann has garbled speech, serious vision problems,
extreme fatigue, cognitive trouble, numbness, and lost her ability to
walk. When Ann discovered BVT four years ago, it changed her life. She
still uses a wheelchair, but her quality of life has improved
dramatically.
Stung every other
day, Ann feels a tremendous energy boost and her problem solving skills
improve. "Even though I am in a wheelchair, my quality of life is so
much better. Just doing everyday tasks is easier. It may sound mundane,
but now I can take care of my house and cook", Ann says. "You
name the therapy, and I have tried it. But nothing has worked for me like
bee venom therapy. These teeny honeybees are God's gifts. They may not
stop the disease from progressing, but they have helped me manage my
symptoms. I don't get that terrible fatigue, my vision clears, and I have
no numbness."
Like Donna and Ann,
thousands of multiple sclerosis patients are singing the praises of bee
venom in helping relieve their symptoms. Seeing this growing trend, MSAA
knew hard science must be called in to investigate. Through a $250,000
research grant, the MSAA is the first MS organization in the country to
release funds for the human scientific study under FDA guidelines of
honeybee (Apis melittin) venom therapy as a treatment for MS. The Phase I
study, being conducted at Georgetown University Medical Center in
Washington, DC this summer, will examine the safety and tolerance of
honeybee venom extracts as a possible therapy for patients with chronic
progressive MS.
Under the direction
of Dr. Joseph A. Bellanti, principal investigator and director of the
Georgetown Medical Center's Immunology Department, the first phase of the
study will begin this summer and end a year later. Eight individuals with
chronic progressive MS will receive two injections per week of honeybee
venom extract for one year. Each participant will undergo monthly
evaluations primarily for safety and tolerance of the treatment and also
to monitor the efficacy of the procedure.
Chronic progressive
multiple sclerosis patients have few treatment choices, some of which are
experimental and pose serious health risks. In recent years, thousands of
MS patients have reported significant symptom relief through the
alternative practice of bee venom therapy (BVT). For centuries BVT has
been practiced in many eastern countries, including China, Japan, and
Korea. The therapy involves repeated stings from honeybees to various
parts of the body.
Experiments have
demonstrated that bee venom is far more potent an anti-inflammatory agent
than some currently used anti-inflammatory drugs. In addition, other bee
products such as honey and bee pollen offer a variety of beneficial uses.
Honey kills bacteria by converting an anti-bacterial enzyme it contains to
hydrogen peroxide, which aids in the healing of burns and wounds. Bee
pollen contains more than 20% proteins and 12% amino acids, more than
grains, cereal, or any product of animal origin. It is considered by many
to be nature's most nearly perfect protein food source.
Somewhat new to
this country, BVT is practiced by MS patients and by those who suffer with
arthritis and other degenerative diseases. Although MS patients engaged in
BVT receive 25 to 30 honeybee stings per session and average more than
3,000 yearly stings, there is no way to accurately measure how much
extract is delivered nor how safely the stings are being administered. The
study will determine dose-response relationships by giving known
quantities of honeybee venom in calculated increasing doses.
"With so many
people stinging themselves, it's kind of haphazard. By performing this
study, we hope to give some kind of scientific basis for dosage and
potential side effects. The first phase will also evaluate how to give the
stings safely", explains Dr. Bellanti. Dr. Bellanti is excited with
the prospect of unlocking the secret power of bee venom to help some MS
patients and dismisses the opinion of some of those in the medical
community who view the alternative therapy as a bit 'kooky'.
"We came to
this study with bee venom because of the widespread use of bee venom
therapy for the treatment of MS which is currently going on in this
country. As far as I am concerned, there are two kinds of research: good
research and bad research. Good research asks valid questions and is
conducted using proper methodology", he notes. "It's hard to
argue with preset biases. As scientists and medical professionals, we need
to keep an open mind in order to help our patients. In the beginning, I
thought it was a little strange. But after researching it, I found that
there are definite immunological changes the body undergoes after bee
venom therapy. So I thought it may not be so far-fetched. How do we find
out if it realy works, unless we investigate it in a scientific way?"
If Phase I of the
study proves promising, Dr. Bellanti hopes to work with the MSAA on a
second phase double blind study, where some MS patients receive bee venom
and others receive a placebo. "The best outcome would be that bee
venom therapy could become a safe alternative treatment for chronic
progressive MS patients", says Dr. Bellanti. "We are very
excited with the prospect, but we don't want to give false hope. While we
hope it will be efficacious, we have to wait and see what it shows."
A Word of Caution from the MSAA
President
"BVT entails a
real risk of dangerous allergic reaction, as well as an emotional and
monetary cost in chasing false hopes. The MSAA does not recommend or
endorse the use of honeybee venom for the treatment of MS or other
disorders. We are funding this study to determine if this approach has any
neurological benefit. If the results prove positive, then additional
clinical studies and possible treatment practicies of MS can begin. If the
results prove negative, then the MSAA has helped to eliminate false hope.
Anyone interested in BVT should first consult his or her physician."
John Hodson, Sr.
For more information on Bee Sting
Therapy, check out the American Apitherapy Society's homepage at: http://www.apitherapy.org/aas/
753 North 35th, Suite~208, Seattle, WA 98103-8802 (206) 633-2606 /
Fax: (206) 633-2920
