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  • From: "Lisa Rollens" <rollens@fidnet.com>
  • To: "permaculture" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [permaculture] Allergic to bee stings
  • Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 12:11:48 -0500

Hi Rhonda,

I can certainly address your last question, especially from my experience. I have been a beekeeper for about 15 years (pre-mites!) and got progressively worse reaction to infrequent stings. finally I had a big reaction. It happened in Ohio, one summer evening about 8:30, when I was hot, dehydrated and hungry and tired. I tell you all this because someone from the Apitherapy Association said it all probably made the reaction worse. I gave myself a bee sting in each elbow as usual treatment for tendonitis. It helps me a lot. Anyway, I ended up with a systemic reaction, but not an anaphylactic reaction. I itched from head to toe and had bad stomach cramps (rolling around the floor type) and was breathing very hard, but no respiratory distress. To make a long story short, since I only had a 16 yo daughter at home, we called 911 and got an ambulance ride to the hospital. But, I had taken 2 Benadryl and got "something" (steroid?) in the O2 on the way to the hospital. By the time I got there, I was fine. The doctor insisted that I got to an allergist and get desensitized, but knowing that was an expensive and prolonged treatment, I talked to Apitherapy folks and found out how to do it myself. I did it, and am fine now, BUT the main thing to do is get bee stings somewhat regularly, to keep yourself desensitized. It had been about 5 months since I'd last had an accidental bee sting.

Giving yourself bee stings may sound terrible, but it's not bad. You use ice to numb the area and scrape the stinger out when you want to...5 seconds or 5 minutes..or any time in between. And, to a lot of people, me included, the bee sting gives an all over the body sense of well being. I always get a good reaction, after a few days, when I do stings for pain relief...tendonitis or whatever. As a matter of fact, I should try one now for carpal tunnel problems.

This is long, I know, but we do need more beekeepers and I wouldn't want you to not try it because you get a large reaction. HOWEVER, if you have had an anaphylactic reaction, that's a different story and you need to find more information before you attempt to desensitize. Those are life threatening reactions and different from large, local reactions that are somewhat normal reactions to bee stings.

I specifically have not given directions to desensitize here because there is more to learn than can be written in a short email. If you are interested find someone who does this and also search the web and find out more info. There is someone outside of Cincinnati OH who does apitherapy for anyone who wants/needs it. Email me offlist if interested and I will give you his name.

Lisa, in the MO Ozarks


----- Original Message ----- From: "Rhonda Baird" <rhonda.b@insightbb.com>
To: "'permaculture'" <permaculture@lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 7:42 AM
Subject: Re: [permaculture] [Fwd: [SANET-MG] Organic Bee Keeping Event - FYI]


This brings up a question. Well, as a complete novice the questions are
endless. It seems there should be more beekeepers in communities, but how
many? Can there be too many colonies in an area?

And, second, I have always been interested in bee-keeping, but I am allergic
to bee stings. My reactions up to now have been non-life-threatening, but
you never know. Should I stay completely away from bee-keeping, or does
anyone have experience or knowledge of others that keep bees anyway?

Thank you,
Rhonda Baird
Bloomington, Indiana






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