permaculture

["Lisa Rollens" <rollens@fidnet.com>]

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