Bee Venom WHAT?

I started this blog to document my journey with bee venom therapy (BVT) so that those interested can follow along, and also so that I can look back on how far I’ve come. Sometimes it’s hard to notice the differences in symptoms unless you see it in writing. They all blur together after a while. I am not beginning BVT until after Thanksgiving, but I wanted to get an initial baseline post out here, and explain some of the basics of BVT and why I’m choosing this path.

I’ve been in intense treatment for late stage (chronic) Lyme Disease and co infections for over 2 1/2 years now. My treatment has included oral antibiotics, 19 months of daily IV antibiotics, herbal treatments and countless supplements. I have made progress in small areas, but never anything of significance, and I always end up sliding back to square one it seems. I’m going to include a list here of my current symptoms as a baseline reference.

• Severe joint pain
• Bone pain
• Muscle pain
• Debilitating fatigue
• Migraines
• Lymphatic pain
• Neck pain
• Back pain
• Sore throats
• Neuropathy
• Nerve pain
• Sensitivity to being touched (painful)
• Multiple food allergies
• GI problems
• High blood pressure
• Low blood pressure
• High heart rate
• Chest pain
• Shortness of breath (air hunger)
• Blurry Vision
• Brain fog
• Feeling drugged or drunk for no reason
• Depression
• Anxiety
• Mood swings
• Constant overwhelmed feeling
• Severe abdominal pain
• Nausea
• Insomnia
• Cold intolerance
• Sleeping for 15+ hours and still exhausted
• Skin rashes
• Hotness and swelling of joints

There are more symptoms that come and go that I haven’t included. These are the symptoms that never really let up for more than a short period of time. Below are my current medications and supplements.

You’d think with all that I’d be healthy as a horse, right? This summer I had a lot of testing done that showed problems that have appeared as a result of Lyme. My CD57 was 24, when it should be 150-200. CD57 measures a specific type of killer cell in your immune system, so basically my immune system is not able to fight off the Lyme disease at all on it’s own. Having such a lowered immune system leaves you at risk for many things, including cancer. This explains why before I was diagnosed with Lyme I had 2 pre Melanoma spots removed. I was so shocked by that as I’ve never stepped foot in a tanning bed. In other areas my immune system is over active, as I have high histamine counts and display symptoms of Mast Cell Activation Disorder (MCAD). Your mast cells control the release and production of histamine. When they are not working properly, your body is flooded with histamine and reacts to anything and everything like it is an allergy. This explains my issues with pretty much all foods. I’ve been doing markedly better with my GI symptoms since starting a mast cell stabilizer (Quercetin) and anti histamines. Testing this summer also revealed severe adrenal exhaustion (I am barely producing cortisol), and hypothyroidism. All these things and my lack of response to antibiotics convinced me that it was time to look for a treatment that not only killed Lyme and co infections, but promoted total body healing and restoration.

Which brings me to where I am at now. In the next week or so I am going to be beginning bee venom therapy (BVT). Sounds crazy or desperate, right? Or maybe a little of both. BVT has been used for thousands of years by many cultures to heal numerous health issues. It has recently been gaining popularity as an alternative treatment for Lyme Disease. I joined a few BVT groups a couple months ago, and have been closely following them and reading everything I can find on the subject. I have been shocked and amazed at the success stories and encouragement that is posted in the group every week. This stuff works. I have had periods of time where I have deleted myself from all the Lyme groups because they can be so depressing. Success stories are few and far between. There is definitely something different going on in the BVT groups. I’m not saying everyone is miraculously cured by the first sting, far from it. BVT is a 2 to 3 year treatment plan. But people are seeing results. If you want to read the story of one of the first people to use BVT to treat Lyme, click here. Ellie had Lyme disease over 20 years and was bed bound. She has now been symptom free for over 2 years. This next article talks about the many benefits of bee venom and other bee products. (click here) BVT is quite simple to do, as long as you don’t mind making friends with honey bees.

You need tweezers, a bee buddy or other small home for your bees, and of course honeybees. I am in the process of gathering my supplies now. There are venom injections available, but they only contain a specific part of the venom and have proven to not be effective enough against Lyme disease. Live honey bees must be used. There are suppliers that will ship you bees every week for a very reasonable price. Stings are done three times a week along your spine. You slowly work up to ten stings at a time. Some people see immediate relief in some areas, while others immediately feel terrible herxing. Bee venom kills Lyme and co infections, as well as parasites and Candida. Venom also stimulates your immune system to start fighting things on its own, and kickstarts your adrenals to produce cortisol again. You are using poison to induce total body healing.

I have made the decision to stop all antibiotics when I begin BVT. You can do them together if you wish, but most people who did antibiotics in the beginning of BVT wish they had stopped sooner. BVT is very powerful, and doing antibiotics along with it can be very hard on your body. I have been very overwhelmed about making these huge changes to my treatment and having a lot of anxiety. Whenever I change things up I always think “What if I stayed on this current treatment a few more months…maybe it would finally start to work”. Nobody has a good answer to recovery from Lyme disease. There is no set treatment, nothing that is tried and true. It is literally trial and error. I have prayed about this and researched extensively, and I really feel like this is the next step that I am supposed to take.  I am cautiously hopeful that this is what I need to heal. I am also going to be using a rife machine (more on this later) and adding juicing into my protocol. I am excited to begin these new treatments and share my journey with you. Thank you for reading, and I apologize if my thoughts rambled. It is late and I didn’t sleep much last night. I am excited to share my frustrations and accomplishments that are sure to follow.

♡ Sophia