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last update: May 10, 2006 August 2003 I started with bee sting therapy (apitherapy) in an attempt to stop the MS. Wether it works, is a question only time will answer... To handle the bees and to administer the stings, I developed an easy way: the Rufian method. It works, very simply, with a transparent tube and two pins. The pins are sticked through the tube crosswise, 1/2 a feet (15 cm) from the end of the tube. The pins form a simple fence in the tube, so a bee can not pass. My tube is less than halve an inch thick (10mm) and 2 feet long (60 cm). To store bees I use a clear glass yar. In the lid of the jar you can make a hole that fits the tube and small holes for fresh air. On the big hole, mount a coin, which can be shoved away sideways to open it.
Suck up a bee with the tube, head first. Press the end of the tube to prevent the bee from crawling out. Place the tube on the skin and blow, not too hard. Usually the bee stings right away, sometimes you have to retry. Sometimes the bee stings in the tube. When the bee has stung, suck it up and blow it out in the open air or a transparent plastic bag, so you can crush the bee right away. Also see this movie clip (1MB, no sound). Mac-users need the Windows Media Player-plugin (this one for Mac and this one for Mac OSX). In my childhood I've kept bees, so it hurts a bit when the bees die after they have stung. But it's their life or mine... Update January 19th, 2004: after two interruptions (the first for my half-year's Prednison-treatment, the second because I ran out of bees) I continued with the bee stings. For one thing is clear: you get lots of energy from it. And twenty stings is too much or me, it made me too jumpy. I take about twelve, three times a week.Alinea deleted; see the update of xx May, 2006. Update July 15, 2004: I'm getting more and more convinced of the positive effects of the beestings. The MS (in my case PPMS) is not completely stopped, but it's course seems to be slowed down. That is a biased observation, but the energy and strength you get from it is beyond doubt: you can feel that! Since I discovered the difference in beesting venom, I'm confinced I'm on the right track. Here's what happened: Due to circumstances I had to use another colony of bees (most likely of the race 'Buckfast'). These bees indeed have a different colourscheme/drawing on the back of their body. (this is how one can tell one bee race from the other). I found beekeepers saying “a sting is a sting” like there wouldn’t be a diffence. Not! Within a few days my condition worsened, very much like the two times I stopped taking beestings: I grew more tired, had a sense of “the MS is active” and I longed for beestings! This had to have something to do with the new colony I was using. I made my own experiment and took six stings from each colony in each of my legs. The ‘Buckfast’ leg turned a little red whilst the other leg was very red and blisters appeared, just like it used to do. By now I only use the old colony and I’m feeling a lot better.
 (the difference in the position of the wings is accidental) This expirement proved my expectations to be true: there is a big difference in the toxicity of the venom. I knew that the colouring said something about the behavior of the bee (the yellower, the fiercer) but that it would have such an influence in beesting therapy... Many questions come to my mind: - Is this the reason why people have different results with Apitherapy (beesting therapy)? - If one race is better then the other, which beerace is the best? - Do they take this difference in account at the hospitals of Den Helder and Groningen where they’re running apitherapy tests? And do they all use the same? - Which race do I actually use? To be continued... Update November 30, 2004: I couldn't find anything on diffences in the venom of the different beeraces! Simply because nothing is investigated. But by the information on this site about the Buckfast bee, My impression is, that Buckfast is a peak, downwards that is. It looks like this race, which is a crossbreeding of beeraces from all over the world, has venom that is less usefull. Quality- or quantitywise. Luckily, a befriended beekeeper now also discovered that there is a difference. I will watch him closely next season. :) I'm using beestings for over a year now and I'm not thinking about stopping. The venom gives me a lot of energy. Energy I really need. When I go out for a few days, I take a jar with bees and the tube with me. Update April 1st, 2005. As it turns out, bee stings are bad for my stomach! The last sting sessions turned sour on me! One of the active substances of the bee venom is histamine. When tissue is damaged, histamine is released and as such it is an 'alert' substance. It gives extra energy in emergency situations (at least that's my interpretation of "released when tissue is damaged"). I think it is one of the energy sources of the bee sting therapy. But histamine also does something else: it induces production of stomach acid (gastric acid). That's why some of the stomach ache medication contain 'histamine catchers' which do just that: catch the histamine before it can induce production of stomach acid. Those inhibitors are called Histamine-2-receptor-antagonists (I've practiced two days on this word, so now you'll read it too! ;)) This leads me to the following: bee stings are bad for the stomach! And just as it happens my stomach has been aching for the past weeks. So I've quit the bee sting therapy for now. Hopefully just temporary because I immediately can sense that I have less energy. Also the sensations in my hands increase which is a bad omen as to my MS. 'Luckily' there are also other, solvable, causes for my aching stomach (new liquid food, the excitement surrounding this site and a little stress at home), so I'll resume the bee sting therapy as soon my stomach is a little better. Update July 17, 2005. I re-started BVT (bee venom therapy) some weeks ago but my stomach didn't react at all. It looks like the beestings have had no effect on my stomach aches. The lemonade, of which I drank more than a liter (a quarter of a gallon) a day, did! But stopping gives proof of the effectiveness. Because when you stop three times and your condition worsens faster than it normally does, you know it is slowing down the process. For a webcam on the bees you can take a look at 'Webcams' and then 'Bee Cam'. Update November 24, 2005. To have the stings administered more easily and not at a specific time (right before dressing), I had a friend make zippers in my trousers. I always take the stings in the lower half of my upper legs anyway...
In the last couple of weeks, I took the stings two times a week, 24 stings at a time. This seems to work just as fine. The bee venom works more days! Furthermore I can tell that the bees will move to the attic because of the winter. With a closed opening that is. :) Update May 10, 2006. The alcohol patches I used to use to clean the skin, don't help! I hardly use them anymore. The small wounds I sometimes get from the stings come and go, regardless of the fact I use them. I did base myself to much on the experience of that one occassion on which no little wounds appeared. Luckily, with the Buckfasts, I didn't base myself on one occassion, so I'm still sure of that... --------------- ------- Here are two pictures of me, when I was a beekeeper.
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