A multiple sclerosis sufferer has treated her debilitating condition with a course of 1,500 bee stings. Sami Chugg, 45, was diagnosed with MS in 1998 and it slowly began to attack her ability to move. Sami, a charity worker from Bristol, was plagued by numbness and she could barely walk or leave her room. But she is now back on her feet after trying a treatment called Bee Venom Therapy (BVT).
The treatment involves holding a bee in a pair of tweezers and deliberately stinging an area of skin on the patient’s body. Experts believe the venom in the sting helps ease the pain of MS symptoms and also stimulates the body to fight back. Sami says she was stung around 1,500 in eighteen months and says it has given her her mobility back. She said: ”When I started the BVT I couldn’t get out of bed or get out of my room – it was really grim….. it had an immediate effect because it has a kind of psychological, mental effect. I used to feel elated for about two hours after the treatment.”
Bee Venom Therapy, or Apitherapy, uses the stings of live bees to relieve symptoms of MS such as pain, loss of coordination, and muscle weakness. Researchers suggest that certain compounds in bee venom reduce inflammation and pain and a combination of all its ingredients helps the body to release natural healing compounds. The alternative treatment remains unproven by evidence-based medicine but it has been used to treat other wasting diseases and arthritis. The therapy begins gradually as the body needs to be desensitised to the stings, but eventually multiple bees are used at one time and are left in the skin for up to 20 minutes. Sami was treated twice a week and was stung at least 1,500 during her 18-month course of the treatment.