Apiculture & Lyme’s Disease

I recently watched a brilliant documentary called ‘Bee Sting Therapy’. It is part of a Netflix series called Unwell. The documentary explores the pros and cons of apiculture and dives deep into how the bee venom can support people suffering from Lyme’s disease back to full health.

Lyme’s disease is notoriously hard to cure. It is a tick-borne illness caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi. If diagnosed early on, it can be treated effectively. However, the symptoms are difficult to diagnose and the bacteria can lie dormant for years activating many years later. The longer the disease stays in the body, the more difficult it can be to treat. Unfortunately the longer you have the infection the more it spreads in the body destroying so many areas of the body. Arthritis, organ damage, neurological damage, chronic pain, daily fevers are all common effects of Lyme’s. It is not uncommon for sufferers to be on a concoction of antibiotics for years with very little benefit which destroys their digestive system.

The documentary follows Kerri, a young woman who contracted Lyme’s disease as a child but it went untreated until her late teenage years. Consequently, the illness severely limited her life keeping her bed bound, depressed, lifeless and in constant pain. Kerri has spent tens of thousands of dollars and exhausted doctors, pharmaceuticals and the alternative medicine routine; such as acupuncture, homeopathic medicine, chiropractic. However, her intuition was piqued upon hearing bees could help her and she travels to The Heal Hive in California; a center where she receives the bees healing remedies in the form of a sting and is taught how to sting herself so she can continue the treatment at home.

The Heal Hive Bee Venom Retreat is founded by Brooke Geahan who also contracted Lyme’s disease suffering for years until she discovered bee venom. Brooke is not a doctor; she only teaches what she knows: how to heal yourself through bee venom. Her retreat offers working with bees as a holistic modality empowering people to take health into their own hands rather than relying on doctors or pharmaceuticals which are often ineffective for Lyme’s disease.

Brooke explains how bee venom is essentially

a complex mixture, composed of peptides, toxic proteins, and other bioactive components. The main component is a 26-amino acid, haemolytic peptide called melittin which pokes holes in weak cells walls. This works well for those with Lyme’s disease because bacteria like Lyme Borrelia compromise cell walls allowing the melittin to enter easily. Once inside, the melittin causes the contents of the cells to explode out but healthy cells are not effected by this.

After eleven months of working with bee venom, Kerri has undergone an outstanding transformation. Prior to The Heal Hive and starting BBT, Kerri was on over 28 herbal supplements, plus, 6 different prescriptions for over 50 daily symptoms including chronic pain. These supplements and prescriptions provided no relief excepting stopping a daily fever. Kerri even experienced many symptoms increasing.

Now Kerri no longer takes supplements and is on the lowest dose of one pharmaceutical. She has lost 50lbs, runs a thriving artisan business and the majority of her symptoms have disappeared. She no longer lives with chronic pain and is a picture of happiness and health.

For Kerri, one of the greatest transformations was going from being reliant on her doctor to taking healing into her own hands learning not only to trust herself but the healing intelligence of nature that we share the planet with.

• To follow Kerry on Instagram: @botanicalbunny
• To follow Brooke on Instagram: @everydayexpert