# Bee accupuncture death



## exmar (Apr 30, 2015)

Just saw this online and thought I'd share. No opinion for or against this therapy.

http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/bee-acupuncture-woman-died-article-1.3888003


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## Arbol (Apr 28, 2017)

lol no scientific evidence to back up the story, nothing about her past health etc, plus all the bs about apitherapy is just what it is...hearsay as usual.


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## bchains (Mar 22, 2015)

*Woman dies from bee-sting therapy that Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow promote*

Gwen isn't known for her scientific/clinical expertise and her dopey and irresponsible spread of misinformation is potentially killing people. Coffee enemas, sticking stones into your private regions, and now stings. 

"is generally peddled by nonmedical practitioners and, in recent years, has generated buzz among celebrities"

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...ng-therapy-healed-her-it-just-killed-a-woman/

*Woman dies from bee-sting therapy that Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow promote*

A 55-year-old Spanish woman has died following repeated exposures to an acupuncture method that uses live, stinging bees instead of traditional needles, according to a recent case report in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology.

The painful and dangerous practice—called apipuncture—is generally peddled by nonmedical practitioners and, in recent years, has generated buzz among celebrities, most notably Gwyneth Paltrow and her chic lifestyle brand Goop. Paltrow and other proponents claim that insect venom can relieve a swarm of ailments, including inflammation, arthritis, generalized pain, scarring, and skin issues.
But evidence to back those claims is weak and mixed, and numerous medical studies have tallied serious risks and adverse events, including anaphylaxis, stroke, and death. Perhaps most alarming is that people with no history of allergies to bee venom can become sensitive to it over time. In fact, the more exposure, the greater the risk of developing a sensitivity. And life-threatening reactions appear unpredictably.

That seemed to be the case for the Spanish woman. While it's unclear how she learned about the stinging apipuncture, her doctors noted in their medical report that she had attended sessions every four weeks for two years with no issues prior to her death. She had sought the bee-based treatment—a form of apitherapy—for stress and muscle tightness. But during what would be her final session, she began wheezing and lost consciousness.

Personnel at the apitherapy clinic were unprepared for the medical emergency and could only provide her with methylprednisolone, a drug that reduces inflammation. It took 30 minutes for an ambulance to arrive. By that time, her systolic blood pressure (the top number of blood pressure readings) plummeted to 42 mmHg. (A normal range is often considered to be from 90 to 119 mmHg.) Emergency medical personnel arriving on the scene promptly gave her a double dose of adrenaline, saline infusion, intravenous corticosteroids, and antihistamines.

Though her blood pressure and heart rate stabilized on the way to the hospital, doctors there determined that she had suffered a massive stroke from severe anaphylaxis (acute allergic reaction) and slipped into a permanent coma. She died several weeks later from multi-organ failure.

Pain, no gain
The doctors say that better training among the apitherapy personnel and a faster ambulance response time may have prevented her death. But, they add, such favorable conditions may not be realistic or possible for these types of clinics.

“Therefore, the risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is both unsafe and unadvisable,” they conclude.

That squares with a 2015 literature review by South Korean researchers. They looked at 145 studies on bee-venom therapy and concluded that “adverse events related to bee-venom therapy are frequent.” They also noted the potential for bee-venom sensitivity to fly up unexpectedly, citing a 2008 report of a 21-year-old who died of anaphylaxis from an accidental bee sting one year after receiving repeated apipuncture sessions.

Last, the researchers noted that studies indicating benefits from the therapy were difficult to interpret “owing to the poor reporting quality.”

FURTHER READING
In “triumph of ignorance,” Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop touts $135 coffee enema
Still, all these criticisms haven’t stopped some celebrities and tabloids from continuing to champion the bee-venom treatments. For instance, Kourtney Kardashian has endorsed bee-venom skin products, and tabloids have hummed over reports that Kate Middleton, Victoria Beckham, and others use bee-venom facials and other products.
But Gwyneth Paltrow is likely the most high-profile proponent. In a 2016 piece for The New York Times, Paltrow noted that she’d “been stung by bees.”

“It’s a thousands-of-years-old treatment called apitherapy. People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s painful,” she wrote.

On her lifestyle e-commerce site, Goop, she personally endorses bee-venom products, bee-sting therapy, and apipuncture, claiming “I was recently given ‘bee-venom therapy’ for an old injury and it disappeared.”

Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology, 2018. DOI: 10.18176/jiaci.0202 (About DOIs).


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## snl (Nov 20, 2009)

*Woman dies after ‘acupuncture’ session that used live bees*

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...es-instead-of-needles/?utm_term=.2a6bea2fa6c7


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## SuiGeneris (Feb 13, 2018)

The first sentence in the article contains a link to a peer-reviewed case study which has all of the details. Woman had no prior allergy to bee venom, and appears to have developed the sensitivity as a result of four prior api"therapy sessions. The case study also described the lack of appropriate emergency medication and appropriate action by the "therapist", and fiarly succinctly sums up the evidence for api"therapy" (e.g. its a good way to sucker $$$ out of people, but is clinically ineffective). 

She died of a classical anaphylaxis.

This will be a good case study for my allergy lectures next year...

Edit: Link to case study http://www.jiaci.org/revistas/vol28issue1_6-2.pdf

EDIT: lost of posts appeared while I was writing mine..."first sentence" refereed to the OP's link, and in response to post #2


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## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

I consolidated 3 different threads into this remaining thread.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

SuiGeneris,

I have always heard that a person doesn't have an adverse reaction the first or maybe the 100th time they are stung, bitten or whatever, but that they become sensitized at some point making the next incident dangerous. Is there any way to know when one has become sensitized before having a reaction?

Alex


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## SuiGeneris (Feb 13, 2018)

AHudd said:


> SuiGeneris,
> 
> I have always heard that a person doesn't have an adverse reaction the first or maybe the 100th time they are stung, bitten or whatever, but that they become sensitized at some point making the next incident dangerous. Is there any way to know when one has become sensitized before having a reaction?
> 
> Alex


Unfortunately, no. The processes which lead to allergies are still somewhat mysterious. The relatively low dose of allergen in a bee sting likely plays a role, but outside of that we don't really know why most people remain tolerant for life, but some convert from tolerant to highly allergic. Part of the issue may be that most of us are not actually immunologically tolerant to bee stings, and rather, have weak responses that can grow worse with additional exposures (if we were truly tolerant there would be no swelling or inching following a sting; the pain is a mixture of an allergic response and the intended effect of the toxins).

In terms of monitoring yourself, some people may experience a gradual worsening of symptoms - i.e. may find that stings that used to create a read dot now create a large welt - prior to developing a full anaphylactic response. If you find your response to stings is worsening you should see an allergist ASAP; if caught early you can take precautions such as taking an oral antihistamine prior to working your hives, and can get a prescription for an epipen or equivalent emergency treatment. But this gradual worsening doesn't always occur; in the case of the woman who died it sounds like she went from a normal response to a bee sting to a severe response without passing through an "in-between" stage.

If you find yourself having an unusual reaction to a bee sting - especially a lot of swelling, a bulls-eye like swelling around a sting, higher heart rate, sweating, etc - take an antihistamine and get to a hospital or doctor ASAP. Its also a good idea to draw around the swollen area with a marker, and if it grows, draw additional circles (and note the time between drawing). Cell phone photos can also work, but you should have a ruler or other object in the photo to give a sense of scale. This will help the physician determine how strongly you are reacting, which can inform their treatment decisions.

Bryan


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## GregB (Dec 26, 2017)

SuiGeneris said:


> (e.g. its a good way to sucker $$$ out of people, but is clinically ineffective).


Don't know.
On one hand Western World tends to claim to know it all.
On the other hand the Eastern World maybe quietly smiling.
I am reluctant to unquestionably subscribe to Western superiority on all subjects. 

CONCLUSION:
Combined application of bee-venom therapy and medication is superior to simple use of medication in relieving RA, and when bee-sting therapy used, the commonly-taken doses of western medicines may be reduced, and the relapse rate gets lower.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18807725


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

SuiGeneris,

Thanks for the response.

Alex


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## SuiGeneris (Feb 13, 2018)

GregV said:


> Don't know.
> On one hand Western World tends to claim to know it all.
> On the other hand the Eastern World maybe quietly smiling.
> I am reluctant to unquestionably subscribe to Western superiority on all subjects.
> ...


One study does not make science, and unfortunately, Chinese science is currently in a crisis of fraud, so it is difficult to know what science to trust coming out of that country. There is also a major issue with poor study design that pervades research in the complementary med world, so when studies are reviewed for inclusion in meta-analyses, very few meet the minimum requirements in terms of study design and rigour to be included. Even so, people have managed to pull off a few meta-analyses of bee acupuncture, and the results are generally negative or not very dramatic. As one example, this meta analysis found a beneficial effect of bee venom on post-stroke shoulder pain...but the effect was very poor compared to exercise & stretches - i.e. the conventional treatment for post-stroke pain.

And, of course, the key concept missing from the discussion is relative risk. All therapies carry risks - even "natural" ones - and relative risk (compared to not treating, or compared to existing treatments) is a major decision point when new drugs/treatments are approved. Bee venom has a horrible safety profile. No drug with this safety profile would ever be approved for over the counter use, and even on a prescription basis, would only be approved for serious diseases without a better treatment option. People have literally died from taking bee venom, to treat conditions that are well controlled by non-medical interventions such as stretches, or which can be easily and safely treated with conventional pharmaceuticals.

I'm an immunologist by profession, and the idea that people would inject a known allergen, with proven lethal complications, is totally and utterly insane.

None of that is to say that there isn't the potential for medically beneficial compounds to be identified in bee venom, but the best evidence we have today shows that bee venom is either not beneficial, or minimally beneficial, and carries a high risk of serious complications.


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