# I've always heard that local honey is good for allergies, but....?



## tbonekel

What about bee stings? I'm a new beekeeper and have been stung about 8 times. I'm just wondering if there is common thread between honey and bee stings relieving upper respiratory allergies?


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## GSkip

I have been keeping bees for a year now and consume 2 tbls of honey from my hives a day and I get stung about once a week (not intentional). I have breathing allergies from plants blooming to when they dry up in the fall. The VA says my carpul tunnel problems have now turn into arthritis. But it seems my allergies are not as bad as last year and my hands do not hurt as bad and prevent me from doing things as they did a year ago. Not saying for positive it's the bee stings or the honey consumption but plan to monitor it for another year and see. 

Greg


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## Michael Bush

There have been many benefits purported for stings, pollen, propolis etc. Some have some research to back them and some don't. I don't know of any related to stings and allergies. That doesn't mean there aren't any.


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## biggraham610

I will tell you it has helped my arthritis in my hands. I don't intentionally get stung, but do take stings fairly often. There is no question, positive effects for me. G


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## Brad Bee

I have a horrible time with allergies to all things that bloom. It's particularly hard on me since I farm on the side. I have eaten locally grown honey for many years and it just doesn't do much to help my allergies. I do get a bit of relief immediately after eating honey but the results are short lived.

I have noticed that I do not have problems with my allergies for a day or two after being stung. IMO I don't consider a bee sting to really be a treatment for allergies, I just think that it overloads my immune response or something to that effect.


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## texman034

If consuming the honey doesn't help your alergies, then most likely you are alergic to something the bees don't collect pollen from. For example most trees are wind pollinated, so honey will never help if you have an alergy to Pine trees. For a few hundred bucks a Dr can tell ya that same thing....at least that was my experience when my daughter was suffering in the spring.


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## Harley Craig

my biggest allergy is ragweed, honey seems to help. Stings are great for relief from inflammation. I am starting to develop arthritis in my back and stings certainly help there are days I can't hardly get out of bed and it is impossible to put my shoes on. With stings along my spine I can typically touch my toes pain free within 20 min, sometimes sooner. The relief usually lasts a couple of weeks for me. I know this is anecdotal but I am a firm believer. If your lungs are inflamed from allergies the venom could reduce that inflammation. The way I understand it to work and I could be way off base is that certain types of inflammation such as arthritis is your body attacking itself so it doesn't recognize a foreign invader there for you body does not ramp up cortisone production. You get a sting causes a cortisone dump to counter act it and while you system is flooded with the cortisone it will also attack any other inflammation. Again I am not a Dr and don't even pretend to be one on the internet, that is just my lay understanding of how it works.


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