CONNECTING PEOPLE, NATURE AND OPPORTUNITY

BEE STINGS

ABC's. A bee sees.

How smart are bees? Apparently, smart enough to sense a problem and fly in to solve it. Did you know that bee venom can be used as therapy to treat arthritis and other painful conditions? This medical practice is called apitherapy.

The exact origins of apitherapy are uncertain, but it can be traced back to ancient Egypt, Greece and China. The most abundant active component of the venom is melittin, which has powerful anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties. CAUTION: Bee venom is a complex mix of melittin with other components that can cause severe allergic reactions, so you must be wary of bee stings.

There is no standardized practice for the medicinal administration of bee venom. Some purport that the location of the sting is important, with the sting acting as a sort of acupuncture in combination with the effects of the venom, while others report the location is not important.

I have wondered if the bee sting directed at my foot was helpful in alleviating the swelling and pain induced by breaking my toe, if on some level, it may have helped speed along my healing.

How cool is that?

Learn critical life saving information about bee stings at Wikipedia.com.

And, you know what else?

Did you know that a bee sting can be treated by taping a copper penny over the affected spot for 15 minutes?

Tuesday, June 14, 2011 - While out walking down the road this morning I found a rough penny, tails up, dated 1975 - a copper penny. It's the third old beat-up copper penny I've found while out walking this week (all bottoms up!). You see, if a Lincoln Memorial penny has a date before 1982, it is made of 95% copper. If the date is 1983 or later, it is made of 97.5% zinc and plated with a thin copper coating (about.com).

U.S. pennies were made of mostly copper until the price of copper got so high that it cost more to mint the cents than they were actually worth. In 2010 it cost the U.S. Mint 1.79 cents to make a penny because of the costs of the penny's materials and production had continued to rise (Wikipedia). (More curious facts on the US Mint website.)

Anyways, finding the third penny got me to thinking about an email I received less than a week ago, on June 8, two days after the FIDDLESTICKS story recording session with the children. The central character in the story, besides myself, is the most unusual bee, which stung me on my foot right where I'd injured it earlier that same day. Here's the text of the email.

Subject: Bee Stings...Very Interesting!

I've never heard of it before.....not much to lose by trying....

This DOES workï¿½ï¿½ï¿½..

This information may be something to remember, as this season will soon be here again...

It might be wise to carry a penny in your pocket while working in the yard.......... BEE STINGS !

A couple of weeks ago, I was stung by both a bee and hornet while working in the garden.

My arm swelled up, so I went to the doctor. The clinic gave me cream and an antihistamine. The next day the swelling was getting progressively worse, so I went to my regular doctor. The arm was Infected and needed an antibiotic. The doctor told me - " The next time you get stung, put a penny on the bite for 15 minutes".

That night, my niece was stung by two bees. I looked at the bite and it had already started to swell. So, I taped a penny to her arm for 15 minutes The next morning, there was no sign of a bite We decided that she just wasn't allergic to the sting.

Soon, I was gardening outside. I got stung again, twice by a hornet on my left hand. I thought, here I go again to the doctor for another antibiotic.

I promptly got my money out and taped two pennies to my bites, then sat and sulked for 15 minutes. The penny took the string out of the bite immediately.

In the meantime the hornets were attacking, and my friend was stung on the thumb. Again the penny. The next morning I could only see the spot where the hornet had stung me. No redness, no swelling. My friend's sting was the same; couldn't even tell where she had been stung.

She got stung again a few days later upon her back---cutting the grass! And the penny worked once again.

Wanted to share this marvelous information in case you experience the same problem. We need to keep a stock of pennies on hand.

The doctor said that the copper in the penny counteracts the bite.
It definitely works!

Please remember and pass this information on to your friends, children, grandchildren. You might also want to check out this website - beestingcure.com