Bee stings beneficial for PMR?

Interesting ... however, the human study that is cited says the following:

"Over the course of 8 weeks, one group received the drug treatment, and the other received 5–15 bee stings every other day. Both groups showed a reduction in their arthritis symptoms, with no significant difference between the groups."
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29888580/
Study flaws: study was not double-blind and did not compare the treatment effects with those of a placebo. This greatly reduces the reliability of the results.

The human study compares Methotrexate (10 mg, once a week) and Celecoxlb (0.2 g, once a day) vs. bee stings acupuncture. Personally ... I would opt for either Methotrexate or Celebrex before doing the bees stings.
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The study was done in China. In the USA research proposals are submitted to Institutional Review Boards (IRB). I have submitted research proposals to the local University IRB and this study would never be approved for humans and maybe not even for animals.

I used to think funding was difficult to get but our federal government funds some bizarre studies but the beekeeper lobby in the USA isn't very powerful.

American Beekeepers Federation:
This organization lobbies on behalf of beekeepers and spent $40,000 lobbying in 2022.

Cultural differences are hard to overcome.

The effectiveness of melittin in treating some cancers has been researched.
"MEL [melittin]was considered an attractive candidate for cancer chemotherapy causing more damage to the tumor cell membranes since its membrane potential is higher and cells are less likely to develop resistance to a membrane pore formation."
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5682937/
The main problem seems to be that melittin loses potency quickly and drug companies would want to produce a stable, probably synthetic, version that they can patent and make money from. All that costs a lot, so I can't see bee sting therapy research being of much interest to drug companies who fund a lot of research.

I'm just happy to have received two all natural fresh doses of melittin delivered two weeks apart via toe (ouch!). If there is any benefit from it, good.

Im not gonna volunteer for this type of study!!!! Where is my prednisone dear?

I guess bee venom acupuncture (BVA) has been studied extensively.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8472865/#notes3
".... (BVA) can help improve musculoskeletal and neuropathic pain. Additionally, only minor adverse events such as pruritus, burning sensation, local swelling, and aching were observed in the BVA treatment groups, and fatal reactions such as anaphylaxis did not occur [56]."

I'm glad there weren't any deaths during these studies. When I was a research nurse any adverse effects had to be documented. When someone died while participating in a research protocol, extensive investigations were necessary.

No pain, no gai...
No, forget it, I'm with you. No pain, good.

Interesting. My grandfather (who died in 1963 at age 85) kept bees. He never went to doctors, but when the “arthritis” in his knees was really bad, he would have a bee sting the knee. I always thought he was exchanging one pain for another, but who knows?

@wfroslansky
We need to add a laugh emotion icon. I agree... I'll stick with the stick free prednisone too. Lol 😉

I'm a beekeeper. Before PMR, whenever I got stung, I'd have to go to urgent care and get a course of prednisone. I had quite a reaction. I never had to use an epi pen, but kept one handy. I avoided getting stung this past summer, but I had so much Prednisone on board for my GCA/PMR, I doubt if I would have had a reaction!

@dadcue
I would personally pick the medications over letting a bee sting me too!
😂😂😂. (I’m allergic to bees!!) But even if I wasn’t allergic I still would not want multiple bee stings!😂

😂😂😂