Bee sting cures rheumatism?

[hitmankratos]

Ive heard that a - or several - bee stings could cure rheumatism and osteoarthritis. Is it possibe?

If yes, could it be the venoms composition or what?

 

Anyhow, Im posting this thread in the experiment section because I thought this could be a good experiment for maybe next years science-fair but Im wondering how I could do such an experiment. Is it possible on rats?

I dont know much on reasearch and experimentation stuff. The way it works for example... With what material you can do that and all... and that is why Im asking...

 

Thanks in advance.

[ecoli]

don't confuse therapy and cure. Anyway, I'm not sure its a legit thing, but I have heard of it.

[hitmankratos]

So its not legal to do such an experiment??

[ecoli]

it wouldn't bee illegal if you did experiments with bees (invertebrates) you have to be careful when experimenting with rats. I'm not sure how useful that would be anyway. How do you ask a rat if its rheumatism is feeling better. Even people is tricky because I can't think of a good placebo for a bee sting.

 

My point is that you should see if you can find some reputable research to base your project off of.

[hitmankratos]

Yeah good point...It wont be easy for me to see if it got better...

 

Guess Im gonna have to find another subject...

[NeonBlack]

One time my grandpa tried to knock down a bee hive outside his house with a baseball bat.

For the next few days, he didn't complain at all about his arthritis.

[Flashman]

There's one form of arthritis (There are many), thought to be caused or aggravated by calcium deposits in the joints. Formic acid is used for removing limescale. Put those two together and you can imagine that it might be possible for low doses of formic acid to assist in removing calcium deposits that aggravate the condition.

 

However, rather than getting yourself stung, there might be something in the "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" proverb, since ripe fruit will have small quantities of methanol in, (Competitively inhibited by larger quantities of ethanol, thankfully, or we'd all die of methanol poisoning from eating fruit), one of the metabolites of which is formic acid... and the Vitamin C would probably also help with calcium metabolism, which may be faulty if it's depositing in joints.

[big314mp]

I'm thinking the effect can be attributed to the action of the acid on the calcium deposit, rather than it being a specific effect of a specific acid. Both HCl and CH3COOH will dissolve limestone, as will formic acid. However, too much acid, and you will go into acidosis and then have real problems.

 

In any case, HK has a pretty nifty science project at the moment.

[Externet]

First time bee/wasp stings do make you feel much better the day after, but the next times you get stung the effect diminishes.

I do not think it cures anything.