Ouch !! If it works !!

Bee Sting Therapy to Treat Parkinson's Disease

From Ancient Greece to modern oriental medicine, the use of honey and other bee products has a been praised for its renowned healing properties.

Traditional Korean doctors have even incorporated bee venom-based drugs in herbal acupuncture treatments to relieve rheumatoid arthritis and painful muscle stiffness.

However, new research has revealed that that this insect toxin may also hold the key to managing neurological diseases such as Parkinson's.

[Interview : Dr. Moon Sang-kwan,

Oriental Medical Hospital of Kyung-hee University ] "Before the bee venom therapy, the mice's walking speed was slow. But after using the bee venom therapy, the mice's walking speed became faster. This is the kind of symptom relief that it has. Ultimately, this isn't a cure but a treatment to improve the patient's quality of life."

Parkinson's disease is a degenerative brain disorder that results in the death of dopamine-generating cells in the brain which are crucial to the body's motor controls.

This decay of the nervous system leaves patients with hand tremors, muscle rigidity, and speech problems.

But you might ask yourself, how could these tiny worker drones possibly slow this unforgiving disease[Interview : Bae Hyun-soo, Oriental Medicine Professor

Kyung Hee University ] "If it can be proven that certain components of bee venom have such effects, especially in regard to Parkinson's disease, I think that development of treatments for similar diseases could be possible."

The oriental school of medicine is optimistic that further studies into bee venom will yield pharmaceutical drugs to treat eczema and even depression.

Paul Yi, Arirang News

NOV 03, 2012