Many years ago, Tricia and I and the kids would watch "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" on TV. It starred Jane Seymour playing Dr. Michaela Quinn, a doctor who left Boston seeking adventure in the West and settled in Colorado Springs. It was an entertaining family-oriented show. The other night, my wife got the opportunity to be a medicine woman for real.
What do I mean by that? Well, since the beginning of January, the Bayou Beekeepers Club has been having Beekeeping Classes each Tuesday night. We meet at a local Church of Christ for an hour and a half and go through a number of presentations, slide shows, equipment demonstrations and, oh yeah, snacks (King Cake, boudin and coffee).
Tricia does apitherapy. She uses bee venom to treat various ailments. The president of the club asked her to bring some bees and teach part of the class. Here's my "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman" explaining how it's done.
Tricia had hand-outs and explained the science behind it and discussed the safety involved. She keeps an epi-pen and liquid Benadryl in the event of a reaction. It does happen and it can be fatal. Tricia showed the process, from catching the honeybees with her little bee vacuum, to spraying them with water to calm them and keep them from flying, to grabbing them with reverse-action tweezers.
She had caught a number of bees from home and brought them with her. She opened the floor to have anyone interested come up and be stung. She had many takers. First, was a club member who has arthritis in his hand. Dr. Quinn stung him with her bees.
Next was someone who has carpal tunnel syndrome. Tricia stung him. There is a diagram showing where to sting for various ailments.
She grabs a bee from her box with reverse-action tweezers and places the bee on the skin. When in place, you tap the bee's rear end and the honeybee administers a sting. The bee pulls out and the stinger remains in your skin, pumping venom into your body. You leave the stinger in for 10 minutes or so before removing to ensure you get a full injection of bee venom. The bee will eventually die as they can only sting one time and the act of stinging pulls their body apart.
Finally, another beekeeper with shoulder problems wanted to be stung. Dr. Quinn and her bees administered a dose of bee venom to the affected shoulder of the young man.
Everyone was very interested, even those who didn't line up to be stung. Tricia is a big proponent of bee venom therapy and stings herself 10 times, every other day. She's been after me to start on a bee sting regimen for my rotator cuff problem that six weeks of physical therapy didn't heal. I guess I'll have to make an "appointment" with my apitherapist.
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