Combine This Treatment With a Type of Venom to Slow Parkinson’s

Anything that can improve the symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is good to know about. But improving the symptoms of Parkinson’s is not the only focus that doctors have.

The other focus is stopping the progression of the disease. Because left to its own devices, Parkinson’s does nothing but get worse each year.

I have reported to you in the past about several ways to both improve the symptoms and to stop the progression. And now, there’s another form of therapy we can add to the list.

Researchers recently looked at 43 men and women with Parkinson’s disease who had been on a stable dose of anti-Parkinson’s medication for at least one month. They assessed all the participants using the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale, the Parkinson’s Disease Quality of Life Questionnaire, the Beck Depression Inventory, the Berg Balance Scale, and the time and number of steps required to walk 30 meters.

Then they divided them into three groups. One group had standard acupuncture at 10 particular points twice a week. The second group had the same acupuncture points treated, only they were treated with bee venom twice a week. The third group had no treatment.

At the end of two months, the men and women were retested to see if the treatments had any effects. Here’s what they found.

The men and women in the standard acupuncture group showed improvements in some aspects of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and the Beck Depression Inventory.

However, the group that got the bee venom acupuncture showed significant improvement in all aspects of the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale. They also had significant improvement in the Berg Balance Scale and the 30-meter walking time. The group that did not get any treatment showed no significant changes in any of the tests.

There have been several other experiments reporting on the effects of acupuncture on Parkinson’s symptoms. However, only a few found significant improvements in motor symptoms. One study showed improvement in some symptoms such as tremors, handwriting, and difficulty walking. But even that study did not show any significant changes in motor scores. In contrast to these studies, the current study with bee venom showed “significantly improved motor symptoms.” This is a big deal.

I am sure many of you are asking, “Why bee venom?”

The answer is that nobody knows for sure. What is known is that both bee venom and acupuncture have properties that protect nerve cells. For example, when you take mice and you induce Parkinson’s disease in them by exposing them to a chemical called MPTP, acupuncture can inhibit inflammation and cellular destruction.

In addition, acupuncture promotes the expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factors and decreases oxidative stress to the dopaminergic neurons responsible for Parkinson’s. Why does adding bee venom to the equation get even better results? For one, bee venom has its own separate protective effects on dopaminergic neurons.

So where do you get bee venom? You don’t actually need a cooperative bee. It’s available in ampoules. I’ve been using it for years for arthritis. I just inject 1/10th of a cc intradermally, which is the equivalent of a bee sting. Most doctors at acam.org have access to these ampoules.