Happily, for the most part, I don't itch at all anymore!!!! I could handle the swelling, but the itching was almost unbearable at times.
According to my sting log, I started the BVT (Bee Venom Therapy) on April 15th. Since then I have had a total of 28 stings. I have recently starting doing 2 and 3 stings each session rather than 1. I have also been leaving the stinger in for a full minute in order to get all the venom. At the beginning I would sting and then take it out immediately so as not to receive the full dose of venom. This allowed me to acclimate to the venom without having a more severe swelling reaction. I did it about every 3rd day.
Now I am trying to sting every other day with 3 stings. The hardest part about it is working myself up to doing it. While the swelling and itching have been mitigated, it sure as hell doesn't hurt any less than it did on day 1.
My friend Amy came over yesterday, and sat on the back porch with me while I did my stings. I only did two because for some reason the bees took forever to sting. It's easier to do it when someone else is keeping me company.
I also found out that more people are reading this than I thought!! When I was at Tribal Fest a few weeks ago, Beth mentioned that she'd been reading it, and she informed me that Sherlock Holmes stung himself with bees for his arthritis! Who knew?!? Beth, that's who :-) She's the one with the beautiful smile and the turquoise ring.
Here're some photos that Christian took for me the other day.
This photo was taken about 10 minutes after I the stings. There is always going to be a little initial swelling like you can see here.
Here're the little ladies hanging out on their cardboard tube.
You can see the little scabby dots on my arm from previous stings. I kind of look like an addict, especially when they were still making me itch...
This is me waiting around for the venom to finish getting into my system. That little weird thing is the venom sac.
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