Reactionary

Recently I had the pleasure of speaking with an experienced apitherapist.   He lives in Maine, so we spoke on the phone.  From our conversation, I gathered that there is really no easy answer to the questions that I had posted on the apitherapy forum--namely how long is this going to take, and when can I expect to see the systemic results rather than just the local results? There simply aren't easy answers because it is different for everyone.

But he gave me some tools for gauging the effectiveness of the treatment starting with observing the reaction underneath the pain--things like temperature, redness, how far the venom extends along the lines of the nerves, etc.  In this way I can better gauge how it is affecting me and how well it's working.  He also told me that it is perfectly acceptable to chill the area to be stung, which will help mitigate the pain and allow me to better monitor the other manifestations of the sting.  

I liken it to eating hot peppers.  When you aren't used to them, it might simply feel like your mouth is on fire.  But once you start getting used to the capsaicin, the intensity of the burn subsides and you start being able to taste the flavor of the pepper and experience some enjoyment.

One thing I have noticed is that in general, the stings don't hurt as much, especially if I've already received a sting there.  But there's no hard and fast rule.  I was really sensitive to almost all of my stings on Wednesday, which has not often been the case as of late.

As you can see, I'm covered in scabs.  Sexy sexy scabs.  The two little things that look like boogers are the venom sacs of the stingers.  I think I also see some until now undiscovered grey hairs.

See how the redness extends straight up and down, but is fairly narrow across?  That's another sort of thing that I am trying to observe.  I could feel those stings all the way up the back of my head!  Also, when I received them, it felt like electricity going all the way through my arms and down into my fingertips. I had little finger spasms.

Here's after I got home.  The redness has died down a lot, but the right side is still a bit tender.  That's always interesting to me--when I sting symmetrically but one side of my body reacts with much more intensity than the other.  One of the other suggestions that the apitherapist had was to always apply stings on my spine.  I wasn't doing this before--I was doing spinal stings often, but not during each session. 

Ewww!!!  Closeup!!!!

Anybody notice the slightly creepy new addition following you down the left side of the page?    X's special touch :-)