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A 55-year-old Spanish woman has died following repeated
exposures to an acupuncture method that uses live, stinging bees
instead of traditional needles, according to a recent case
report in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and
Clinical Immunology.

The painful and dangerous practice—called apipuncture—is
generally peddled by nonmedical practitioners and, in recent
years, has generated buzz among celebrities, most notably
Gwyneth Paltrow and her chic lifestyle brand Goop. Paltrow and
other proponents claim that insect venom can relieve a swarm of
ailments, including inflammation, arthritis, generalized pain,
scarring, and skin issues.

But evidence to back those claims is weak and mixed, and
numerous medical studies have tallied serious risks and adverse
events, including anaphylaxis, stroke, and death. Perhaps most
alarming is that people with no history of allergies to bee
venom can become sensitive to it over time. In fact, the more
exposure, the greater the risk of developing a sensitivity. And life-threatening reactions appear unpredictably.

That seemed to be the case for the Spanish woman. While it's
unclear how she learned about the stinging apipuncture, her
doctors noted in their medical report that she had attended
sessions every four weeks for two years with no issues prior to
her death. She had sought the bee-based treatment—a form of
apitherapy—for stress and muscle tightness. But during what
would be her final session, she began wheezing and lost
consciousness.

Personnel at the apitherapy clinic were unprepared for the
medical emergency and could only provide her with
methylprednisolone, a drug that reduces inflammation. It took 30
minutes for an ambulance to arrive. By that time, her systolic
blood pressure (the top number of blood pressure readings)
plummeted to 42 mmHg. (A normal range is often considered to be
from 90 to 119 mmHg.) Emergency medical personnel arriving on
the scene promptly gave her a double dose of adrenaline, saline
infusion, intravenous corticosteroids, and antihistamines.

Though her blood pressure and heart rate stabilized on the way
to the hospital, doctors there determined that she had suffered
a massive stroke from severe anaphylaxis (acute allergic
reaction) and slipped into a permanent coma. She died several
weeks later from multi-organ failure.

Pain, no gain
The doctors say that better training among the apitherapy
personnel and a faster ambulance response time may have
prevented her death. But, they add, such favorable conditions
may not be realistic or possible for these types of clinics.

“Therefore, the risks of undergoing apitherapy may exceed the
presumed benefits, leading us to conclude that this practice is
both unsafe and unadvisable,” they conclude.

That squares with a 2015 literature review by South Korean
researchers. They looked at 145 studies on bee-venom therapy and
concluded that “adverse events related to bee-venom therapy are
frequent.” They also noted the potential for bee-venom
sensitivity to fly up unexpectedly, citing a 2008 report of a 21-
year-old who died of anaphylaxis from an accidental bee sting
one year after receiving repeated apipuncture sessions.

Last, the researchers noted that studies indicating benefits
from the therapy were difficult to interpret “owing to the poor
reporting quality.”

Still, all these criticisms haven’t stopped some celebrities and
tabloids from continuing to champion the bee-venom treatments.
For instance, Kourtney Kardashian has endorsed bee-venom skin
products, and tabloids have hummed over reports that Kate
Middleton, Victoria Beckham, and others use bee-venom facials
and other products.
But Gwyneth Paltrow is likely the most high-profile proponent.
In a 2016 piece for The New York Times, Paltrow noted that she’d
“been stung by bees.”

“It’s a thousands-of-years-old treatment called apitherapy.
People use it to get rid of inflammation and scarring. It’s
actually pretty incredible if you research it. But, man, it’s
painful,” she wrote.

On her lifestyle e-commerce site, Goop, she personally endorses
bee-venom products, bee-sting therapy, and apipuncture, claiming
“I was recently given ‘bee-venom therapy’ for an old injury and
it disappeared.”

Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology,
2018. DOI: 10.18176/jiaci.0202 (About DOIs).

https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/03/gwyneth-paltrow-claimed- bee-sting-therapy-healed-her-it-just-killed-a-woman/

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