ApiTherapy: Cautions

Description

This article is from the Alternative Medicine Therapies guide.

Advocates say that most of the allergic reactions attributed to honeybee venom are actually to yellow jacket or wasp venom. However, if you are allergic to bee venom, you should be very careful when using this therapy, and get professional supervision. Furthermore, in case you have an undetected allergy, be sure to keep a bee-venom allergy kit (including a syringe and epinephrine) on hand.
Health shakes (blended drinks from juice bars) often contain bee pollen or other bee products. If you are allergic, such drinks can cause dangerous reactions. Be sure you know what's in a drink before you consume it.
If you have heart disease, hypertension, tuberculosis, or diabetes, avoid apitherapy.
Children less than a year old should never be given honey (raw or otherwise), since it may contain bacteria that can be harmful to them.
People with compromised immune systems should use caution when eating raw honey, which may contain infection-causing fungus.
Recommended dosage levels have not yet been established for bee products. Therefore, exercise caution when using any of them.

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