Amy Schumer Has Lyme Disease — Why Do People Think Bees Can Help?

Amy Schumer announced to the world that she has Lyme disease—and may have had it for some time, without the slightest clue.

The comedian and actress announced her Lyme disease diagnosis on Instagram, of course with a touch of humor. "Anyone get LYME this summer?" Schumer captioned the post. "I have maybe had it for years," she added.

To back up for a second, Lyme disease1 is a common tickborne illness, which leads to fever, headache, fatigue, and rashes—and it can spread to the joints, heart, or nervous system if it's not treated. But even with these symptoms, it's possible (and quite common) to live with Lyme disease for several years without knowing.

Bee sting therapy is a form of apitherapy3, which is an alternative treatment using products from honeybees. Along with bee sting venom, apitherapy can include honey, propolis, bee pollen, beeswax, and royal jelly. 

"This strategy has been used in alternative medicine for more than 5,000 years," one study explains. "It consists of either indirect application, by extracting bee venom (BV)4 with an electric stimulus followed by its injection into the body or directly via bee stings."

To apply bee sting therapy directly, bees are held with a tweezer and placed onto a particular part of the body. After it stings, the bee is removed, but the stinger remains in the body for a short period of time. 

This treatment was recently featured in the Netflix docuseries (Un)Well, so many people around the world were exposed to the idea of apitherapy to help manage symptoms of Lyme disease. In the sixth episode of the show, the founder of The Heal Hive, Brooke Geahan, calls bee venom an antibacterial, antiviral, anti-parasitic, and an anti-inflammatory.

While research has shown bee venom and melittin may be effective antimicrobial agents against 5B. burgdorferi5, those studies were conducted in vitro. In other words, they were studied in a controlled environment, outside of a living human's body. So more research is necessary to draw any firm conclusions.

Despite many fans' recommendations to try bee venom therapy, there's limited evidence the alternative treatment is effective, and it may potentially pose further health risks.