Bee Pollen and Immune System?

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Bee Pollen and Immune System?

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  • ddd
    ddd Member Posts: 82
    edited November 2007

    I'm curious about Bee Pollen.  Anyone out there using it?

  • Jenniferz
    Jenniferz Member Posts: 541
    edited November 2007

    What I understand about bee pollen is that if the honey that is manufactured is from your area, then it will help you build a resistance to some allergies.

    Don't know that if this is true, but makes since if the bees are using the plants in that area.

    Jennifer

  • althea
    althea Member Posts: 1,595
    edited November 2007

    I used bee pollen years ago.  Later I heard it should be from bees in my locale.  By then, I also heard that anyone with allergies to bee stings should not consume bee pollen.  I've had one bee sting in my life, back in high school.  I stepped on a bee and my foot swole to twice its normal size.  And my mom is potentially deathly allergic to stings, so I've steered clear of bee pollen for quite some time now. 

    While I was taking it, I'm not sure I recall noticing anything in particular either from taking it, or ceasing it.   

  • JoanofArdmore
    JoanofArdmore Member Posts: 1,012
    edited November 2007

    Being deathly allergic to stings, I am expert on the subject.I was stung at 24 and began to die!First I swelled up outside, them my lungs swelld & I couldnt breathe.I now carry anaphlaxis kits with injections.

    Thing is I was stung by a YELLOW JACKET.

    Yellow jackets are WASPS.I'm deathly allergicto WASP STINGS.

    The honey bee (round, fat, bumbling) is a different species.BEEs leave their stingers in you, and die after having stung.The stinger must be removed-scraped out, for the pain to quit.

    Wasps dont lose their stingers, can sting away as much as they want.

    I have been stung by bees.Pain, swelling, but nothing.No ER, no shock blocks, no dying.

    And yes local honey makes us less allergic to local botanicas.ike Goldenrod, a big allergen in late summer.

    But Bee Pollen is also a very good energy source, and a source of good energizing food.It is the precursor to honey.Only if you are allergic to honeybees could you POSSIBLY (but not probably) have trouble from bee pollen.(Most people are allrgic to Wasps.

    Sorry to be a know-it-all, but when it's life or death, you have to be!

  • Jaybird627
    Jaybird627 Member Posts: 2,144
    edited November 2007

    Joan, last summer I was stung twice (!) in the span of one week by yellow jackets and the sites swelled up (and itched!) for weeks. I guess I'm allergic to wasps? :) Hopefully never again.....

    I used to take bee pollen but stopped for some odd reason. I took it for energy and probably should start taking it again as I'm always tired (I blame work for that!). It would be nice to find a local product (Chicago) but I'm not sure one exists.

  • JoanofArdmore
    JoanofArdmore Member Posts: 1,012
    edited November 2007

    J--You might be sensitive to wasp stings.But not deathly allergic.Thank God.

    FYI, here are the safeguards against bee(and wasp) stings:

    They are drawn to bright flowery colors.

    They are attracted by flowery perfume.

    Wasps love protein and will always attend (daytime) cook-outs and pic-nics.

    Wasps, yellowjackets, get all hissy end of august, and through September.On sunny days they WILL try to nestle up to people, or get into your sleeves or collars.BOLO!!(be on the lookout).

    The time I was stung was September.It was a chilly day.My little girl, 2, was having her lunch outside in a warm, sunny place on the patio.Peanut butter.

    I put my hand down on the picnic table, and, not noticing, right on a pest of a yellowjacket.YIIIII! It was like putting my finger into fire!

    The worst part, of course, was my little girl.

    I knew things were not going well.

    I put her down for her nap, called a neighbor, who found me passed out on the floor.

    This was how I became..a little peculiar.I only wore bright colors and perfume after dark during summer.And I stopped sitting around, in the sun, during summer.(Beach was OK-no bees there.)Cook-outs only after dark--pretty late in DST.

    But hey.Imagine the amazement of starting to croak , at 24!Never again, if I can help it!

    love to you, joan

  • LisaKJ
    LisaKJ Member Posts: 27
    edited November 2007

    I've been taking bee pollen for I don't know how many years (maybe 15?) and still do.  I find that I have fewer colds, and when I do have them, they're not as bad.  Keep in mind, though, that I was also diagnosed with DCIS in spite of all the bee pollen I've taken.  But hey, my respiratory system is in good shape!

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