A woman has died after taking part in a bee sting treatment promoted by Gwyneth Paltrow, according to researchers in the Journal of Investigational Allergology and Clinical Immunology.
The 55-year-old woman from Spain had been using the bee venom acupuncture treatment, known as apitherapy, for two years to treat stress and muscle tightness. The treatment uses live bee stings instead of traditional acupuncture needles, and the woman had been receiving treatment once a month.
Videos by PopCulture.com
After a live sting was applied during a recent session, the woman “developed wheezing, dyspnea, and sudden loss of consciousness,” the report states.
She was taken to the hospital and stabilized there, but went into a permanent coma as she had suffered a stroke from severe anaphylaxis. She died several weeks later from multisystem organ failure.
The report names the woman’s death as the first from the treatment. The facility where she received the treatment gave her methylprednisolone, which reduces inflammation, at the onset of her symptoms, although she did not receive epinephrine until the ambulance arrived 30 minutes after her symptoms started.
Paltrow endorsed the therapy on her Goop website in an article called The Importance of Honey & Bee Pollen, and also told the New York Times in 2016 that she had tried the treatment herself.
“I’ve been stung by bees,” the actress said. “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.”
Despite a lack of evidence supporting it, the treatment has been popular for centuries, especially in China, Korea and other areas. The report notes that the chance of an adverse reaction, which could include anaphylaxis, increases the longer the patient receives the treatment.
Photo Credit: Shutterstock
