1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10

I did it!  I've reached ten stings. It took a while to get here, but here I am in all its burning glory. Ten stings three times a week for the whopping total of thirty.
I will tell you that summer bee venom is much hotter than winter bee venom! Yeehaw!
I worked up slowly and cautiously. With each new session I witnessed some fascinating and strange things. For a while when I was at six stings I was having emotional bouts. One minute I was crying and the next minute I would have fits of uncontrollable laughter. Christian thought I was going mad. Some other interesting reactions to the stings included air hunger, stiff neck, tooth shocks and sensitively, a panic attack, more energy, clear head, stomach issues, red scratches and patches that appear and resolve, increased joint, foot and muscle pain, dizziness, head pressure, brain fog and more. Some call this a healing crisis. Nancy, one of our bee venom group leaders, shared this post, and it's worth a mention. 

"A healing crisis occurs when the body tries to expel toxins at a faster rate than they can be properly disposed of. The more toxic your system is, the more severe the healing crisis may be. Healing crises are characterized by a temporary increase in symptoms during the process of detoxification. You may actually feel worse for a time and conclude that the detox program is not working. However, the opposite is true. The symptoms are a sign that the treatment is effective and that the body is cleaning itself of all the old, hidden, accumulated toxins...."

You get retracing of symptoms as you are killing the buggers. It's not fun, but sadly it's the way it goes, and there is no way of avoiding it entirely. It's always a good idea to try and up your detox when you feel these things coming on, but sadly nothing can take it completely away. I'm in for the long haul God willing and hope to come out better, smarter and wiser and healed.
Here are some photos of a sting session taken by our friend and fantastic photographer Jenifer Boris.  

FYI - The black marks on my back are eyeliner so we can mark where we are going to sting and make sure we stay in a straight line! I ice before, so it burns less, and it is not an uncommon situation to have a session before band practice, so we usually have a few friends that are around hanging out!