Apis Mellifica

By Chris Kurz, 1995

Apis mellifica, the honey bee, was introduced into homeopathy in 1847 by the New York physician Dr. Marcy. He was witness to the cure of a severely edematous kidney patient, who was cured by an old Narraganset medicine woman. The Indian woman advised to make a powder of dried honeybees, which helped the patient to recovery. Today's remedy is made from the hole insect. There is some controversy as to whether the pure venom should not be used - it has entered our materia medica now under the name Apium virus. According to J. Mezger, the indications of Apisinum are identical to those of Apis.

The honey bee is probably the best known and most used insect remedy of all. This is reflective of the position of the bee itself, certainly the first (and probably only) domesticated insect. The honey bee is the epitome of busy - "busy as a bee." The bee hive is the center of its activity. Well known is the intricate social behavior and communication system among bees. The worker bee is a sex less insect, short lived, whose life's task it is to gather pollen, care for the queen and the larvae, and defend the hive. Their weapon is a sting, which introduces the venom under the skin. Often, the insect dies after the attack.

Restlessness and hurried activity is certainly a key element of the remedy, this is borne out by the many rubrics of this flavor, in which Apis is listed:

Activity

Fruitless activity; Busy; Dancing; Delirium, loquacious; Delusion can not run, must hop; Excitable; Hurry, haste; Industrious, mania for work; Insanity, busy; Occupation, diversion amel.; Restlessness, must constantly move; Undertakes many things, perseveres in nothing;

On the physical level the activity and restlessness manifests in hotness, swelling, burning and sticking pains. In the process of deepening pathology of Apis we recognize the progression from industrious, to haste, to restlessness, to destructiveness and rage, ending in delirium and insanity.

Along with this we find an element of sexuality and jealousy.

Sex

Ailments from jealousy; from sexual excess; Amorous; Delusion someone is in bed with him; Ecstasy; Fear of being alone; Frivolous; Erotic insanity; Jealousy in women; Lascivious, lustful; Sexual mania; Nymphomania; Obscene, lewd; Fear of pointed objects

The rich symptomatology expressed in complaints of the reproductive system bears this out: Ovarian complaints, especially right sided, menorrhagia, metrorrhagia, bearing down sensation, edema of sexual organs, etc.

Jealousy in Apis arises from "holding on" to something. Apis has the feeling that they need to work incredibly hard to achieve their goal, just like the honey bee. However, despite their working so hard, they have the feeling that they are missing out on sexual satisfaction. They have to hold on to whatever they can get in this respect. Hence the jealousy, the nymphomania, and the tendency to edematous swellings and retention of water (e.g., scanty urine; another form of holding on). Their physical picture is an exact counterpart of their mental state. Like the honey bees who need to defend their hive and become very irate and aggressive at intruders, so the Apis patient is very irritable and can get violent when provoked.

Apis has a feeling of being at a disadvantage - the compensation is their high level of activity, Rubrics such as Delusions, tongue is made of wood or Delusion, cannot walk, must run or hop show this aspect. They put on a cheerful face when they are actually feeling wretched (a single symptom of this remedy). Then we encounter rubrics which express the tension in the remedy even more clearly: Breaks things, desire to, yet laughs over it; Laughing over misfortune. In the light of what we know so far about the remedy state, it seems that the cheerfulness in serious matters or small mishaps stems from a fear to show the true emotions, which may not always appeal to people around Apis. These last symptoms give us some more insight into this remedy. Who needs to act cheerful? In which situation is it not advisable to show how wretched one really feels inside? If we can connect this need with the themes of activity, sex, and jealousy, we will have a view of the core of this remedy.

In my understanding, Apis represents the situation of an old spinster. The woman still has a lot of sexual energy, since she never really could express it. She feels mistreated by life - everybody else is married and has a husband or partner. Her work provides her with the reason to live, therefore the hectic activity; she needs to keep busy at all costs. Being attractive to a man has become a difficult task for her. She need to show her best side and can't afford to let her real mood shine through lest she drive the prospective partner away. The sexual energy finds no outlet and therefore manifests in pathology which symbolizes the inner state. It is interesting that the Apis patient frequently expresses fear of sharp, pointed objects (like a sting). Can we deny that sharp, pointed objects bear phallic symbology? Is the act of being stung not akin to being penetrated during sexual intercourse? We must remember that the honey bee is the busy worker of the bee hive. It is an eternally sexually immature female bee, with the queen being the only sexually mature female in the entire hive. Their sexual development is repressed by the presence of the queen. Thinking anthropocentrically - what better reason to be jealous? In this respect it would be interesting to prove the male bee, the drone, as well. Drones play a very characteristic and short role in the life of a bee hive. Would this reflect in a homeopathic preparation of their substance? I know of first steps which have been undertaken to utilize the "drone" Apis, but it still awaits a thorough proving.

One remedy with which Apis can be confused is Lachesis. Both are internally hot and active remedies with much sexuality and jealousy in their picture. Both can feel constricted and are worse for touch, both can present with many symptoms in the uterine or ovarian organs (Apis is right sided, whereas Lachesis is left sided). However, Lachesis is much more intellectual than Apis, which sinks back into dullness as the pathology progresses. The activity of Lachesis is directed toward a goal, which can be quite idealistic. Apis' activity comes from the need to keep busy. It doesn't so much care how, as long as there is some air of hectic activity around. Lilium tigrinum comes to mind here, which is also a hotly active remedy with many sexual complaints. They can be easily confused, but Lil-tig is always at the center of a group or family. It needs the other people around and tries to pull them into the hectic frenzy. Apis is more a lonely remedy, which desires company in order not to feel alone. The keynote of bearing down sensation in the uterus is much more pronounced in Lil-tig than in Apis.

More and more I try to start thinking in remedy groups and relationships. In many cases, I think we have given Apis when another, very similar but as yet little known remedy would have been better indicated. Specifically I am thinking of, say Vespa, which is also a very restless remedy with a tendency to delirium, just as Apis. Do we really have enough information to distinguish between them in a patient? I believe that many Apis symptoms are representative of a group of related remedies of which we know very little. Vespa is only one of several other members. Therefore, when I see a picture of Apis, but Apis doesn't really live up to my expectations in the case, I consider Vespa. A similar situation exists in other areas of our materia medica. Take, for example, Sepia. This large polychrest has acquired symptoms which may actually be not specific to Sepia, but of a class of sea remedies such as Aqua marina, Homerus, Medusa, etc. These are little known remedies which come very close to Sepia and should probably be considered when we think of Sepia in a case, but the remedy does not work well. Do we really know how many of Sepia's symptoms are specific to Sepia and not a common characteristic of all sea remedies?