When filming the 2017 action film Geostorm, Scottish actor Gerard Butler was sent to an area hospital for emergency treatment following a series of injections of bee venom.
Butler paid someone to inject him with the venom, after hearing that the toxin can be used as a remedy for sore muscles. Butler almost immediately went into anaphylactic shock, causing his throat to close and his heart to race.
Ten Times Typical Dose
It didn’t take long before Gerard Butler realized that the man injected him with an amount that was 10 times more than the typical dose for this treatment.
Believing that this overdose of bee venom was the sole cause of his hospitalization, the actor decided days later to have it administered again but in the proper amount. But Butler began to feel ill effects immediately after and wound up in the hospital a second time.
Bee Venom For Sore Muscles
Gerard Butler isn’t the only person in history to try using bee venom for treating sore muscles. Studies have shown that the venom from the sting of a honeybee contains enzymes and peptides that are useful in treating inflammation, a conclusion that the actor might have leaped to with a bit too much enthusiasm. For centuries, bee stings have been used as folk remedies to cure everything from arthritis to multiple sclerosis to hives.
Celebrities Using It
While there is no evidence to medically support any of the above with 100% certainty, it hasn’t stopped Gerard Butler and other celebrities from trying it.
One actress who has tried bee venom medicinally is Gweneth Patrow. Paltrow claims that although bee venom is painful, it has helped her personally with inflammation.
A 2019 article from Healthline outlines many of the treatments bee venom has been used for, dating back centuries. Gerard Butler was using a specific form of what is known as apitherapy, which is the use of bee products to treat and prevent illnesses.
Apitherapy includes not just stings, but also extracts, moisturizers, and even doses of the bee’s honey to treat allergies.
Safety Not Guaranteed
The publication cautions that even though it’s been used for generations, safety isn’t guaranteed. As Gerard Butler found out, using venom from a bee carries significant risks, including death. As there isn’t enough information published presently, it’s difficult to reach a proven conclusion that these stings really do work.
Gerard Butler And Bees
But just because Western medicine hasn’t officially recognized bee stings as a medical treatment doesn’t mean that Gerard Butler was on the wrong track when he allowed for bee stings to enter his bloodstream.
Many of the medicines used in the field today are rooted in folk remedies, so maybe there is something to the idea that honeybees can relieve certain ailments. However, having this treatment administered can pose some problems, as shown by the actor’s experiences with them.
Gerard Butler’s Career
Gerard Butler first became known to film audiences after playing heavies in films of the late 1990s and early 2000s before his massive breakthrough role in the 2006 historical action movie 300.
On screen, he’s been shot, stabbed, hung, and burned to death by the rays of the rising sun (Dracula 2000), but never had a character sidelined by a bee. His upcoming film, Den of Thieves 2: Pantera is slated for a September 2024 release in U.S. theaters.
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