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Everyone talks about going under the knife, but what about going under the stinger? This past April, Gwyneth Paltrow told The New York Times that she had experimented with apitherapy—which is defined as harvesting the products of the honeybee hive including venom, honey, pollen, and propolis for medical uses—and instantly sent the Internet abuzz. Willingly being stung by live bees in order to benefit from the venom's anti-inflammatory peptides and proteins seemed extreme even for the Goop founder, but surprisingly the treatment has been gaining traction among those who want a nontraditional fix for joint-pain relief.

"I usually treat patients for osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and carpal tunnel," says Frederique Keller, an acupuncturist and third-generation apitherapist in Northport, New York. "Seven or eight out of 10 get some form of apitherapy, though not necessarily bee-venom therapy. The venom naturally stimulates the body's production of the [anti-inflammatory hormone] cortisone. It also contains peptide 401, which is 100 times more effective in the body than a cortisone shot [from a doctor]. It's huge."

Keller, who is also the president of the American Apitherapy Society, which boasts more than 7,000 members, gives herself seven stings roughly three times a week for issues with knee and shoulder pain. (She says that the number of stings vary from person to person depending on their ailments and immune system.) The process of administering the stings is a bit like a game of Operation. "I take the bee out of a little box and gently pick her up with tweezers behind the head or the thorax," she says. "Then I decide where to sting, and then the bee stings—you don't have to force her—and delivers that .01 microgram of venom within the first minute to five minutes." An initial two-hour consultation costs $225, while follow-up appointments are $95 each.

Eva Sapi, a professor at the University of New Haven in Connecticut, has been studying bee venom as it applies to Lyme disease, which she contracted 10 years ago and treated with alternative medicine. Though her studies have led to positive results, Sapi still advocates for more testing. "I would love to see more safety studies about the long-term effects of bee venom," she says. "We need to understand the exact mechanism of its action so we can develop the proper therapeutic use."

Sapi is not alone in her apprehension. "There isn't solid proof in the medical literature that I'm aware of, showing that apitherapy benefits pain patients," says Hart Cohen, an attending neurologist at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. "One small, randomized study of multiple sclerosis patients testing the therapy's effectiveness, published in the journal Neurology in 2006, found no benefit from it—patients weren't less disabled, didn't have fewer relapses, or experience less fatigue."

"When it comes to bee venom, people have studied it to see if it might be helpful for arthritis or different autoimmune conditions and also for multiple sclerosis, but so far in terms of the larger studies, it hasn't been shown to be effective across the board," concurs Devi Nampiaparampil, a clinical associate professor at NYU School of Medicine.

Still, the practice has its believers, including Manhattan facialist Tracie Martyn, who says that while the stings are indeed painful the overall effects were worth it. "I was going for treatment for my back, and I really got a big benefit from it," she says. "You get a little sting and that hurts, but it definitely numbs the pain. It brings all of the healing into that area and with the acupuncture as well it's very effective."

"I started seeing Frederique for acupuncture for tennis elbow," says Elizabeth Benjamin, a patient from Huntington, New York. "It helped but didn't get rid of the problem, so she asked if I would be open to trying apitherapy. I was in so much pain with the elbow, it was difficult to sleep and everything. I let her do nine bee stings, and the problem went away for good."

Worth noting is that the American Medical Association has no policy on apitherapy, and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health—the government's lead agency for scientific research on alternative-health approaches—has yet to fund any studies on bee-venom therapy. The greatest concern about apitherapy is a possible allergic reaction, which could be deadly in some cases. Other reported side effects include infection and swelling. Those who dare to be stung are advised to proceed with caution and, most important, shouldn't rely on it as their sole remedy.

"My feeling at this time is perhaps there is some promise there for certain folks, but it's not something I would generally recommend for people with these conditions," says Nampiaparampil. "If a patient had a strong interest in it, I would probably refer them to someone who had done more research in this area to find out if it's a possibility for them or if they could participate in a [monitored] study."