Dec. 10, 99 -- There are many ways of treating pain, but with venom?...It sounds strange, but it's a real treatment many doctors and patient's swear by. Cherie Bank has details.

It is not a witch's spell. It can actually take pain away.

It's certainly helping me. It's like throwing a switch. The pain is gone.

The bee venom is the real medicine here.

the idea of bee venom injections came from folk medicine. people began to find that beekeepers hardly even had arthritis, bursitis or any of that kind of pain.

Dr. Ira Cantor injects the highly diluted bee venom into trigger point... The areas where the pain is.

Deberah McGraw had surgery for a herniated disk...and then suffered worse pain for eight years...in her back, neck...and up into her head so she got two bee venom injections...

Deberah McGraw/uses bee venom: "And he was done and he was asking me are you all right? And it was gone. the headache was gone? That fast it just went."

Mark Steeler suffered excruciating pain for almost a year after he herniated a disc in his neck. Nothing helped. Till now.

Mark Steeler/uses bee venom: "It's unbelievable . To me it's unbelievable. I was real skeptical when he told me what was in the injections and everything. But after the second injection I was totally convinced I was on the right track."

Dr. Cantor says the injections work by briefly boosting inflammation. Inflammation is the body's way of getting rid of pain.

Dr. Ira Cantor/Thomas Jefferson University Hospital: "My clinical experience suggests about 80% of patients will have a good to a very very good response. many of them will become pain free."

The doctor says the diluted bee venom injections are very safe and can help muscular and skeletal pain including arthritis, tendonitis like tennis elbow, bursitis, muscle spasm, lower back pain and sciatica. The number of shots you need depends upon how long you've had your pain. But the frequency of shots usually runs from a few weeks to a few months.

Mark Steeler/uses bee venom: "I would say I'm 80-90% better right now."

Deberah McGraw/uses bee venom: "If these results are any indication of what can happen as I continue these treatments. I think I'm looking at a cure for something I've had for eight years."

To contact Thomas Jefferson University's Hospital Center for Integrative Medicine call 215-879-512.