# Honey as Medicine



## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Hi all -

Thought it was time honey got its own forum.

I'd like to hear how you've used honey as a medicine. There are some good books on the subject. One is HONEY, THE GOURMET MEDICINE by Joe Traynor, and another is HONEY AND HEALING by IBRA (International Bee Research Association).

Personally, I have always used honey on any skin wound. Cuts, scratches, burns, rashes. It does wonders for these kind of wounds. I've seen antibacterial creams applied over a week not able to do a thing for infected skin next to a fingernail, yet when honey was applied, it cleared up in 3 days. When applied to cuts, the skin heals faster. I'm sold on its use this way.

Has anyone used honey in other ways?

Regards,
Barry


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

My wife has used is quite a bit on the routine cuts and scrapes our kids always seem to have. They do apear to heal faster. I've used it with a sore throat with good success.

Interestingly I've had two cases where a doctor has either comfirmed it works or has prescribed honey. One recommended to my friend to use local honey for alergies as she was pregnant and could not take the normal prescription drugs. And our pediatrician said that honey would have worked on my son's infection on his finger had we caught it before it was so advanced.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Thanks for the new forum Barry!



------------------
Bullseye Bill
Smack dab in the middle of the country.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

My daughter came over with the children and had been very sick with a sore throat and couldn't eat. 

She has a two hour drive back to her house and I ask her to take tiny sips of the honey and fresh lemon juice mixed together. I put it in a disposable one ounce plastic cup filled three quarters full. She took doses of it on her way home. 

She later reported that even though she didn't take the entire amount over that two hour stretch, she never had need to take another pain pill for the soreness in her throat.

She said it simply cleared up.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

I use honey for everything it seems. The more I think of it. I have four quarts of honey in the freezer from this years take. 

A little honey goes a long way when used as medicine. 

I place a little bit of honey in a brown medicine bottle with a dropper and added sterile water. This is used to place drops in the eyes or in the ears for ear aches. Three drops in the ears and a drop in the eyes for whatever problems works. 

You can add honey to sweet oil for ear drops as well. Just warm it to body temperature. I put my dropper in my bra to warm up before adding it to our ears. But, we rarely get sick around here. My advice is mostly for my daughter for her children. 

I try to tell her to keep the house cool and moist (relative humidity between 45 to 55%) in the winter that stops seasonal illness in it's tracks but........


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Oh, the honey and lemon reduces blood pressure. 

I take cayenne capsules as well. Thins the blood.

Great combo. Just put the dose of lemonhoney in your teas and take your cayenne capsule once a day and you'll notice a difference if you know the baseline of your blood pressure.


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## Robert Brenchley (Apr 23, 2000)

I've always noticed that mouth ulcers heal faster if I put honey in my tea instead of sugar, but they heal even faster if I use propolis tincture.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Robert, do you make your own tincture? And do you know what it retails for in health food stores?


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## Robert Brenchley (Apr 23, 2000)

Thorne's is the only source of commercial tinture I know; they're selling it for £3.90 per 30ml bottle. I just drop some lumps of propolis into a 1/4 vodka bottle and stick it behind the water heater where it's warm and dark (it has to be kept in the dark, or in a coloured bottle). You don't need a strong solution.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Then propolis has antiviral properties to it. 

The bees get virus from the mites.

I wonder if honeybees can be treated with propolis tincture? 

Do you know?


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## Robert Brenchley (Apr 23, 2000)

I wouldn't have thought so, liquid alcohol kills insects very fast indeed. The only possibility would be to put it in feed, and I wouldn't be too hopeful. Propolis is supposed to have antiviral properties, you're quite right on that one. Its far easier and safer though to treat mites, however horrendous, than viruses. There's every indication that its possible to breed resistant strains, and that has to be the way to go.


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## angela (Mar 25, 2003)

Regarding other uses for honey, (though not medicinal): my husband is a road bike racer. Instead of the traditional carb gels that many athletes use, he uses straight honey. They have special little plastic flasks that fit in his jersey pocket. Nutritionally, it's more than equal to some of the others, like Gu. Plus, it has nothing artificial, like colors or preservatives. He loves it and it works well for him. I also use honey and propolis for cuts and scrapes.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Propolis has antimicrobial properties that extend to viruses, however I think this is because of enzymes added by the bees. Treating the bees with enzymes they already produce to try to kill viruses that their bodies can't seem to fight would seem unproductive.


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## Daisy (Jul 24, 2003)

Thanks for the answers Mike. This makes sense.


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## cmq (Aug 12, 2003)

HONEY MIXED W/ LEMON JUICE & SOME "CORN SQUEEZINS" MAKES FOR AN EXCELLENT COUGH SYRUP & FEVER BREAKER.


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## wfarler (Jul 9, 2003)

My late great, great aunt who lived in the Tennessee hills used adhesive tape as a cure all. Got a headache - a little strip of tape on your forehead would do the trick, sore muscle - wrap it in adhesive tape. She put it on everthing - kind of like the Greek Wedding guy with the Windex. Maybe honey can do the same.


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## hoosierhiver (Feb 27, 2003)

i've heard of mixing honey in with a puppy's food when the critter isn't growing like it should.


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## kimberjim (Oct 8, 2002)

Hi Daisy..

Down here in NZ we have a honey collected from the Manuka Tea Tree.It is a rather dark honey and superb to cook with or just eaten on toast.

There is a rather special type called "Activated Manuka" and not all Tea Tree honey has it's unique properties.This honey is what alot of us try to collect and sells for about $18..$20 a pound.

Active UMF10+ Manuka Honey (UMF 16) is used internally for an up-set stomach, stomach ulcer, (peptic ulcer) duodenal ulcer, due to it's natural ability to destroy staph, streph as well as h. pylori (helicobacter pylori), the bacteria believed to cause stomach ulcers.Some people may also find relief for heartburn symptoms. 

Externally, Active UMF10+ Manuka Honey is used by Doctors in New Zealand and around the world as a wound dressing for infectious wounds, diabetic leg and foot ulcerations, decubitus sores (bed sores), ulcers and 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree burns. 

jim


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## hoosierhiver (Feb 27, 2003)

there's an old(really old) farmer near me who loves my honey.he claims that if he takes a tablespoon of honey everyday,he doesn't have to get up to pee at night.


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## dburgess (Jun 26, 2002)

My father in law swears that eating honey 
everyday keeps him from getting sick. Flu,
colds, etc... He hasn't been sick or had the flu in the last 2 years. Been eating honey 
everyday for the last 2 years. Previous years
he had been sick at least once a year with cold or flu. I've noticed the same thing myself. Duane.


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