The Sauce Bernaise syndrome doesn't always kick in, however -- I am from Maine and lobstah is my favorite food. Once when I was in college, we had a big lobster feed and that night I was violently sick -- really bad, I still remember it! It could actually have *been* the lobster, who knows -- however, I was back to eating the red beasties the very next week and have never even looked at them cross-eyed. They are still my favorite!

However the syndrome did affect Barry's ability to tolerate the Manuka honey - recall we were trying this as an anti-mucositis trick . He was supposed to take it 15 minutes before and after radiation but he was getting Ethyol, and the juxaposition of the honey and the amiphostine semi-nausea finally caused him to bag the honey trick about 5 weeks into treatment. Even now the smell of the (very strong and medicinal) honey makes him feel a bit queasy -- for that reason I would recommend anyone trying honey simply use a "natural" wild honey and not Manuka. (The original paper just used a wild honey, but some studies since then have used Manuka, which is from the tea tree plant of New Zealand.) Having said that, Barry did not develop much mucositis until about his 5th week of treatment, and then less than most people at Hopkins, so who knows...?

Gail


CG to husband Barry, dx. 7/21/05, age 66, SCC rgt. tonsil, BOT, 2 nodes (stg. IV), HPV+, tonsillectomy, 7x carboplatin, 35x tomoTherapy IMRT w/ Ethyol @ Johns Hopkins, thru treatment 9/28/05, HPV vaccine trial 12/06-present. Looking good!