So...Manuka Honey has officially surpased Snapple as "the greatest stuff on Earth". And....Cheryld has beaten Ken Jennings as the smartest person. When I finally got my 1st mouth/tongue sore at around my 33rd rad TX I knew using more honey would be out of the question. Putting a paper thin slice of cucumber on my tongue and having it burn like acid was a dead give away that just about anything in my mouth was going to hurt. I read a post by Cherly saying that the honey was burning her so she started to use the Magic mouthwash before and after using the honey and it was working well. She was right! I was to the point where I was having to use the meds. syringe just to get water and protien shakes past my tongue. It wasn't looking good as far as staying "no PEG" guy. Now I'm confident I can make it. The sores on the sides of my tongue are gone

Good for you! I am a huge fan of Manuka honey which is well known to most Australians and Kiwis. Manuka is the Kiwi name for the tea tree. The oil from the leaves is also used for its antiseptic properties (mozzie bites, and cleaning mould and mildew off the tiles).

The honey has been studied for treating leg ulcers that I know of and it outperformed the standard dressings during the trial. I believe there is also a trial to look at mouth ulcers at the moment.

I love the tips for using it when your mouth is in really bad shape and offer one more possibility. You can water it down a bit with water, swill it about and then either swallow or spit. Maybe that won't sting quite so much? If it does, at least you know you can put it away and use in on your oatmeal when you are back to eating

yup. I freeze it into little loszengers too. That way you can put it right where you want it and it will stay there, if only for a minute.

I certainly have not been one to advocate alot of off the wall "cures" but with all my mouth sores recently I thought - what the heck I might as well try the Manuka Honey. I am AMAZED. This honey cleared up 90% of the inside of my cheek within two days. It is expensive, but oh sooooooo worth it. I found the taste pleasant - had expected something more medicinal, and I bought the strongest strength they had - 250+ whatevers!

I can't promise it will work for others - but to all you naysayers - it is definitely worth the try. I'm sold!

Donna

HI Donna
and when you don't need it for ulcers anymore, you can spread it on your toast
Karen
PS finally bought a water pik as you suggested months ago. what a difference! wish we had bought it sooner

OK, so where do you buy this stuff? I've got a sore throat and want to try it.

Take care,
Eileen

You can get it at Whole Foods or go to Manukahoneyusa.com. I'll warn you that if you already have a sore the honey will burn. You'll want to use some of the Magic mouthwash (you know the numbing stuff) first. The streangh should be 16 or higher. I used it more for prevention. 4 times a day including right before and right after rads TX. Good luck. Will

Thanks for the info Will. Maybe I'll ask the doctor first.

Take care,
Eileen

Can I ask how this is used (dose) & if the antioxidants in the honey interfere with the radiation/chemo?

According to what has been mentioned on this site so far, it seems to work very well for the mouth sores - and also used topically for skin infections, scratches, bites, burns, prevents bacterial infections i.e. staph, leg ulcers, surgical wounds, and can be frozen into little lozenges. Of course it's a good idea check with your doctor first, just to make sure it doesn't interfere with anything else you are taking or experiencing. I found it to be quite expensive at the Health Food Store, but when I went to OCF's link to Amazon, it was about half the price, so it would be good to check it out. If you go to the link from OCF, then OCF can benefit a little, too. Just go to the top of this page and towards the left, click on "Forums' and you will see a link to "Shop Amazon.com".

Dosage - if you are undergoing radiation... A spoonful - hold it in your mouth, let it melt and swish it around for 2-3 minutes - then swallow (if you have open sores - it will sting - but it will help!!! ) - do this 4 times a day - - I used to do it 15 minutes before radiation - right after radiation - and then after meals... As it cleans - ask your dr. - of course - as for antioxidants - the main antioxidents they look at are selenium, and the vitamins a & c (or whatever letter) - the honey's doesn't have any of those. Goo luck!

Wow. I checked on Amazon & there a so many different stengths. How to know which one would be best?

If you buy from Amazon, please use the link for OCF. Click on the green box on the forum pages. This will help OCF stay afloat by giving a kickback for your Amazon purchases. This works for anything you would want to buy from Amazon. Thanks!

16 or up -but keep in mind 16 is the highest strength you can get in nature anything else has been manipulated by man. If you are into strictly organic, go with 16 - if you don't care go higher.

Good luck! And yes go through OCF!!

The Active Manuka Honey Association (AHMA) of New Zealand is an industry association that was formed in the 1990s as a collaboration of NZ beekeepers dedicated to producing genuine Manuka Honey with antibacterial activity that could be measured using a test developed by Dr P Nolan from the Waikato University. This test produces the scoring system that has since been named the Unique Manuka Factor (UMF) and is a registered trademark.

The UMF standard was established to identify and set apart the type of manuka honey which has the special health-giving benefits referred to in the research. This ensured consumers received a genuine product which was clearly labelled with its UMF activity whilst preventing less scrupulous distributors passing off untested honey.

The UMF score ranges from 0-30 with the medicinal range being from 10-30. 5-9 UMF tastes good but does not have the properties of healing referred to in the research and is not promoted as having any special medicinal properties (and I don't think it is labelled with a UMF rating either). There issome concern that Manuka honey with a UMF rating above 16 (usually 20, 25 or 30) may cause problems with allergies so may be a little TOO active.

As a consequence a range between 10-16 is recommended for medicinal use.

The only suggestion that I was able to find that ratings above 16+ were in any way manipulated by man came from a website promoting a particular brand Wed***** that is NOT one of the licensed NZ Manuka honey producers and does not have a UMF rating on its label.

I believe that grades 20-30 are rare anyway and like particularly good wine, occur when ideal combinations of sun, soil and rain prevail.

Some hospital grade Manuka Honey IS sterilized using gamma radiation in order to remove potentially harmful impurities but it would have this on the label. In this case, �manipulated� has been rendered safer than �natural�.

The official New Zealand AHMA website can be found at

http://www.umf.org.nz/Active-Manuka-Honey-Association.html

and the link to Dr Nolans research can be found on the Waikato University website at

http://bio.waikato.ac.nz/honey/

Please note, the website has not been updated in some time so some information may be superceded.