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Comment by abecedarius | Hacker News Reader

Any of you use honey medicinally today? E.g. put it on a cut before bandaging? Swallow it to help an unhappy gut? (This is not medical advice; I'm curious.)

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Yes.

When I have a sore throat I make a "hot honey and lemon". Into a cup of hot water I put a ton of lemon juice, then as much honey as needed to be able to handle that, then drink it.

I don't know if it is psychosomatic or not, but those feel good on my sore throat. They taste good as well!

Me too. The citric acid in the lemon breaks up the mucus and is also antimicrobial. The honey coats your throat and soothes it, which will help to prevent irritation and further inflammation, and is apparently antibacterial too.

Scots commonly refer to this as a hot toddy, and as well as the lemon juice and honey we'll add a healthy dose of whisky. Adding pepper or cinnamon is common too.

Yeah, I've always known a "hot toddy" and whiskey and honey in tea though.. Great for colds and sore throats.

I substitute hot chamomile tea for whiskey or water with my lemon and honey when sick. Extremely soothing and performant during flu season. For some reason, alcohol of almost any sort just makes me feel worse if I have a cold.

My grandmother (a Muslim) used to put some on my cuts when I was a kid. I started experimenting more recently. (Conveniently as I picked up mountain biking—no shortage of cuts!) It certainly seems like the cuts on which I apply some honey heal faster and scar less than the ones I leave as "control".

Yes. I am asthmatic, and one of the daily ayurvedic medical preventive [1][2] that I follow is to take a tablespoon of honey, ginger and lemon every morning.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ayurveda [2] http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-4698/5-Ayurvedic-Morning-Ritu...

thank you for posting this, I am also asthmatic and would like a better preventative measure instead of depending on having a dose left in my inhaler. I will be sure to give this a try to see if it helps any.

Hey, you're welcome :-).

Also I got rid of everything fried, deep-fried or coated with grease/oil/butter out of my regular diet. It helped me a lot. Might wanna consider it, but then obviously this is not medical advise. And for one thing I realize Asthma also tends to behave differently on case-to-case basis.

So have a good health and life ahead!

There is some folklore that you should get your honey from local sources such that it is made from the same pollen that is inducing your asthma. ymmv.

Anecdotal speaking, when I moved from the Southern US to the Northeast I developed allergies that kicked in during late spring.

Someone suggested this and all I can say is that after a few years I don't have the allergy attacks anymore. Not even when I mow the lawn.

Since I stopped taking Claritin or anything like it I can only assume the honey did _something_.

I've heard this too. I've seen it recommended that you buy "Bee bread" as well, though this seems tricky to get hold of. Whilst I've never tried either, I have noticed that hayfever is incredibly localised. I get awful hayfever in my native Essex, but just 180 miles away, nothing at all. Anyone had any similar experiences?

Bee bread: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bee_pollen

Burns: I actually had the chance to meet Klein, and his research is (IMO) amazing. See his booklet and his product [1] (I use it and it works amazingly well).

Throat: "Garlic Tea" which sounds disgusting... is fantastic for anything in your throat (allergy, cold, injury, etc):

Bring a saucepan of about 4 cups of water to boil. Peal and crush about 10 garlic cloves, toss in water, turn off heat immediately. Let cool to palatable heat. Add a couple table spoons of vinegar (natural, with the "mother" if possible) and raw honey to taste. Magic.

[1] http://www.betterthangreens.com/Amish-B-W-Ointment-Dept/536/ [edit: I pasted wrong link, oops]

I haven't looked into this myself, BUT an MD friend I mine said that many over the counter cough syrups have been discontinued (or are no longer doctor recommended) because honey has been found to work better with fewer side effects

when I was 6 (back in the 70s) and I had the croup the Dr. wrote a perscription but told my folks "you can save some money by making your own cough syrup with 1/3 honey, 1/3 lemon juice, and 1/3 whiskey". That was good stuff.

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