raw honey and allergies

[ProudGrandma]

Has anybody here used raw honey to keep seasonal allergies at bay?  If so, does it work so well that you don't need any other medicines?

 

I heard that you need to start using it BEFORE allergy season...but how much before? a month, 2? 1 week?  

 

what else do I need to know about this??

 

thanks.

[ikslo]

I have not used it, but from what I understand you would need to use raw honey that is local for it to work.  In other words, the pollen needs to be harvested from the plants in your local area.  Store bought raw honey shipped in from CA is not going to be effective for someone in VA.  Although it would still taste good. :)

[arnold]

I've not used honey but have used bee pollen for one of children who suffered from allergies when he was smaller

[Guest]

We did when we lived in FL. Dd and I were very allergic to orange blossoms. We were able to find a local apiary that sold honey from different local plants....ie; blueberry, orange, etc. It helped me tremendously when the blooms started.

[kbutton]

My experience with raw honey and allergies is that it triggered mine and made my asthma act up. So, be careful. I have no doubt it works, but I am also pretty sure it could do harm as well if the "dosage" is too high. It's like having allergy shots, which also carry a risk of a severe reaction.

[Ali in OR]

Seems to make no difference to us. Still need some combination of zyrtec, neti-pot, breathe-right, flunisolide, sudafed in this house.

[athomeontheprairie]

We use honey. It helps. If it's air borne allergies, it needs to be local. If it's a contact allergy, not necessarily. A friend is deathly allergic to poison ivy and and ordered honey from across the nation from a place that allowed the bees to pollinate poison ivy. For weeks he couldn't eat more than 1/2 teaspoon, or his throat would swell shut. Eventually, he could handle more. Eventually he didn't break out everything's he went hooking in the weeks.

It took time, and incremental doses, but it really worked.

[foxbridgeacademy]

We've done it before, when we lived in the South and I think it helped. We'll be trying it again this year since DS's allergies have gotten so bad. 

[blackjackoaktree]

I have thought about trying this! But I have also heard it must be local and raw and start small.

[mumto2]

It works for us quite well. I went from not being able to see well because my eyes were watering so badly with maximum doses of two different seasonal allergy med to an occasional dose of one. My honey is very local(maybe 3 miles from home) and my bee guy knows where his bees were for each jar I buy. I think I saw some slight improvement within a week or so. Enough to keep eating it. The big payoff seems to have come in future seasons.

 

I get set honey not the thin, not sure if that makes a difference. We were purposely eating maybe two teaspoons ful a day on top of what naturally went on toast etc. Four years later I still make sure we get a couple jars from the blossoms that bother us the most but we just eat it on toast. Last allergy season was easy on alll of us.

[Cottonwood]

When we moved to our current town, I started using the local, raw honey and DS was able to get off of allergy meds and stay off 4 yrs now.

[Guest]

My FIL did this and it was amazing for him.

 

Me, it made for a lot of purchase of Benedryl.  

 

I hope you are like my beloved FIL, memory eternal.