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  • Caution, about honey and other stuff

    I want to issue a word of caution here.

    1) About honey.

    I have received private reports of people having adverse reactions to using honey which required medical treatment afterwards.

    Please people, don't go dumping non sterile substances, or any substances, in your eye just because someone else here said they did and says they're feeling better! You really can't have any idea what will happen and you may be placing yourself at risk. Consult your doctor, study, use common sense. Don't let the dry eye flareup panic control your decision-making.

    2) About copying others successes in general.

    I know people always get really excited when they see any success story, especially when it seems to be a simple, accessible remedy. But we also need to use our sense both about evaluating others' successes and about attempting to replicate them.

    With any "success" that looks interesting, you should be looking for information such as:

    a) What specific disease(s) and symptoms the user has. For all you know their condition and history might be so different from yours that their healing response is irrelevant to you.

    b) How long the remedy was used. We all know dry eye has ups and downs. Sometimes they're short and sometimes they're long. How many false starts have people had here where they thought they were "better"? When somebody's been using something only for a short time, no matter how much better they are feeling, the results need to be sustained through the normal ups and downs of dry eye and different environmental and seasonal factors before they can really say with any confidence that they're better - let alone what made them better. I'm not saying don't post till you've been doing it for a year. I'm saying that when you post about your latest, make sure you say how long it's been (actually I think almost everyone already does this, which is great), and when you're reading what others are posting, make sure you look for this information.

    c) Whether any other factors changed while it was being used.

    There are SO many variables in everyone's dry eye equation (disease type(s) first and foremost, then environmental, activities, systemic drug interactions, seasonal, hormonal, depression/anxiety factors, etc) that even with exclusive use of one remedy for a significant period it's hard for anyone to say with certainty whether a remedy has really helped. And when you add to that the fact that the majority of people here are using a ton of stuff (if you add it all together... Omega 3s, goggles, compresses, drops, goop, plugs, Restasis, doxy, Azasite, Lotemax, you name it) - then whether you add one for awhile, or stop three and add two, it's just kind of ocular surface chaos out there - the outcome may be important for you personally but it's not always informative for others.

    I have been here quite a long time and I have rarely come across people who were disciplined and determined enough to try remedies one at a time for a significant trial period. I'm not saying that as a criticism - most people really can't drop everything to use a specific treatment or just a few things and I understand that - but it's a fact that needs to be borne in mind. I know we can't wait for double blind randomized trials of everything that comes along, but we shouldn't go to the other extreme either. Hope springs eternal, which is great, but let's make sure there's some good sense and caution in that geyser too.

    Bottom line:

    Read carefully.
    Post thoughtfully.
    Choose treatments wisely, using sense and professional input as appropriate.

    [lecture over ]
    Rebecca Petris
    The Dry Eye Foundation
    dryeyefoundation.org
    800-484-0244

  • #2
    You know, I like natural stuff, and I hate drugs. Never even been on Restasis or Doxy. And I love honey Have it on my toast every morning. Substitute it for sugar in my baking all the time. Sneak a spoonful once in awhile. Great, healthy stuff. But my eyeballs are too precious to me to experiment with. Got enough challenges without avoidable infections or allergic reactions.

    Honey has many medical uses and I just went prowling on medline to read more about them. It's pretty amazing. I read one abstract where honey outperformed silver sulphadiazine on burn victims. I also read one relating to dry eye which suggested other studies should be done. I hope they do it. Meantime, personally I'll keep eating honey and, when I really have to put drops in, stick with sterile stuff tested for this use. I most definitely wish the very best to those using honey and I love to hear your successes. To everyone, just be safe
    Rebecca Petris
    The Dry Eye Foundation
    dryeyefoundation.org
    800-484-0244

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    • #3
      Just wanted to add some comments:

      I've done alot of research on honey, and saw the the Natural Eye Care Center (New Paltz, NY) offered honey/water as an alternative remedy tip (as well as baking soda mixture as another tip...
      http://www.naturaleyecare.com/diseases.asp?d_num=17

      To Chemia:

      In that other "major honey" thread, I noticed you posted as follows:

      I suffered for 6 months using preservative free drops, optive, and I had constant burning in my eyes.
      Did those drops by any chance contain "citrate"?
      I did check out Optive's ingredients at the store, and saw it had citrate.

      But maybe that wasn't preservative free.
      (Aside from Optive, note that Refresh-Redness contains BAK)
      Both Optive & Refresh are the same company


      Anything with citrate, such as sodium citrate in ice creams, or even calcium citrate chews, has caused me adverse reactions. By comparison, calcium-CARBONATE chews were perfectly OK for me.

      My body does not well tolerate citrus, citrate, nor over-salted stuff. As for sodium-nitrite found in many cold cuts? Heaven help me if I ingest that! Of course, these examples of tip of iceberg of my allergies.

      P.S. I red the posting by RedAndSensitive (I believe it was her), regarding development of cysts after 2 weeks of honey application.

      Weirdly, all over google, you'll see that people actually take manuka to cure cysts.

      Anyway, I'm thinking the reason a portion of the population may develop cysts from honey application, is because of nanobacteria "regrouping" into defensive clusters.

      In the book about Nanobac, it stated that a portion of the population tends to get calcifications, which were found under super microscopes to be nanobacteria (AKA microcalcifications / AKA nano-particles).

      It seems that when the nanobacteria are triggered by an outside irritant, they tend to cluster together into defensive "regroupings", surrounding themselves with more and more calcifications that are borrowed from the host body.

      Sorta like Bin Laden & cohorts burrow into caves until they're smoked out.

      That may be why a percentage of people develop cysts on their ears from pierced earrings (a dermotalogist once told me that it's mostly older adults rather than young people who develop cysts from having their ears pierced).

      That may be why I myself developed cysts from trying a Sea Salt + Vitamin"C" regimen, known on Yahoo health groups as Salt/C regimen.

      And since honey is known to sting, it's obviously some sort of irritant, which in turn may trigger "defensive-clusterings" of nanobacteria, in those people who are hosts to same. Whether the irritant is due to the Hydrogen Peroxide effect, or whether due to dehydrating the bacteria due to its humectant (water-attracting) properties, or both, same difference..
      Just a theory.
      Last edited by Minni; 10-Aug-2010, 01:32.
      CHEERIO! HELIO! Dry Eye Minni

      sigpic

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      • #4
        RE: honey

        I agree with Rebecca and my comment was NOT intended to recommend the use of honey.

        Strangely enough, I had an ophthalmologist recently suggest I try vasoline (petroleum jelly) in my eyes at night (my pain is in the morning and I haven't found anything that helps).

        I don't know if anyone out there is like me... but I bought a HUGE tub of vasoline about 5 years ago and it's still half full. I've stuck my fingers in that tub every night since I bought so I will not be putting any of it in my eyes!

        I left the ophthalmologist's office knowing that I wouldn't be back to see him again.

        But I still wonder about that suggestion and why a doctor would recommend it.

        ****FYI... this comment is NOT intended to recommend the use of vasoline in the eyes!!!!****
        Last edited by spmcc; 10-Aug-2010, 05:22.

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        • #5
          Nicely put, Rebecca.

          I'm a scientist, so I'm a skeptic at heart. I completely agree with your cautious approach.

          I love your quote "it's just kind of ocular surface chaos out there"!

          Comment


          • #6
            Originally posted by spmcc View Post
            Strangely enough, I had an ophthalmologist recently suggest I try vasoline (petroleum jelly) in my eyes at night
            .... I still wonder about that suggestion and why a doctor would recommend it.
            ****FYI... this comment is NOT intended to recommend the use of vasoline in the eyes!!!!****
            My dad told me his aunt used her finger to stick vaseline down her throat for sore throats. It seemed to help her.
            I recently discovered that hard cheese & bread (i.e. pizza) soothed my irritated throat. It may sound nuts, but I may try it again if I'm desperate (since cheese stiffens my joints, so it's not a pure cure.
            CHEERIO! HELIO! Dry Eye Minni

            sigpic

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            • #7
              Is there any thread here where someone mentioned they used honey and had lot of problems with it? What do you mean it required medical treatment afterwards? Can you tell us?

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by drewlizard View Post
                Is there any thread here where someone mentioned they used honey and had lot of problems with it? What do you mean it required medical treatment afterwards? Can you tell us?
                Well, think of all the ways someone could use honey and possibly hurt their eyes:

                1) use dirty honey with crumbs stuck in it from the knife they used to spread honey on their toast that morning - eye infection results maybe? (Ok... I doubt anyone would be silly enough to do such a thing, but you never know... desperate people sometimes do foolish things that they wouldn't have done under better circumstances)

                2) use waaaay too much honey and it ends up irritating their eyes so much that they become severely inflamed and require prescription drops to bring things under control again

                3) use honey that they thought was clean, but that ended up somehow causing an eye infection anyhow - results in visit to dr. for antibiotic drops

                etc. etc. A million possibilities... The specific situation that came to her attention doesn't matter in a sense, since table honey being put in the eye hasn't been well studied (if at all? haha) so we'll never know if the exact thing that happened to that other person will apply to us or not.

                So, as Rebecca said, if anyone reads about something unconventional on here and they want to try it, they should proceed with caution, and carefully think through all of the things that she mentions in her post.

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                • #9
                  Manuka honey is very medicinal, but don't be your own doctor by applying a honey from your local grocers. Use a pure standardized drop such as - http://www.melcare.com/optimel.html

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                  • #10
                    they seem very interesting, but question remains how to get them in Europe? If possible to get them here, I would be really happy to try them

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                    • #11
                      I tried it and at first i thought it opened my mb glands up but in the end it was just sticky and made my lids a little inflamed. it cost 25$ for a bottle so it wasnt a big risk for me.

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                      • #12
                        Can you please share how you managed to get them? Directly at some shop/doctor or online? I suppose noone outside Australia is able to get them now. Hopefully it could change soon.

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                        • #13
                          Funny but mine says it's from Australia! I just bought mine at a local health grocery store.

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                          • #14
                            Hello
                            I just wrote them an e-mail at the address that is posted on their site to ask if I can purchase them if I'm from Europe and the answer was: "Unfortunately, we can only arrange supply through your optometrist at this time".
                            So does it mean that only a doctor can order them or that I need a prescription?
                            What do you think?
                            All the best,
                            Cristina

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                            • #15
                              Hi Cristi,
                              I think they sell it right now only via opths, but as they replied this should change. I read somewhere that they should be available in Netherlands (maybe whole Europe) at the beginning of the next year.

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