Honey for Wound Care - Part One
Before I even start, I have to say that you must talk with your doctor and find out whether your use of any of the products mentioned in this post, or indeed anywhere on this site, is appropriate for you. All statements are only personal opinion, and have not been approved by any authority or agency or anyone else whatsoever. And read our disclaimer statement.
And truly, a person must also learn the proper technique before using any of the products mentioned, or they may do more harm than good.
Additionally, some people are allergic to honey. You must never use honey if you are allergic to it, or put it on anyone who is allergic to it. You could initiate an anaphylactic reaction that could be life threatening.
(Read Part Two)
(Read Part Three)
(Read Addendum)
I’m not allergic to honey. I do not know anyone who is allergic to honey. So I use it on wounds.
If your mouth dropped open just now, you are in good company. Mine did that when I first read about using honey on wounds. I was looking through my copy of the best wilderness emergency first aid book ever written, A Comprehensive Guide to Wilderness & Travel Medicine, by Eric A. Weiss, M.D. when I saw that he recommended honey for first aid treatment of open wounds. Frankly, I didn’t believe it. I said to myself, okay, he gives very wise information on just about everything he writes about, so he’s entitled to one clunker.
Then a friend of mine sent me information about a study done in Pakistan by western doctors. They had 114 patients with broken leg bones which were not healing. Not even the most powerful drugs the AMA has in its arsenal were doing any good.
The doctors decided to test a folk remedy on these patients, since many of them would die with their current treatment plan. They put honey… local, raw, unfiltered honey… on the ends of the unhealing bones, and waited to see what would happen. 112 showed significant improvement, and a majority of the bones knit and the patients recovered. And that was with truly worst case scenario patients.
After reading that, I went back to the Dr. Weiss book. A few weeks later, I gathered up the courage to try honey on a leg flesh wound I received in an argument with a rusty iron protrusion on a machine at the gym. Clearly, the machine won that argument. I bled on the gym floor for a while, and did some first aid. When I got home, I got out the honey. I put a few drops on the still-fresh but severely contaminated wound.
The honey did not make the wound fester and go bad, as I had inwardly feared it would. Instead, the wound did not infect, I healed quickly, and I can’t tell anymore where the wound was. It worked just like Dr. Weiss said it would. I was amazed. And incredibly happy, because I now had a new arrow in my quiver that was natural, effective, and available even in places and times when modern medicine may be only a distant memory.
There is a lot to say about honey, so I’ll do a series of posts. More to come…
