Introduction: Allergies Remedy
It's that time of the year again when itchy nose and watery eyes make life for allergy sufferers nearly impossible. Whether you experience mild symptoms or deteriorate completely, seasonal allergies, also referred to as hay fever, can make life uncomfortable. Pollen, the harmless culprit, causes your body to create histamines to wage war on what it thinks is spores or dust mites. The released histamines causes your soft tissues to swell in the hopes of resisting and expelling any foreign bodies it deems hazardous. What's worse is that allergies can develop through your life, and what was once a happy spring day outdoors turns into a sneezing and crying fiasco.
Over-the-counter remedies, known as antihistamines, block your body's fighting ability, allowing the harmless pollen to be processed by your body without any adverse effects. Unfortunately, most antihistamines cause drowsiness along with dry sinuses, and usually need to be taken on a daily basis to block your body's responses towards pollen.
But what if you could prevent an allergy attack? Completely. And naturally.
In this instructable, I'll show you what some people swear is the best allergy remedy: Honey & Pollen!
Let's get started!
Step 1: Benefits of Honey & Pollen
That amazing golden syrup that bees conjure up is internationally and historically used to cure a plethora of ailments and diseases. And allergies to boot.
Using local honey, that has been made from pollen in your general area has the best remedial use to prevent an allergy flare-up. This is because the pollen that is causing a ruckus in your sinuses is the same pollen that the bees have processed to create their honey.
The idea behind eating honey to cure allergies is like gradually vaccinating the body against allergens, a process called immunotherapy.
Honey contains a variety of the same pollen spores that give allergy sufferers so much trouble when flowers and grasses are in bloom. Introducing these spores into the body in small amounts by eating honey should make the body accustomed to their presence and decrease the chance an immune system response like the release of histamine will occur. Since the concentration of pollen spores found in honey is low -- compared to, say, sniffing a flower directly -- then the production of antibodies shouldn't trigger symptoms similar to an allergic reaction. Ideally, the honey-eater won't have any reaction at all.
[source: AAFP].
In addition to eating local honey, one can also eat local pollen. That's right! While bees are busy drinking the nectar of flowers, their bodies rub against the pollen of the plant, and unbeeknownst (tehehe) to them, they take this pollen back to their hive and eat it later. However, bees usually take much more pollen with them than they could possibly use, and so bee keepers will take the extra pollen and sell it for its remedial benefits. Taking in small amounts of the pollen daily during allergy season can help build up immunotherapy just like local honey!
Step 2: Action Plan
So rather than taking an over-the-counter antihistamine, which only combats allergy symptoms, we're going to prevent the entirety of allergies by dealing with at the source: the pollen.
Take a 1/4 teaspoon of local raw (unpasturized*) honey as early in the morning as possible, along with a teaspoon of local pollen, which could be found at a local bee keeper's. Don't fret if you do not see results immediately, as your body may need time to develop it's immunity to the pollen.
The National Institutes of Health report you should never consume raw honey in order to prevent food poisoning, particularly if you are already immunocompromised. It’s especially dangerous to give raw honey to infants under the age of one. According to MayoClinic.com, giving raw honey to infants may cause infant botulism,
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47 Comments
9 years ago on Step 2
I have to say I am shocked that someone would post something like this… Using bee pollen as some sort of do it yourself immunotherapy for known allergies is extremely dangerous. Bee pollen poses a relatively high risk of anaphylactic reactions in individuals who already have a pre-existing allergic condition. No one should ever consume bee pollen with a history of allergies without first consulting with an allergist.
Reply 8 years ago on Step 2
Those that have anaphylactic reactions to pollen probably already know it, and they probably live in a plastic bubble breathing filtered air.
Reply 9 years ago on Step 2
How did the human race survive before the god-like modern medicine pill pushers showed up?
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
This is simply a remedy for seasonal allergies ie. sneezing and itchy/watery eyes. If you have a severe life threatening allergy to anything I hope you're smart enough not to induce anaphylactic shock on yourself.
Reply 8 years ago on Introduction
Poorly. You're welcome.
Reply 9 years ago on Step 2
I made no mention of "pushing pills", but to answer your question: we reproduced before age fifteen, and typically died before age 30. Our current longevity is the direct result of those same pushers who also managed to provide a few other concepts - hygiene, decreased perinatal mortality, immunizations against nasties like smallpox, and penicillin.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
Know anyone who has ever been diagnosed with pneumonia? Guess what - in the pre-antibiotic era that carried a 1 in 3 mortality. Don't even get me started on TB or dysentery and how many people in the third world still die from a myriad of such diseases because they are deprived of the "pill pushers" you loathe. So maybe the next time you feel sick, or your family member has belly pain or chest pain, reconsider your loathing of the pill pushers.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
One should consult with their physician if they fear having an anaphylactic reaction while trying any new medicine. Because honey is made up of nectar and pollen, a patient with a severe reaction to pollen would usually be allergic to honey as well.
This is simply an alternative remedy to those individuals who have tried all the other allergy preventive/ remedial options.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
My point is that it's potentially harmful, and considering that all evidence has shown it to be useless, it seems reckless to post it as a remedy.
http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-78-BEE%20POLLEN.aspx?activeIngredientId=78&activeIngredientName=BEE%20POLLEN
9 years ago on Introduction
One other fact about honey: it is the only food that never spoils. I read once in a science magazine about 3000 year-old honey that was found, and it was still edible! It is similar to mother's milk, in that it contains antibodies that prevent organisms from growing in it. Although it is technically sugar, it isn't processed by the body in the same way fructose and other sugars are. Also, regarding urushiol: it never loses its potency. If you touch something that has urushiol on it, and the skin where you touched it was damp, you could reactivate it. Dead poison ivy can be as harmful as fresh poison ivy. A friend burnt some poison ivy once and breathed the smoke. He ended up in the hospital for several days.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
But it can contain clostridium botulinum spores, which is why it is dangerous to an infants developing digestive tract. It has no antibodies, only a lack of water to support life, just like Karo (corn syrup).
The roots of poison ivy have much higher concentrations and if you are among the 30% that are immune, you won't be after touching the roots. Asians once used urushiol in lacquers and just touching it can still cause a reaction.
9 years ago on Introduction
I've created a little bit of controversy, let me try to answer all in one entry.
Fact: Humans are only allergic to proteins. If you start with this, it is much easier to isolate the real culprit.
Fact: Urushiol is not a protein. But it is a solvent that modifies the langerhans cells (protein source) in our skin into something unrecognizable to our white cells and thus the reaction. Read plantprof's entry below
Fact: Honey contains traces of proteins that can be bacteria, bee detritis (cells), wax, etc. Any of those can cause an allergic reaction. There may or may not be pollen and if there is it probably isn't the ones that give you allergy symptoms. So small doses of honey may reduce your alleries to honey, but not likely do anything for your seasonal allergies. But don't blame the sugars.
'Nough said.
Metals. Nickel is a very common allergy and is one of the alloys in gold that is less than 24k. Again, it is the unique oils and acids in our kin that react to the metal and cause the problems.
If you think you are allergic to a nonreactive metal like 24k pure gold, you are not. It HAS to be something else.
From my own experience, and 15 years of trying to figure it out, the culprit was the proteins in my own sweat and oil themselves. I react to hypo-allergenic everything because they trap the oils and sweat next to my skin. So anywhere that can't breath (armpits, elbow bends, etc) or be cleaned often erupts in a rash. I can only use Dove soap because it doesn't leave a film on my body like Dial and most other soaps. Not allergic to soap, just the effects of the soap. I wear thin rings and loose metal watchbands to prevent trapping. All bandages have to be remove and replaced every 12 hours or so.
9 years ago on Introduction
We are only allergic to proteins and there are very little in honey.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
You are wrong.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Not sure I'm understanding correctly, are you are saying you couldn't be allergic to honey because it has very little protein in it? I've had allergy-type reactions to honey before.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Majornav is incorrect, at least in premise. While allergies to honey are due to protein (bees collect pollen as a protein source for brood), honey is not completely devoid of protein. Raw honey is unrefined, and therefore has even more of those proteins. Though there is little protein in honey, it is not the relative concentration of protein in a solution that causes a response, but the total dose of the allergen within a given time period and the individual's reactivity to that allergen.
Humans are not exclusively allergic to proteins. Nickel and a number of other metals are notably not proteins and yet cause allergic contact dermatitis in people with those allergies. Urushiol is not a protein - the oil in poison ivy - yet it is an allergen.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
My thought on allergies is 'never say never'. You just can't say nobody will be allergic to a substance.
I'm allergic to nickel - but, I'm also allergic to gold. I've been told countless times that you can't have an allergy to 24 carat gold, that it must not be a good quality. But yet I react to it. I can't wear my wedding rings even though the company lined the bands - TWICE - with 24 carat gold, not believing I was allergic to it, but yet my finger still blistered badly. I can't even wear the 'hypoallergenic' jewelry, nothing but stainless steel or sometimes sterling silver..
Strangely enough, with all my other allergies, I've never reacted to poison ivy - hoping it stays that way :D
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
I definitely agree, and that's a large part of why I've noted my objections here. It's a bit irresponsible to advocate haphazardly ingesting a substance under an unproven premise that it might reduce allergy repsonses. There's a lot of documented cases of anaphylaxis in response to bee pollen. Honey is definitely an allergen to those sensitive to it. There's no evidence that oral ingestion of bee pollen can reduce allergies.
SLIT can, but it's a very different protocol.
You might have luck with something like tungsten carbide - it's gaining some popularity in jewelry as highly durable alternatives to other traditional jewelry metals. I know that they've made a number of men's designs.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Correct, it depends upon what may have been added, etiher intentionally or unintentionally. i.e. processed in a facility that has nuts or from a farm/home that didn't follow processing guidelines or homogenize it.
Peanut allergy sufferers can drink peanut oil as long as it has been properly filtered to get all the proteins out.
High fructose corn syrup is sometime processed with sulphur. The sulphides produced are the culprit of the allergy, not the fructose.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
Then how would you explain a reaction to honey that was unprocessed & straight out of the hive? During the time I was having reactions to honey, I had reactions to store-bought raw honey, so I might believe what you say about the way it was processed. BUT, I also had reactions to honey that was removed straight from the hives sitting on my mother's property, that was not processed.
Reply 9 years ago on Introduction
That's incorrect. Billions of people are allergic to urushiol, the principle allergen in poison ivy/oak, and it is not a protein. There is no amine group and no carboxylic acid group. It is entirely devoid of nitrogen, in fact. So it is most definitely not a protein. A look at the wikipedia page on allergens actually features a list including a number of non-protein allergens.