Medical Grade Honey

Hi,

I am being prescribed medical grade honey to help get rid of dead tissue in my back wound and promote healing, however as I am having chemo with an open wound healing is slowed down considerably

Has anyone else had honey for a wound and how effective did they find it?

I am hopeful it will help as my wound is progressing and has made faster progression in the last week since I started taking manuka honey orally so I think bees can only be a good thing!

Fingers crossed because the next thing to consider if that doesn’t shift it along and if have the guts is maggot therapy!!!

xx

Oops Moderator, I think I should have put this in “undergoing treatment - surgery” - could you move it for me? Thanks.

Hi Ostrich…think honey sounds much nicer than the maggots! I have 2 teaspoons of Manuka every day. Good Luck. I know Christies hospital have been using Manuka honey on patients with tumours to the throat and mouth.

Thanks for this info Belinda, will pass it on to my friend with cancer of the oesphagus

Jx

Hi All,

I used Manuka honey on my feet, smeared it under dressings and stuck it on my toe, my chemo really effected my big toe nails and they went all runny underneath ( uggh), you have to use UMF15 Active Manuka honey though as there are many different types, if it does not say UMF then it’s not as potent, the higher the UMF the better ( it is expensive but worth it), it is reported in medical journals all over that it can heal stomach ulcers in 9 weeks, a lot of doctors are going for this therapy too.

I am sure the more natural the better and I swear by it and have used it for years, it’s great for throats and all kinds of colds/coughs during the winter as we all pick up more with our immune system lowered.

Hope you don’t have to resort to maggot therapy!.

Love to you all, take care.

Carol xx

Does anyone know what the medical grade honey is ie is it manuka? It has to be prescribed by a GP and is sterile but I don’t know much about it other than that (though hopefully I will do later when I get the prescription)?

Well I got my prescribed (£7.10 for about 4 applications) honey, its manuka (+12umf) ? and its now on my wound, hopefully with the manuka I am taking orally I will avoid the maggots (we are going to try for a couple of weeks with this). Thankfully its not summer and I wont have to worry about honey bees chasing me! And hopefully it will kill off whatever bug is taking up residence in my wound cos the smell is not v nice, x

UMF = Unique manuka factor I think

so it’s about how potent the tea tree and herbal elements are (tea tree is anti bacterial and anti fungal and what the bees fee on)

All honey is medicinal in some ways eg on sore throats in colds because of the sucrose structures (I recall reading that they can interact with moisture in a very peculiar but beneficial way) but the added properties of manuka increase it’s potency.

There’s loads I’ve read but as this is a forum about BC not naturopathy I don’t feel it’s appropraite to go into to much detail here but is wprth googling “Unique manuka factor” if it interests you.

Angie

Thanks Angie, off to do some reading, x

don’t worry too much about the little wrigglers either, if you end up needing them…my friend was a nurse, and she swears by them, apparantly, they only chew the bad stuff, leaving good fresh flesh underneath, and whilst that sounds horrific, they really do a good job! but, i hope the honey works! :slight_smile:

Thanks Narnia,

The honey seems to be working well and its only day 4 of it, mind you I have been easting a tsp everyday for about 2 weeks too. I dont have a problem with the maggots if I have to go that way - I just want the slough to go so the healing can continue. Apparently they are bred in a sterile environment and are teeny (when they go in) and live in a little t-bag which gets rotated around and should eat up any dead tissue within 3 or 4 days and come out fatter happy maggots leaving a clean wound! That said I am still hoping that the honey avoids the need for the little dears but as I haven’t lain down in a bath for 3 months now and I am such a bath girl (and need the soak what with chemo too) I am prepared to try anything!

Ostrich, I too am still suffering with a 3-4 inch hole in my back, and have chemo scheduled for 3 weeks time, which my be delayed because of the wound. Where do you get this honey from - health food shops, or what?! Did your hospital suggest the maggots - so gross! - but still, needs must! xxx

for ‘my’ - read ‘may’!

Hi Jackie,

Sorry to hear about your wound. My chemo wasn’t delayed due to my wound because at the time of starting chemo it was still a forming scar line, it opened up the day after my first chemo with a fluidy ucky suddenness!

The honey is being used because when the wound opened up there was a lot of yellow/white uck (which is dead tissue they call slough) covering the healthy tissue underneath. They cannot take this off and have to dissolve it in case it causes damage to tissue underneath.

In order to dissolve the slough and allow the tissue underneath to start healing and forming skin for the first 6 weeks I had a medical gel called purilon put on the wound and a dressing called biataine over it which had to be changed every 2 days (because if left longer it would leak). After 6 weeks they decided to change it to try and speed it up (having chemo obviously slows down any healing and the day after the 2nd FEC the wound ucked again but my nurse says amazingly its still healing really well) and order manuka medical grade honey for the wound as its now used in wound healing to dissolve slough.

Had someone at the GP surgery taken “ownership” of my wound earlier (I was being seen at my hospital every 2 weeks and at the GP surgery by a different nurse each time it needed dressing) they probably would have changed either to honey earlier or used the maggots which would have got rid of the slough earlier and started healing earlier.

I know maggots is a horrid thought but they are bred in a sterile environment, teeny tiny and about 10 - 15 put in a teabag type thing and placed in the wound and the bag is rotated every day - the maggots eat only the dead tissue and then are removed leaving a clean wound to heal so had I had the chance and with the benefit of hindsight I would have gone for it rather than be 13 weeks post op with still a large hole.

Anyhow, I am now on the honey and its working well, I only have two strips of slough left (at the top and bottom of my wound) and they should fall off in the next week. I will then be left with a clean wound to continue healing.

If you are lucky enough not to have any slough (ie there is no dead tissue and they say its clear and there is healthy granulating tissue there) then you could well heal in a couple of weeks. If the hole is big but clean they can look at taking you back in and giving it a clean under general and stitching it back up but that carries a risk that some bacteria or dead tissue will be enclosed in the wound which would lead to an abbcess and all sorts of problems.

Once my slough has gone the wound will apparently heal nicely by itself but its still about 2 inches across my back and an inch and a half the other way and about 2 cm deep so it is likely to be 6 or more weeks before I have skin there. Apparently the skin will grow on top of the granulating tissue rather than the edges working their way back together.

I feel I have become something of an expert on wounds! I am very lucky in that one of my friends is a tissue viability specialist nurse at our local BUPA ward and she comes over and dresses my wound for me once a week and I go to the practice the other time. She has really helped encouraging me and advising me (to push for the honey) and takes so much more time and “love” over my wound and caring for the skin there around it (where the practice nurses dont). She also gives me my injections after chemo so I would be lost without her.

My advice is get some real honest advice from a specialist - they should have tissue viability specialist nurses in NHS hospitals too and get someone to give it a good assessment and tell you your options/timescales for healing/chemo etc.

Having chemo with the wound has obviously not helped but they have not suggested stopping the chemo and despite the chemo it continues to heal. There is an obvious risk with having chemo and an open wound re infection and lowered WBC and my Onc prescribed an injection (G-CSF) which I have the day after chemo to boost my WBC and lower my risk. Given the fact that I’ve had 2 FEC and 3rd to go on the 30th I have only picked up one infection (two bugs tho) which was diagnosed this week and am now on antibiotics for its been ok.

Mind you I can’t now drink until xmas eve and the wound doesn’t smell too good and I haven’t been able to lie down in the bath for 3 months now!

I have suffered some real emotional trauma having the wound as its felt like I have been unable to move on from the surgery and be comfortable in my body before dealing with the effects of chemo so I do get really down and find it hard to be excited by improvements in my wound at times when I still face probably another 2 months (poss more) of this so had I had the wound prior to chemo and the benefit of where I am now I would have (if it had been a matter of a couple of weeks) delayed chemo to get it healed first.

Phew, can’t I talk?

Hopefully I have given you something useful. If you have any questions that my ramble hasn’t asked, fire away.

PS Manuka honey is good for healing applied to wounds but has to be medical grade - I got my first lot on prescription but its a tiny tube and found a chemist on line who supplied me the same (ie like buying it over the counter only most walk into chemists dont stock it) for half the price because I do sadly have to pay for the honey and dressings (which is a real bummer). Manuka honey you can buy in supermarkets etc is great for taking a teaspoon of daily to help your immune system and healing from the inside if you see what I mean.

xxx

Thanks ostrich, as ‘they’ say - ‘it’s good to talk!’ I’m getting almost as knowledgable on these bloody back wounds too - unfortunately. On Friday hospital said that it could take 2-3 months to heal (what?!), then the nurse that re-dressed it for me said that she’d seen worse that had healed in a month. All these differences of opinions are really wearing me down, who are we supposed to believe? Then when I saw the Oncologist and explained about the chemo possibly being postponed, he agreed that we shouldn’t put my health at risk?! What?! again! I’ve got a funny feeling my health would be put more at risk if the chemo is deferred for any length of time. What a to-do, it never rains … Found the edible Manuka honey in Tesco tonight - £8.00 a jar! Still … if it works, cheap at half the price! I paid out for a pile (lg. cardboard box full!) of dressings the other day with a pre-paid 3-month prescription, which cost £28.75p - never knew such things existed. Much cheaper doing it that way! Apparently you can have any medication you need in the 3 month period all for that one payment - brilliant. I’m now on my second week of anti-biotics and most of the slough has gone, wound is clean and now just needs to heal. I’m not normally queasy - or so I thought - but when I got too clever with the use of a few mirrors the other day I nearly passed out - hole practically down to the bone - or whatever is underneath the aching chasm in what used to be my nice, normal back. Incidentally going in Tesco’s tonight, was the first time I’ve been in a shop for around 4 weeks - absolute nightmare. Couldn’t wait to get home and back to safety! Used to shop 'til I dropped, realised I’ve now turned into a bit of a book-reading recluse! Best wishes and best of health to everyone. x Jackie x

Will keep my fingers crossed for you Jackie that you heal quickly and can start your chemo soon. If the slough has gone thats brilliant (I have had slough for 8 weeks now *sigh*) so hopefully you will heal in a month, especially if you haven’t got chemo slowing it down. Has the Onc said how long he thinks you should delay for? I don’t know what your dx is in terms of lymph nodes etc.

I got my OH to take a photo of my back when it opened on my mobile phone so I could see and it wasn’t pleasant! however as it was full of slough I couldn’t see how deep it was. I have had the odd pic taken since so I can see an improvement and though my nurses get excited about it and its healing when they see it it still looks a mess to me - I want to see a nice thin scar line and thats not ever going to happen now but I would settle for seeing skin!!

Take care, x

I know exactly where you’re coming from ostrich - I’m just not looking anymore. District Nurse said today that it’s clean and pink and should be healed in a few weeks or less - can’t see it happening that quickly myself, but hey, I’m not the expert here. Had mastectomy and the bloody LD flap recon., can’t moan too much really, 'cos my new boob is fantastic. During the op they took out 5 lymph nodes and every flaming one of them was cancerous, so have to have full clearance after chemo, then radiotherapy after the surgery, then drugs, then … ? - your guess is as good as mine! Hey ho, who said life was gonna be easy? All the best, x Jackie x.