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Honey has become one of the best things in my life.
For most of my life, I have been plagued by random GI issues that have steadily gotten worse over the past year and a half. After seeing my doctor, she recommended a gluten intolerance (I have always tested negative for celiac's, but since removing gluten from my diet any accidental exposure has had quiet the reaction. In fact, most grains appear to disagree with me). While gluten seemed part of the puzzle, I did not feel significantly better. I saw a GI specialist who suggested a FODMAPS diet. I followed this religiously (and ended up eating mostly chicken and eggs) and ended up feeling worse in the long run. A slew of blood work revealed nothing.
An endoscopy showed lymphangiectasia throughout my duodenum, but the biopsies were negative (for what they didn't say). I'm still not sure what piece of the puzzle this is, if any. As far as I can tell lymphangiectasia is a disease for Puffin Hounds and other fancy breeds of dogs that can't process fat.
So for the past month or so I have been mostly subsisting off of raw honey mixed with various fruit juices (lemon, coconut water, cherry etc). I get the calories I need and while I miss food (desperately, at times) I've been sticking with it (...mostly).
This past weekend I was at a camping scooter rally. I am so embarrassed by my health issues, and so awkward around my boyfriend's friends, that I often avoid discussing them (to the point where I will not tell a waiter I can't have gluten, I'll just order a salad and pray - with mixed results). I know this is my own issue to work out, but this past weekend something good happened. I ate food, because I didn't want to draw attention to myself. And I didn't feel totally terrible afterwards.
I did have some problems on day 2 (grain overload, my own damn fault. I am also not convinced the gluten-free bakery near me is safe...) but it has been by and far the biggest improvement I have witnessed to date.
I have been terrified about moving out of state for many, many reasons (no job, no home, no health insurance, missing my family, fear of abandonment by my boyfriend) and this has been a big one. This gives me a little bit of hope that, one day, I will be able to enjoy solid food on a regular basis. And until that day, I can have raw honey.
As for this article, I'm currently using honey to treat a really, really horrible second degree burn covering my right thigh (that'll teach me to make a big pitcher of exploding tea - stick to the regular kind next time!). It's managing the pain a lot better than the silver sulfadiazine and I was interested to read about its benefits with healing times.
I know how insane this whole thing sounds (magical hippy medicine...), but I have a leg that isn't throbbing and a GI tract that's as happy as it has been in over a year. So that's progress.