Magic Honey?

One of the SEs of chemotherapy is that it can deplete your white blood cells and neutrophils meaning that you basically have no immune system and are super prone to infection. As yet I have not been offered Granocyte injections (apparently a full on mega needle that you have to inject yourself with - Rob gets funny with needles so I'd have to do it myself for 5 days - yuk!) as my neutrophil count has been okay.


I'm not sure whether it actually works or if it's a (nice tasting) placebo but I have been taking something called Life Mel Honey every day since I was diagnosed. Now I don't actually even like honey but it's got to be a lot nicer than sticking a needle in your tummy....

My honey - complete with dented lid - thanks Postman!

The Life Mel Story begins with research in the 1970s by Dr Alexander Goroshit (fab surname!), then a student microbiologist, as to why, in a small town in Russia, beekeepers and their families remained healthy despite a local cholera epidemic. This unusual finding fascinated Dr Alexander, and after finishing medical school he went to work as a researcher and teacher in a microbiology faculty where he enlisted the support of his students to undertake further research into bees, honey and the beneficial effects of herbs. Further research showed that over the centuries beekeepers have discovered that the food consumed by the bees affects the properties of the honey they produce. Dr Alexander’s study of herbs showed him that the key properties are sourced from the leaves, roots, stem etc and not the flower. Thus to create a honey product which contained these properties he needed to develop another way to feed the bees. Dr Alexander spent his time working with experts to develop a method to feed the bees with the desired herb parts to facilitate the development of a honey bee product which contained the beneficial properties of a special blend of key herbs. In the 1990s Dr Alexander emigrated to Israel and with the help of state funding there, continued his research into the remarkable results of feeding bees different selections of herbs. In time, he went on to develop different products made by honey bees. As Dr Alexander concludes “the rest is history.”


So basically, the bees are fed on blend of herbs, which are immune enhancing plants. This means that the honey has all the benefits of those plants in it meaning that it works almost like a vaccine which helps to protect your immune system.



It's not the cheapest at around £38 for a pot just bigger than the size of the mini tiptree stylée preserves you get in hotels but as you take 5-10ml per day it should last about 3 weeks per pot (which is the time between each of my chemos.


Having said all of this, I went for my pre-chemo blood test yesterday and got the results back today, neutrophils are low at 0.8 and they won't do chemo unless they're at 1. Bugger. I have a day to get them back up again. But.... who knows what they could have been if I hadn't been on the honey....