Teacup Café XLII

[Mari]

What a lovely text you have in your signature, sane!

[The last sane person]

It has been there for years, you just noticed it? or were you trying to point out the incongruity of my willingness to take up arms with my rather pacifistic poem passage?

[Mari]

No, I only just noticed. On my phone the sigs are displayed larger than the actual posts for some reason, so it's harder to ignore.

[Earniel]

Ugh, I think my pollen medecine is losing its effectiveness. I know I shouldn't been outside all day long yesterday, but the sun was delicious and everyone else was outside (and badgering me to join them). I sure paid for the privilege with the rest of the evening of sneezing and snuffling. I lost count after the twentiest hankerchief or so. And that means laundry today!

Damn allergies.

Has anyone ever tried the honey method? Supposedly, if you can find local honey it will have pollen in it of which you're allergic too but and if you take some regularly your immune system may just learn to adapt.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Has anyone ever tried the honey method? Supposedly, if you can find local honey it will have pollen in it of which you're allergic too but and if you take some regularly your immune system may just learn to adapt.

As I read your post, the honey method is what came to mind. It worked for me.

[Mari]

I don't like honey. Yesterday the wind was blowing the other way, so I could sit outside no problem. I've never had as much trouble with hayfever as u had last week though. It is a bit better now (still not much wind).

[Acalewia]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Ugh, I think my pollen medecine is losing its effectiveness. I know I shouldn't been outside all day long yesterday, but the sun was delicious and everyone else was outside (and badgering me to join them). I sure paid for the privilege with the rest of the evening of sneezing and snuffling. I lost count after the twentiest hankerchief or so. And that means laundry today!

Damn allergies.

Has anyone ever tried the honey method? Supposedly, if you can find local honey it will have pollen in it of which you're allergic too but and if you take some regularly your immune system may just learn to adapt.

Allergy meds stopped working for me a long time ago. Even the prescription ones.


I may have to try the honey method

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

As I read your post, the honey method is what came to mind. It worked for me.

Oh, I'm glad to hear. When I tried to look it up I read so many times of people knowing other people for whom it worked but never direct accounts. Can I ask if how long it took for you to notice effect?

Originally Posted by Acalewia

Allergy meds stopped working for me a long time ago. Even the prescription ones.

I have been fine with herbal allergy meds so far. Prescription meds tend to have way more side-effects so I avoided them so far. But since last year I became allergic to a vitamin mix it seems to have gone only downward from then on. I could manage the increased number of allergies but I'm not going to manage if my meds fail me at the same.

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Oh, I'm glad to hear. When I tried to look it up I read so many times of people knowing other people for whom it worked but never direct accounts. Can I ask if how long it took for you to notice effect?

It took a while: it wasn't immediate. But before I finished that jar of honey, I no longer suffered the sneezing and watery eyes I had before.

(I think that should be, “But ere I finished that jar of honey, I no longer suffered the sneezing and watery eyes I had before,” the word ere designating that one set of past events or conditions is nearer to the present than another set described by before; but ere sounds forced. English is such a lovely language.)

[Earniel]

Oooh, that's faster than what I've read so far. Sounds promising. Time periods of over a year were mentioned, which didn't exactly make things more attractive.

Do you still have to take the honey regularly to keep away the symptoms? Or is it done and dusted forever after the last honey-jar?

[The last sane person]

One would think it would be a habit you have to maintain, as it can still change by year and what is growing at the time?

[Alcuin]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Oooh, that's faster than what I've read so far. Sounds promising. Time periods of over a year were mentioned, which didn't exactly make things more attractive.

Do you still have to take the honey regularly to keep away the symptoms? Or is it done and dusted forever after the last honey-jar?

Originally Posted by The last sane person

One would think it would be a habit you have to maintain, as it can still change by year and what is growing at the time?

I just spoke to my daughter. She’s Éowyn’s age in Lord of the Rings. She’s suffering mightily as the trees are finally blossoming – “It looks like a mist,” she says – and we gave her local honey as a young child. She’s off to one of the few remaining farms on the North Shore to get more local honey. (One of our friends is a beekeeper, but she’s refused to ask him for some of his private stash. I don’t understand that, but it’s none of my business. His honey would be better than anything she could get in a store.)

We’ll see how fast it calms her sneezing and watery eyes. In the past, it’s taken a week or two, but every time is different; besides, I understand your immune system recycles every few years. (Seven is what I was taught, but that was long, long ago.)

Nowadays many pediatricians recommend not giving honey to babies before they’re 12 months old. Not because the honey will hurt them, but because it’s a potential source of botulism. (And riding trains is a potential source of railroad accidents, so I’m hitchhiking to Maine from now on.) I think we gave honey to our children after 6 or 9 months, but I’m not sure. I’m not a physician – where is Attalus? He might be able to give a more definite opinion – but I’ve noticed that lots of things that were “settled science” – fats are bad for you, cholesterol is bad for you, sugar is always bad for you (well, too much sugar is bad for you), spinach is an excellent source of iron, the USDA food pyramid, chocolate is bad for you, just for a few – are falling by the wayside. So I’m just going to eat pizza and drink beer from now on. And local honey, of course.

As an aside, this rant: Science is an excellent tool, as long as it’s used properly. But it isn’t a source of Truth: it’s a means of testing hypotheses and building useful theorems about how things work. As a source of Truth, it is vastly inferior to Religion and Philosophy. Still, Philosophy devolves into “How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?” (Phenomenology remains useful, though; and I suppose symbolic logic is rock-solid: it seems to be sound. I had to read a lot of Sartre: Sartre is a pervert.) Religion, unfortunately, has been abused to take power over others; and now it appears Science is being abused for the same purpose. (Now, if that can’t start a fire, nothing can. (Where’s more dry tinder?)) (I have no idea where that rant originated. Must be aliens.)

Eärniel, I’ll try to let you know how long the honey takes. I may not be told, and find out after the fact, though. But it’s worked well for me: anywhere from a couple of weeks for me (a “booster shot”, as it were) to 4–6 weeks. Of course, by that time, most of the pollen will be out of the air…

Sane, I used local honey when I first moved here decades ago because I’d been warned to do that. Since then, I’ve used it “as needed” to reduce allergies during spring and fall. Groceries usually carry honey from far off, so I have hunt for local stuff. I have a couple of friends who keep beehives, one of them nearby; there is a farmers’ market every other week, though some of the farmers are from the next state (it’s New England, so the next state or two or three isn’t very far off); and there are one or two farms still in operation.

Sorry, out of sorts today. Must be my allergies…

[Earniel]

Originally Posted by Alcuin

Nowadays many pediatricians recommend not giving honey to babies before they’re 12 months old. Not because the honey will hurt them, but because it’s a potential source of botulism. (And riding trains is a potential source of railroad accidents, so I’m hitchhiking to Maine from now on.) I think we gave honey to our children after 6 or 9 months, but I’m not sure.

Considering hayfever usually breaks out years later in life, I sort of question the wisdom of giving honey to young children against allergies. Luckily, I'm a little older than twelve months.

Oh don't get me started on food studies. Half of them has a poor methodology and half of them aren't even what the journalists make of them. (I has opinions about food studies and food safety but there lies the dangerous land of Ranting.)

As an aside, this rant: Science is an excellent tool, as long as it’s used properly.

Preach it, brother.

But it isn’t a source of Truth: it’s a means of testing hypotheses and building useful theorems about how things work. Preach it. As a source of Truth, it is vastly inferior to Religion and Philosophy.

Oh, no, nope. Nopedinopedinope. NOPE. Science can be a tool for truth in the areas where science is applicable and that it all it aspires to be.

DO NOT rely on religion and philosophy for truth, both may be seeking (sometimes, if they can be bothered) but found it yet they have not.

Organised religion would not recognise Truth if it bit them in the nose and took their car for a joyride. I know the kinds of 'truth' religion offers and somebody else always pays the price. So kindly keep them out of my science.

Religion, unfortunately, has been abused to take power over others; and now it appears Science is being abused for the same purpose.

Both are human inventions, so of course we have been abusing them since we invented them. We're human, after all. Brilliant and bloodthirsty.

Eärniel, I’ll try to let you know how long the honey takes. I may not be told, and find out after the fact, though. But it’s worked well for me: anywhere from a couple of weeks for me (a “booster shot”, as it were) to 4–6 weeks. Of course, by that time, most of the pollen will be out of the air…

Thanks. I think I will start my own experiment regardless. I happen to have been given a big jar full of local honey by my sister for which I had been digging up recipes but I think I will use it for this instead.

[The last sane person]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Oh, no, nope. Nopedinopedinope. NOPE. Science can be a tool for truth in the areas where science is applicable and that it all it aspires to be.

DO NOT rely on religion and philosophy for truth, both may be seeking (sometimes, if they can be bothered) but found it yet they have not.

Organised religion would not recognize Truth if it bit them in the nose and took their car for a joyride. I know the kinds of 'truth' religion offers and somebody else always pays the price. So kindly keep them out of my science.


Both are human inventions, so of course we have been abusing them since we invented them. We're human, after all. Brilliant and bloodthirsty.

No kidding! Words from my own mouth indeed!

[Valandil]

Exciting weekend for my oldest son. He's away from home from this past Wednesday until Monday evening - in New York City, with his high school Vocal Jazz choir, plus orchestra and band. He turned 18 yesterday. Tomorrow he and his classmates sing/perform at Carnegie Hall!!!

[Mari]

That's amazing! I hope he has lots of fun.

[Earniel]

Oooh, they grow up so quickly. Good on him. I remember that one photo with the little princelings.

Just today I met up with some friends I hadn't seen all year, their kids too have grown with leaps and bounds since the last time.

[Mari]

I'm posting from my new laptop. My old one was still doggedly going on, but it didn't have much fight left in it.

[The last sane person]

May it rest well in fields of RAM, with fans gently blowing!

[Rían]

Originally Posted by Eärniel

Science can be a tool for truth in the areas where science is applicable ...

True! It's a very valuable tool and it's given us many wonderful and helpful things. I hate when people say they use science in every part of their lives, though, when all they mean is that they think about things before they decide. They're just trying to appear smart, IMHO, when really they just look silly.

And on a totally non-scientific topic - we were on vacation for a week, and I found another piece of jewelry that was definitely made in Middle Earth! I'm trying to decide where it was made ... I'm leaning towards Greenwood ... it's a lovely little gold-colored bracelet with the wire worked in simple leaf figures. Don't you just love when you find things that you just know were made in Middle Earth?!