This right here is a potent pot of gold. By all accounts, and from all my experiences, I've come to see Kiva as a legitimate, quality natural health food company. When you decide to purchase Manuka Honey for your health, the last thing you want to do is play Bingo and pick the brand with the lowest price and somewhat decent reviews. You can do that for a pack of troll pens, for a set of ceramic pug mugs, or perhaps for a good dog brush designed to tease out the knots in the undercoat of your furry friend (lemme know if you find a good one). But when it comes to your health, Americans are notorious for taking shortcuts and not taking good preventative measures. I don't really blame anyone for often leaving their health for last. After all, maintaining great health and purchasing natural products CAN cost you more than average, such as buying... I dunno, Manuka Honey for example. But keep in mind, your health is a major investment, something that you CAN take shortcuts in every once in a while. But overall, choosing high stress over giving yourself some TLC and your mind AND body will pay the price for it.
I've often had sinusitis and rhinitis and all that good sinus infection stuff. I've always been prescribed antibiotics. My sworn enemy. Well, it wasn't until recently that I couldn't breathe through my nose well for almost a couple years. I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome and my body just totally broke down. I couldn't sleep without being able to breathe through my nose, so I saw an ENT. If you have chronic congestion and haven't seen one, you might want to. My ENT could look up my nose and see tons of swelling and a crooked deviated septum. I had CT Scans done and sure enough, my nose looked like pasta. I had little choice but to get surgery.
Afterwards, my breathing was far from perfect, but it had improved. A few months later, I started having nasty sinus infection symptoms, which I put off for a few weeks before seeing my ENT again. He stuck a swab super deep up in my nasal cavity (it was unpleasant but fast) and discovered that I had a sinus staph infection. I was given a week's worth of antibiotics which did nothing to help ease the junk I was constantly blowing out of my nose. It eventually became bloody as well. The ENT doc told me I should take another week's worth of antibiotics, but I had a very strong feeling against it. My regular Primary Care Physician had given me 2 rounds of antibiotics as well, months before my surgery. They had done nothing to help ease my congestion, because it was caused by the deviated septum and swelling. So I was about to take my 4th round of pointless antibiotics. I was talked into it, because there seemed to be no other choice- at least that's what the doctor made me believe. And as i expected, my 2nd round of antibiotics from him did nothing to ease my super gross congestion and bloody snot and sinus pressure. It was definitely the most severe sinus infection I've ever dealt with, by a far mile. It was Staph after all, and my grandfather died from it.
After the antibiotics failed to work i spoke to my ENT in the phone, exasperated. He told me to come in again but sounded completely clueless as to what my next step should be. I didn't trust him anymore. I quit seeing almost all of my doctors and decided to cure my infection and fight all my ailments on my own, with no outside help. And for the first time in my life, I began to heal. I made myself a "Sinus Sniffer" with Dead Sea Salt, Pink Himalayan Salt, and a large array of potent essential oils. It ended up curing 3 people of their chronic congestion.
I discovered Manuka Honey on Amazon and realized that the more I read, the more valuable info I learned about this potent natural antibiotic. I learned about the UMF importance, that Unique Manuka Factor is the industry regulated and highest standard for the factors that make up the potency of manuka honey.
I also learned how other companies are desperate to fool people with their lack of explanation about the difference in the labeling. There were companies where customers complained about getting a completely different bottle of honey than was described and pictured. There were complaints of people feeling deceived and cheated after realizing that their honey was not rated UMF. There was a lot of confusion, just like when purchasing essential oils. That's hellish to go through sometimes. These companies go through a lot to be deceiving in the most honest looking way possible, but many just fail at it.
So know what you're buying to the best of your ability. And check out the company and its reputation on Amazon as a seller and elsewhere if necessary. If a company has a bad track record and weird products without any reviews or with all mediocre reviews, hesitate! A really good company like Kiva won't have all sorts of mysteries. The best companies are honest and transparent about their products and their practices. I admit, the price of the UMF 20+ Manuka honey from these guys and most other companies frightened me a little at first. But I knew that this was not the time to be half-assed about my recovery and infection treatment. This was my time to shine, my first attempt in healing my own medicine-resistant condition. I began this journey with a realistic and hopeful mind. Western medicine has always failed me,
So my first jar of Manuka honey was surprisingly delicious. I've never really eaten honey like this in my life; I might've used it here and there on toast with butter or in some tea, but it was pretty rare. Some people spoke of eating the Manuka honey straight from the jar, and although I did often lick the spoon clean (hey that's like $2 worth!), the taste of the honey was a little too strong for my preferences to eat alone. However, it tasted incredibly rich, sweet and full of creamy, sticky flavor when spread on toast, croissants and bagels. I ate the honey every single day for breakfast and also added some to my hot tea a few times a week. I preferred not to use up too much honey in the hot liquid; I read that the heat of the hot tea can lessen the potency of manuka. But then again, I also read that Manuka honey is very resistant to hot temperatures.. regardless, eating it straight was always my ingestion method of choice.
Super sticky honey easily clung to the sides of the plastic jar where the lid screws on, making it difficult to get the lid screwed on correctly. In fact, the lid was almost always sitting crookedly atop the bottle, ready to be easily pulled off. And that was from very average use; I wasn't particularly sloppy with my handling if the honey. After a couple weeks, I did feel an improvement in my overall health, and I noticed that I had a little less bloody gunk to blow in my tissues upon tissues. I used up tons of boxes regardless. But I knew in my heart that it was helping. However, the jar is really not that big at 8 oz. or so. There isn't that much honey inside if you plan to eat a bit each day. I felt anxious about it coming to an end. And then in the end, it still came to an end. Yet my staph infection was still alive and well...
I thought about it and considered my options. I felt that my trust in this honey was justified, but I wasnt sure if the cost for the UMF 20+ was. I decided that I could not stop my treatment here, and I was confident that switching to a cheaper brand would be a mistake. I needed that first jar to not have been purchased, and used dutifully, in vain. I took a slight gamble and purchased the Manuka Honey with UMF 15+. I knew it still had good medicinal qualities, and I was certain that it would still be potent.
Thankfully, I was correct in my assumptions. The design of the label had changed with this new jar, because all the labels had been modified. It sort of reminds me of... art deco perhaps? Have you guys seen American Horror Story: Hotel? This black and white jar looks like it could be a part of the architecture in there. So it was a good move by the company, although it wasn't a major change. Throughout these months, I was using my Afrin Severe Congestiom almost every single 12 hours. I felt disgusting doing it, knowing I was sniffing up chemicals daily, but I had no better choice. I tried other nasal sprays and other more natural techniques, but my condition was too far gone... Afrin is NOT supposed to be used for more than 5 days. It also can worsen your nasal congestion after sropping its use. I kept right on sniffing for the instant but incredible relief.
By the way, during my decision-making after the first jar, I contacted the company in 2 or 3 seperate ways, seeking some advice and ultimately seeking comfort and pursuasion into purchasing the second jar. However, my requests went completely ignored on their sites as well as through Amazon. If I hadn't loved the honey so much, I would've been done with them for blatantly ignoring the chance to build a lifetime customer. I really value good customer service, and I didn't get it here. Rarely do i give 5 stars after that kind of experience.
Kiva's UMF 15+ Manuka Honey arrived to my eager anticipation. I tasted it right away and my eyebrows popped up in pleasant surprise. Wow! This honey tasted even better than the first jar of UMF 20+. It wasn't surprising, but the obvious but slight difference was unexpected. This jar contained the same sirrupy golden honey, but it tasted milder, and therefore much better to me. I loved it. The sweetness was perfection, and the richness and depth of taste was balanced well. This honey was less potent, meaning it was a little easier to simply lick it off the spoon. I ate the Manuka honey every day like a devout Manukanian and did my duty.
I began to notice more and more improvement in my snotty condition. And please, let me remind you, this was a severe staph infection in my nose. It was SO far from pretty that if I were the last woman on the planet you might not... well.. anyway.. I was going through less tissue boxes, and was beginning to feel better overall. But as the dreaded bottom if the jar came to the top, I felt a sense of anxiety. I wasn't fully better and it was time to decide once again. I put it off for a few days, knowing I really couldnt afford another jar right now. Suddenly I realized with a jolt that I hadn't used my Afrin nasal inhaler in several days. Days!
Thank the Manukan Gods! Finally after 5 whole months in total of suffering from a chronic sinus staph infection, I had beat it using nature's honey. Ha! Take that, you snotty little beast!
Before I'd even realized it, the infection was gone. The 2 jars of manuka Honey had cured me, and it was pretty miraculous to me. After the second jar was empty, my condition just literally evaporated. I'm impressed.
Manuka Honey
