Check Out This Medical Grade Manuka Honey for Wound Care

When it comes to wound care, I've always kept it simple. Living in Canada, Polysporin has been my go-to for as long as I can remember—it's the first thing I reach for when there's a cut, scrape, or any other wound that needs healing. 

However, I recently discovered something worth considering for wound care: ActiVon Medical Grade Manuka Honey.

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I Used to Use Regular Honey… Until I Learned Why I Shouldn't!

A few years ago, I used to apply regular organic honey to minor wounds, thinking it was a natural and soothing solution. And truthfully, I never had any bad reactions to it. But earlier this year, I happened to do some reading—and wow, I had no idea that using non-medical honey on open wounds wasn't actually recommended.

Apparently, regular honey (even organic) can contain bacteria or spores that haven't been filtered out, which makes it unsafe for wound use. 

That discovery led me down a research rabbit hole, and it was there that I first came across medical-grade honey, specifically Manuka Honey from New Zealand.

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Discovering ActiVon

That research led me to a product called ActiVon Medical Grade Manuka Honey, and I decided to give it a try. 

Right away, I could tell this wasn't anything like using regular honey. ActiVon is sterilized, filtered, and formulated specifically for wound care. It's a 100% medical-grade Manuka honey gel—nothing added, no preservatives—and it's safe to apply directly to open skin.

It's designed to create a moist healing environment, which is actually better for wound recovery. The gel has a thick but smooth consistency, making it easy to apply, and it stays in place nicely.

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How I Personally Use It

This year, I had a wound that was healing well, but I still wanted to support the healing process and make sure everything stayed clean and healthy. I used a small amount of ActiVon directly on the area, and in my typical Canadian style, I paired it with a dab of Polysporin—that's just my habit.

Let me be clear: I'm not a doctor, and I don't recommend mixing products like that. I'm sharing what I personally did, and it worked well for me.

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What Makes ActiVon Stand Out

Here's what impressed me most about using ActiVon:

• It keeps the wound moist, which helps promote faster healing and reduces the likelihood of scarring.

• It creates an osmotic effect, which gently pulls out harmful tissue and debris from the wound bed.

• It reduces the risk of infection while eliminating odors—without masking anything artificially.

• It felt gentle, and even though I was nervous to apply honey to a healing wound, it felt soothing. It's a bit sticky, of course, but that's to be expected.

• It's 100% natural, and the fact that it doesn't absorb into the bloodstream makes it a safe option.

• It contains no added preservatives, only pure, medical-grade Manuka honey that has been filtered and sterilized.

• The packaging makes it easy to use, and I love that the tube size is perfect—not too big, not too small.

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A New Favorite in My First Aid Kit

This has now become a product I keep on hand. I've even purchased a second tube—just to have in case I need it again. It gave me peace of mind knowing I was using something natural yet medically designed for healing.

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Would I Recommend It?

Absolutely—but with the usual disclaimer: talk to your doctor first. 

I'm someone who tends to dive in and try things on my own (sometimes before asking anyone!), but not everyone should do that. 

If you're considering trying ActiVon for wound care, it's best to get professional guidance, especially if you're dealing with chronic or serious wounds.

That said, if your doctor gives you the green light, ActiVon Medical Grade Manuka Honey is 100% worth exploring.

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Disclaimer:
I'm not a medical professional. I'm sharing my personal experience using ActiVon. Always consult your healthcare provider before using any new product on wounds, especially if you have existing health conditions, Bee allergies, other allergies, or are treating serious injuries.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Play-Doh Classic Clinic Medical Doctor or Operation-Themed Playset Review

Here’s another wonderful Play-Doh set. This one reminds me of the traditional battery-operated game, Operation, and will appeal to little nurse and doctor wannabes and big folk who are or were in the medical profession. What follows is a brief review of this retired and hard-to-find set, which is perfect for medically-themed creative play. Bonus? It was deliberately made to have a retro feeling.

Your children will be able to create all kinds of strange illnesses using the doctor-themed tools that include a stethoscope, doctor’s mirror, clamp, syringe, scissors, slicers and tweezers all with which to cut, stitch and fix the patient. Yes, it comes with a patient, too and two cans of modeling compound and a mold for creating body parts and creatures.

Play-Doh used imagination when they advertised this one. “Screws loose in the head? Frog in the throat?” You can make anything happen with this fun medical set. Released in 2019, it is considered appropriate for children aged 3 and up.

As with all Play-doh sets, this one is good for young children to develop fine motor skills and engage their imaginations. It would also be a great gift, a sort of stress releaser I expect, for anyone working in the medical industry.

This set was an exclusive Toys R Us release and now that it is retired, is somewhat hard to find. You can look for Play-Doh's Classic Clinic set here on eBay. However, if you want to check out all of the medically-themed playsets including both doctor and dentist ones, try here.

See you at
the toy store!
Brenda
Treasures By Brenda

MORE PLAY-DOH

Retired, new, used and vintage Play-Doh sets in my eBay store.
Play-Doh's Campfire Picnic Playset.
The World of Play-Doh.
Rex the Chomper Dinosaur Play-Doh set.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Every Note Played Book Review

Every Note Played: A Novel by Lisa Genova

Welcome to the world of the classical pianist or rather, to the world of a famous classical pianist who has ALS.

Stay with him as the disease progresses through his body and takes away not just his ability to play the piano. Watch as it quickly robs him of all of his body functions starting with the use of his arms and legs and going on to eventually claim his ability to talk, to eat and even to breathe.

I am sure that introduction will NOT make you want you to read Every Note Played by Lisa Genova but please do not let it put you off. As the cover says, this books contains “searing writing and it is a must read.”

Genova is a neuroscientist who writes books about people living with neurological diseases. She wrote Still Alice, which was about the life of a women with early-onset Alzheimer’s.

As a matter of fact, Every Note Played relates directly to Still Alice. The man who directed the movie Still Alice was diagnosed with ALS shortly before he read the story and he directed the movie while suffering the symptoms. He did so without a voice and using one finger on an iPad.

We have all heard of ALS, of the Ice Bucket Challenge and know that Stephen Hawking had it. However, many of us do not know much about the disease nor do we really understand what it is like to live with it. Every Note Played will change that fact.

Genova reads the medical books, interviews the experts and gets to know the patients so that we do not have to. Using that thorough research into all aspects of the disease, she brings us information about the disease in the form of a fictional story.

In Every Note Played, there are some truly exceptional and caring people but there is also one totally selfish individual. He just happens to be one of two main characters and the one who has ALS. Imagine being a caregiver for someone who never thought of anyone except himself before he became sick. Doesn't sound great, does it? It certainly makes an interesting story and, of course, not only nice people get ALS. Even unpleasant people need the support of family, friends and the health care system when they are stricken with any disease.

I do recommend this book though, of course, the subject matter is not pretty. It is honest and it is truly a look into living with ALS. It is a medical drama that you will want to end sooner than it does but it manages to be a page turner despite the subject matter. It is a horrible disease but this book, while educational in terms of the disease, is also a well-crafted story about family relations, love and forgiveness. My heart goes out to those stricken with ALS and my wonder, amazement and gratitude goes out to the people who act as caregivers. If you want to learn more, read Every Note Played, which you can find on Amazon right here.

See you
At the book store!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy your copy of Every Note Played on Amazon.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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Michael Crichton's TRAVELS, A Book Review (1988)

I have just returned from a trip around the world. A few of the more exotic countries that I visited were Thailand, Maylaysia, Bonaire, Ireland, England, Tanzania, Jamaica, New Guinea and Pakistan. On these travels, I climbed mountains, swam in the seas and slept with fleas. I mingled with elephants, felt the breath of gorillas on my face and swam among the sharks. I travelled off the beaten path and in some very rough conditions.

This trip was another armchair travels trip that I took via Michael Crichton's nonfiction book, Travels. It was a book club book that I recommended to the group. Fortunately, most of the group enjoyed the book more than I did.

I did enjoy parts of the book though I expected something different than I received from within the pages of the covers. It turned out that the title Travels was a little more general than I took it to be. It was meant to encompass Crichton's life adventures, which included literal travel but also spiritual adventures and medical training.

eNotes.com called Travels a "patchwork of pieces salvaged from a writer’s bottom drawer" and that is certainly how I felt about the book and why I was not keen on it. It does a good job of sharing Crichton's experiences individually but I would have appreciated it more if it had flowed as a single story rather than a series of short stories. In terms of writings, I suppose one might consider it a journal or diary of sorts.

On Crichton's website, it says that the book started as a series of travel pieces though he never intended to write about his travels thinking of them as just "something he did for himself that wasn’t work-related and wasn’t supposed to amount to anything." I understand how an author would not always want to chronicle everything in his life. Anyway, when Crichton discovered that some of his most important experiences happened on his trips this book was born and, when the book became autobiographical, he added the medical stories.

I am sure you have heard of Michael Crichton. He was a very successful novelist, screenwriter and film director. It is interesting that he wrote and sold books while he was studying to become a medical doctor though perhaps odd that he made it through the entire training program before he decided he did not actually want to be a doctor. In his 66 years, he wrote eleven books and more than 200 million copies of them have been sold in the science fiction, thriller and medical genres. In 1994, he had an unbelievable trifecta that included a number one movie, a book and a television show. Namely, Jurassic Park, Disclosure and ER. I am sure you will have heard of a couple of those, too.

Do I recommend Travels?

I guess so, reservedly. I would not recommend this book to someone looking for a page turner or an engaging novel. This book is as I have said before, a group of stories.

If you like to travel, you might enjoy the unusual destinations in this book whether or not you would choose them yourself. If you do not travel, you might enjoy visiting these places via the pages of a book.

Whether or not you believe in psychic phenomenons like aura reading, spoon bending, out-of-body trips and exorcism, you might enjoy learning about them and the various experiences Crichton had in the metaphysical world.

If you are interested in the human body or in being a medical doctor, you might appreciate the first chapters more than I did. If you red the book, you will discover how medical students are assigned cadavers and what follows.

But do not let my lukewarm recommendation be the deciding factor about whether or not you read this book for I have read many reviews by people who really enjoyed it and the majority of my book club members found Crichton's adventures interesting.

Reviewer Patricia Bosworth said in a 1988 New York Times book review, "I was ultimately swept away (by this book), not just by Crichton's richly informed mind, but his driving curiosity. Satisfying your curiosity takes guts."

Shangri-La anyone? The Shangri-La Michael Crichton visited is not the one you might have in your mind's eye. I thought of Shangri-La as an earthly paradise of sorts. Apparently the version I was picturing comes from a 1933 book called Lost Horizon. The real Shangri-La, as experienced in Travels, is quite different from that pleasant image in my mind and a good example of the unusual destinations in this book.

You can learn more about Michael Crichton's Travels on Amazon by clicking right here. If you do read the book, be sure to come back and let us know what you think of it. You might also let us know what your perception of Shangri-La was before you read this post.

See you
at the book store!
Brenda

Quick Links:

Buy Travels from amazon.
More armchair travel book reviews.
Travel with these movies.

Note: The author may receive a commission from purchases made using links found in this article. “As an Amazon Associate, Ebay (EPN), Esty (Awin), and/or Zazzle Affiliate, I (we) earn from qualifying purchases.”

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