raw honey - hurt stomach?

[thinkingmom]

I am trying to figure out what is causing my stomach aches.

My friend gave me some raw honey from her brother's hive. I've had raw honey before with no problem. But when I ate the honey (with tea) that she gave me, my throat felt heavy and sick and I thought I might throw up and my stomach hurt for a while. The next time I had the honey (with breakfast) I had a stomach ache afterwards, but not as bad as before. It took me a third time to realize it was the honey that was giving me problems. So I quit consuming the honey and the pain went away. However, since then, I keep getting stomach pains from time to time after I eat. I wonder if it is related to the honey, like did it mess my stomach up some how? Or if it is unrelated, but has to do with breastfeeding? What happens now is basically that I eat something, doesn't appear to matter what, and sometimes I get a stomach ache. For example, we ate meatballs two days in a row, first day didn't hurt, second day it did. Once was after I ate yogurt then my stomach hurt, another time it was pancakes, etc...
So at first I thought it was honey related, then I thought it was food related,
and it must kind of have to do with food since it only happens after eating
sometimes, but now I am wondering if it could have to do with breastfeeding
becasue I do seem to always breastfeed after most meals, and I know for sure I have breastfed after the meals when my stomach hurt, but I also know for sure my stomach doesn't hurt after everytime I breastfeed after eating. So I am confused!

Can honey mess up your stomach?
Can breastfeeding hormones hurt your stomach?

Also to describe it, it does seem to be in the stomach where it hurts, not in
my intestines and not my uterus. It isn't like period cramps, it feels like my
stomach cramps up and it is a pain, not a sharp pain and I can walk around and everything, but I don't feel like moving around much. It also doesn't have any nausea involved.

So if anyone has any thoughts, I am trying to figure this out! Thanks!
Melissa
mom to Max (10.5 months)

[nikkidual]

I have had EXACTLY the same experience. I was drinking local honey in tea every night for my allergies. It helped a lot! However, months later I seem to have developed a stomach issue. I realize that it is in some way related to the honey because now when I drink honey with tea my stomach aches something terrible. Also, I tried a scoop of local bee pollen in my cereal and it had me on the couch in agony for hours. If you have figured out how to cure this, I would love to hear because now when I eat anythign my stomach hurts. Not all the time, but frequently enough that I am afraid every time that I eat anything.

[kmamma]

I've eaten honey for a long time, and for the majority of the time, I've never had a problem. Then I moved back home to Sweden and found an organic honey in the store which I used with yogurt. The first few times I used it, I developed an itchy throat and so stopped using it. Instead I used raw sugar with my yogurt for the following year. The I tried to go back to using honey again cause I developed some dental issues. I bought the same honey again, and this time I had no itchy throat but developed a severe stomach pain. Like the other poster said, I was doubled over in cramps. 

I noticed also that I didn't like the smell of the honey. A couple months later I bought a different organic honey for my kid and I remember smelling it by accident and thinking I might be ok with this one. Sure enough, I've been using it for over a year now with no ill effects. It's an acacia honey and much milder. 

Some people are allergic to fructose, which honey has a lot of. You say you're having stomach cramps after eating other foods now too--is it possibly after eating foods with lots of fructose in them? Or, like you said, it might be that your allergic response to the honey has triggered a more sensitive stomach. You might want to go on a healing diet, maybe GAPS or something. I don't think you need to follow it to a tee, but just make sure you eat only easily digested foods for a while, leaving out for example, meats that are not cooked very long (like meatballs) as well as flour products. Eat lots of soups and stews with bone broth. Cultured dairy if you'r fine with it.