Healing Oils and Other Alternative Medicines

Since writing a blog post a few years ago about Herbal Alternatives and more, like probiotics, D3, and how we cured our sinus infections with oils,  I have found and used more alternative medicines that have really helped our family in addition to what we were already doing.
I tried for a long time to resist getting on the oily bandwagon. Not because I didn't think essential oils work. I know from experience they do. It was just that I had been telling everyone about these 3 oils I steam in a Vaporizer and sniff up my nose for years and everyone looked at me like I was doing voodoo, but I hadn't had a sinus infection in 5 years and my mom's nasal polyps did not come back and she avoided a 3rd sinus surgery thanks to sniffing these oils. I also started making my own house hold cleaners using vinegar and oils about 10 years ago. But now all of a sudden everyone is drinking the oily Koolaide and getting crunchy. It has suddenly become the hip, new, stay-at-home-mom thing to use essential oils. I went to oil party after oil party and nodded my head in agreement that all these oils would keep me healthy. I truly believed it, but I did not want to appear as though I was doing it because everyone else was doing it. Finally after going my friend, Cecilie's, second oil party I bought the Young Living Essential Oils Starter Kit. Max went with me to her 2nd party and he was sold when they told him I could make his deodorant with oils. :) And I was sold after learning about so many other oils I had no idea even existed. Plus the main oil, Theives, is a blend of the 3 oils I was already using, Cinnamon, Thyme, and Clove plus 2 more. I felt like that was good sign they knew what they were talking about. :)

So first of all here what my mother and I have been using for 5 years now to prevent and or cure sinus infections.

Then I bought the Young Living Starter Kit with their 10 main oils and a diffuser and now I'm buying oils once a month on their Essential Rewards Plan. But I love it! And love the difference it's made for our family. First of all anytime Max and the kids have a stomach ache they immediate put 1 drop of peppermint on their tongue because they know first hand that it works and works quickly.

Then when the baby was congested I diffused Purification because it has myrtle in it and myrtle is supposed to be good for babies. I also diffused Peppermint and RC and diluted it with coconut oil and rubbed it on his chest, spine, and feet to help him breath. I also put a few drops of Frankincense on his chest to help him breath as well. I like to diffuse RC next to my bed to help me breath when I'm stuffy at night.

Later when Max was coughing, kind of dry cough, due to allergies, I read that Lemon and Peppermint can help with a cough. Diffusing these 2 together beside his bed, blowing in his face, stopped his cough quickly so he could sleep through the night....and so could I!  He also got a sore throat, but I made him drink this mixture and it went away in 2 days:

1 Tbs. Apple Cider Vinegar

2 Drops Thieves oil

1 Drop Lemon oil

with hot tea and lots of honey

I put 1 drop of Lemon oil in my water each morning because in addition to boosting immunity I heard it can boost metabolism and help loose weight. 

Then when Max got what we think was the flu he got a wet cough. I read that Thyme is a good expectorant which means it helps loosen congestion in the lungs by reducing the thickness of mucus, making coughing more productive and clearing the lungs. So I diffused Lemon, Peppermint and Thyme by his side of the bed and it worked quickly. Again we weren't totally sure if he had the flu or not, but we treated it as such. It has to be pretty bad for him to stay home from work and he came home at 2:00 in the afternoon then stayed in bed all day the next day with a fever right at 100, but 102 the first night. He had been kind of a sceptic of the oils, so I thought it funny when he requested his diffuser and oils on his feet and chest. However, he was hesitant to ingest any oils. But when he started feeling worse around 8:00 that night, like he was relapsing, he finally agreed to let me make him a flu bomb and after he took it his fever and aches were gone in an hour and a half! He was so shocked he took his temp again with a different thermometer and came and showed it to me. He was up shaving at 10:30 at night. :)

While Max had the flu I made him take 10,000 IU of D3, Elderberry Syrup at breakfast and dinner, Zinc, and Oscillococcinum which is like a homeopathic Tamiflu. I would say that all this combined worked because we he tells people he was sick for a day and a half they say he didn't have the flu because the flu lasts much longer than that.

During this time the kids and I were taking shots of Elderry Syrup every night and our house smelled like pizza. No one else got sick so it must have worked. 

Plus the kids and I did not get the flu shot for the first time this year, but Max did. I'm glad we didn't too because the news has been reporting that the flu shot didn't cover all strands of the flu this year so then you get the yucky stuff in the flu vaccine plus the flu. :( We used Influenzinum instead. It's basically a homeopathic version of the flu shot. The kids loved the way it tasted and helped remind me when it was time to give it each week.  I'm going to say it worked and is working. 

Here are some more ways we have used oils. Kellyn, like many of her friends, got Molluscom Contagious. It's basically a skin virus that appears in little bumps all over the body. They look like a little skin tags or warts, but since so many of my friends kids had had it I was on the look out for it and caught it early. It's kind of like lice. A common thing in childhood. No one tells you their kid has it and it isn't dangerous just annoying and embarrassing. Which by the way I blogged about our lice experience and how to prevent it with peppermint oil if you want to check it out. Anyways, Molluscom can take up to 3 years to go away on it's own. I began treating it with Lemon oil and the little bumps became tiny bumps and eventually shrink away. Every now and then some tiny ones will still pop up, but I just treat them with Lemon oil right away and they disappear. 

Another issue we have solved using oils is bedtime. Kellyn likes to stay up late reading or playing with her dolls in bed. She says her brain isn't tired and I believe her. Max is the same way. Rhett and I like to go to sleep, they do not. So I started diffusing Peace & Calming, Cedarwood and Lavender in their room and she is asleep by 9:30! This good for her. All my kids stay asleep just fine and the boys go sleep just fine, but Kellyn struggles to go to sleep. Once she is asleep we don't hear from her at all, but it's been a struggle in the mornings waking her up or school because she would sneak staying up late to read. I diffuse this for Max too. :)

I recently made this mixture for me to use after bootcamp. I use coconut oil with 12 drops of each, Valor, Pan Away, and Peppermint in a small jar. Just like icy hot. I call it my sore muscle rub.

So there you have it, my journey with oils and other homeopathic remedies.