Recently I discovered Essential Oils and have been learning about them and trying them in my home. I've had some pretty exciting success stories so far and my husband suggested I keep a record of my experiences. I thought this would be a great way to document my efforts, our successes, and things that didn't seem to work so well. Newest entries will be first. Scroll to the bottom to read my background with essential oils. Click here to learn more about doTERRA.
May 31, 2011
Because of the bees erratic behavior the last few weeks, my husband decided to do a very thorough inspection. I pulled out my lawn chair and observed about 12 feet away as he pulled each frame out and inspected it. Towards the end I went inside to get dinner started. When my husband finished, I came out of the house to make sure he was bee-free before we took off his protective gear. There was a bee hiding in a fold of his clothing, so I whisked it away. Next thing I knew there was a bee flying around my head and then I felt a sharp sting on the back of my neck. The bee was stuck in my hair. While my husband was getting the bee out of my hair, I could feel the intensity gradually increasing. My husband got the stinger out and then I went straight inside and grabbed my Purify essential oil blend. I put a drop directly on my bee sting. I immediately felt some relief. I kept applying one drop about every 5 minutes. The welt never got any bigger and there has been no swelling. 15 minutes after the sting there was no more pain. I am so thankful that I had the essential oils on hand. I have never had such a pleasant bee-sting experience.Other essential oils that are good for bee stings are Roman Chamomile and Basil.
May 15, 2011
Yesterday she was playing outside with her cousins at her grandma's house. An older cousin brought her in because she had a bloody nose. I took her into the bathroom to get her cleaned up and found that this time it was pretty severe. There was a lot of blood and it wasn't slowing down. I tried pinching it gently, then more firmly. I got a cotton ball wet and put it inside her top lip and held it there with pressure. After trying for nearly 5 minutes to get it under control and not seeing any improvement I started to get a bit nervous. As I stared at the garbage full of used tissues and I started exploring my options. I immediately wished I had Helichrysum Essential oil, as I have had experience with it getting bleeding under control. But all I had was my little key chain holder that I keep in my purse with a few oils in it. I did have Deep Blue which is a soothing blend for aches and pain. I knew it had Helichrysum in it, so I grabbed my little bottle of Deep Blue and put a drop on the back of her little neck and rubbed it in. It also has Wintergreen and Peppermint in it, and my little daughter didn't like the way it felt. So I left her for a second to grab some fractionated coconut oil from the next room to help dilute the oils and reduce the sensation.
I put a drop of coconut oil on the back of her neck and rubbed it in. Then I took the tissue away to check her nose. It had all but stopped bleeding. We took the next minute to clean up the mess we had made in my mother's bathroom, wash my daughter's hands and dress and she was good to go.
I'm so thankful I had my Essential Oils on hand. I'm so thankful that they have so many uses. I'm so thankful that I was empowered to care for my daughter in her time of need so I didn't have to feel fearful or helpless as a mother. Thank you, Deep Blue!
April 1, 2011
March 19, 2011
My husband and I took a very rare weekend away from our children and left them with their grandparents for one night. We had a wonderful and relaxing time away.
When we came back, our children were all happy to see us, but our 2 (almost 3)-year old had fallen asleep. When my husband went down to get her she woke up MAD. She cried and cried. I took her from him hoping the mother's touch would be the magic touch. Not this time. She yelled at me "Mom, I wanted you! You left me!" She wasn't calming down, so we put her and the rest of the kids in the car to head for home. She cried the entire way home. I brought her in the house to hold her on the couch and nothing seemed to make a difference to her. This is very out of character for my sweet, cheerful, loving little girl. I wondered if she was feeling abandoned when we left her for the night. After almost an hour of angry screaming, I decided to try distraction.
She was complaining of a tummy ache, so I took her into my bathroom to find some essential oils for her tummy. Every suggestion seemed to add fuel to the fire. On our way out of town, I had picked up a few new oils and asked her if she wanted to smell the new oils. "No Oils!" she screamed. I opened them anyway, one by one, smelled them, and then offered to let her smell them. Each time she would turn her head away and say "no oils!" Then I opened the Geranium. I smelled it, and offered it to her. She smelled it, then took a deep second whiff. She said with a smile "Mom, this is mine oil. I need this oil." Entertained by that, I put the lid back on and kept trying tummy trouble oils, in which she rejected each one and began to get all worked up again saying she needed the "pink oil".
I looked up Geranium oil to see if it could help her tummy. It said it helps with Emotional Balance, Skin and Hair, and can be applied Neat (or without dillution) even to children. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I laid her on my bed, she lifted her shirt to bear her tummy. I applied one drop to her tummy, along with one drop of a massage oil. I rubbed it all over her abdomen slowly in a clockwise motion for about 30 seconds. She held very still. When I finished I asked her "how does that feel?" She took a deep breath, let it out, smiled and said "all better".
I couldn't believe the immediate shift in her mood! After that she allowed me to read her a story and put her to bed with no further complaints. I have heard that essential oils can bring emotional healing, but I have only used them for physical ailments like cold sores, tummy-aches, insomnia, and their immune boosting ability.
Thank you, Geranium oil, for giving me the ability to calm and comfort my baby in a time of great distress for the both of us.
When we came back, our children were all happy to see us, but our 2 (almost 3)-year old had fallen asleep. When my husband went down to get her she woke up MAD. She cried and cried. I took her from him hoping the mother's touch would be the magic touch. Not this time. She yelled at me "Mom, I wanted you! You left me!" She wasn't calming down, so we put her and the rest of the kids in the car to head for home. She cried the entire way home. I brought her in the house to hold her on the couch and nothing seemed to make a difference to her. This is very out of character for my sweet, cheerful, loving little girl. I wondered if she was feeling abandoned when we left her for the night. After almost an hour of angry screaming, I decided to try distraction.
She was complaining of a tummy ache, so I took her into my bathroom to find some essential oils for her tummy. Every suggestion seemed to add fuel to the fire. On our way out of town, I had picked up a few new oils and asked her if she wanted to smell the new oils. "No Oils!" she screamed. I opened them anyway, one by one, smelled them, and then offered to let her smell them. Each time she would turn her head away and say "no oils!" Then I opened the Geranium. I smelled it, and offered it to her. She smelled it, then took a deep second whiff. She said with a smile "Mom, this is mine oil. I need this oil." Entertained by that, I put the lid back on and kept trying tummy trouble oils, in which she rejected each one and began to get all worked up again saying she needed the "pink oil".
I looked up Geranium oil to see if it could help her tummy. It said it helps with Emotional Balance, Skin and Hair, and can be applied Neat (or without dillution) even to children. I figured it couldn't hurt, so I laid her on my bed, she lifted her shirt to bear her tummy. I applied one drop to her tummy, along with one drop of a massage oil. I rubbed it all over her abdomen slowly in a clockwise motion for about 30 seconds. She held very still. When I finished I asked her "how does that feel?" She took a deep breath, let it out, smiled and said "all better".
I couldn't believe the immediate shift in her mood! After that she allowed me to read her a story and put her to bed with no further complaints. I have heard that essential oils can bring emotional healing, but I have only used them for physical ailments like cold sores, tummy-aches, insomnia, and their immune boosting ability.
Thank you, Geranium oil, for giving me the ability to calm and comfort my baby in a time of great distress for the both of us.
March 13, 2011
I had a neighbor friend call me today to ask if she could try some Lavender oil for her 4 month old, teething grandbaby. They were together for a family dinner and the baby had been crying and fussy and chewing on her fists. She came to get the Lavender oil and I instructed her to put just a little on the bottom of each foot and rub it in. About 15 minutes later, I get a call from the same friend. She wanted me to listen to the silence they were experiencing. That baby was calm and happy and no more fists in her mouth. My friend said they were all amazed. I was so glad she called to let me experience the wonder of the moment with her.
March 2, 2011
I had a friend call last week while I was on my way to Orem to pick up my doTERRA order, wondering if I had anything for her brand new granchild, who has colic. The doctor had prescribed Prevacid for that baby, who was less than 2 weeks old. Feeling uneasy about giving such a tiny infant such a strong medication, she called me to see if I had anything more natural that might help her daughter and her newborn. I haven't dealt with colic before, so I looked it up in my Modern Essentials book. It recommended Marjoram, Bergamot, and Ylang Ylang. Honestly, I don't have any of those oils yet and wasn't sure what might work best. If it were me, I'd choose Bergamot, because it comes from the Citrus family. I'm not sure I'd want my baby to smell like Marjoram all the time.
When I arrived at the corporate office, I asked the 2 receptionists if either of them had had any experience with colic. One of them said her sister used Bergamot for her baby with success. So I got my friend a bottle of Bergamot. I took it to her, with dilution instructions and a little pump bottle I had purchased from Abundant Health.
Tonight she stopped me at a church function to tell me some wonderful news. She said her daughter called the day after she tried the oil. She said it helped the baby right away and that the baby slept for hours after the first application. The mother said she is sure it had to be the Bergamot. It was the only thing she did that was different. I started to get a bit teary as I expressed my happiness for that mother who had found a solution. I am a young mother and know how heartbreaking it can be to not be able to comfort your child. I also know how hard it is to heal after childbirth when your baby isn't sleeping very well. I am so happy to be able to offer a natural solution for families!
February 5, 2011
Here's a bedwetting-update: It's been over 4 weeks now. We haven't had to wash our sheets even once due to an overnight accident. I asked the child how it's going and they reported that sometimes they have a little accident, but hasn't been big enough to soil the sheets. I can handle that.
My husband asked me what do do for a cold sore again? I had one threaten to emerge a few weeks ago, too. I told him to keep Melaleuca oil on it. Last night he reported that he didn't think he was going to actually get a cold sore this time. He said there is a bump there, but it doesn't hurt and it's not getting bigger this time. That works better than ANYTHING I've tried before....including Abreva.
I sprained my ankle pretty severely last week at a volleyball game. The game was at 9pm and so Rick came to pick me up, we applied Deep Blue for the pain, andLemongrass essential oil to help with inflammation and ligament repair and then I went to bed. I wasn't able to put any weight on it that night or in the morning. My husband had to go to work, so instead of going to the doctor, I called upon Google. I diagnosed myself with having a 2nd degree sprain which entails some tearing of the ligaments. Treatment and Recovery entailed staying off of the foot for 1 week, and then 6 weeks of therapy/recovery. That seemed impossible, as I have little children at home. I obtained some crutches so I wouldn't be a total invalid and continued to apply Deep Blue and Lemongrass about 4-5 times a day and kept the ankle wrapped in an Ace bandage. I was able to bear weight on the ankle after 3 days, walked without crutches on day 4 and on day 7 I went to the mall to shop with my sister with a non-perceptible limp. Today is day 10. I am only applying Lemongrass morning and night now. It is still wrapped and I can walk without limping and barely any pain. I still have a ways to go before I'm ready for volleyball again, but I'll take a 10 day recovery over a 6 week recovery anytime. Thanks Lemongrass!
January 17, 2011
To protect the self-image of the child, we won't name names....but we have struggled withbed-wetting in our home for years. We've tried waitng for it to go away with maturity, we've tried medication, we took said child to Primary Children's hospital for some ultrasounds and exploratory procedures to see if there was a physical issue. Nothing. We tried ignoring it, we tried consequences, we tried having child do their own laundry when a mess was made, we've tried limiting liquids. Nothing has seemed to make any difference. We deal with this 5-6 times a week, and it has become a great source of stress for me, and has stressed our relationship as well.
I made up a pump bottle with about 20 drops of cypress essential oil to a Tablespoon of a carrier oil. We take one squirt from the pump and rub it on the child's abdomen over the bladder right before bedtime. We have been doing this for 2 weeks and have had 100% succes rate with this practice! I'm not sure if you can quite understand how much this means to us. I will continue to keep a record of how this works for us, but I have been very impressed with our results so far. Thank you, cypress.
January 12, 2011
This post isn't about the most pleasant of topics, so forgive me, but it's about something that we all have to deal with now and again. I was hit with a bout of diarrhea a couple of days ago. I could tell it was coming by the uncomfortable rumblings in my tummy. When I confirmed my condition by an emergency trip to the bathroom, I immediately put 4 drops ofDigestZen in an empty capsule and swallowed it with water. My tummy rumblings stopped, and I didn't have to have any more emergency trips to the bathroom. I took another capsule before bed and another one the next morning. My bowel movements were soft but healthy, and best of all, I didn't feel like I needed to stay home or near a bathroom.
January 6, 2011
My daughter has trouble sleeping. There are nights she claims she didn't sleep at all. I allow her to read in her bed to help her sleep, but she often complains of not being able to fall asleep. I have the same issue, so I completely understand how frustrating it can be. I heard that doTERRA's blend called Serenity is really good for restful sleep. So when I got it, I gave my daughter her very own tiny bottle of it to keep under her pillow. I told her to put it on the bottoms of her feet if she has trouble sleeping. This morning she came to me with a beaming smile and said "Mom, it WORKED! I put 2 drops on my feet last night and I SLEPT! I actually slept!" Thank you, Serenity.
January 5, 2011
My sister shared that she had a kink in her neck that was giving her pain. She said she put peppermint and lavender on it and she could feel it immediately release.
December 12, 2010
Our family had to be at church a half an hour early this day for a special choir rehearsal, thus we woke our kids up a half an hour early. Being December, that meant that we had to wake our kids before the sun was up. My oldest son (11 years old) took this as a cue to be in a bad mood, which naturally made every other effort we put forth to make it to church at the designated time one more excuse to make his day worse.
After the choir practice I sat next to my son who had his head in his hands. I tried to talk to him to see if he was alright, but he completely ignored me. I rubbed his back with no response and finally I asked if he was angry with me. No response (very unlike my son). I told him I had just learned a hand massage and I was hoping to try it out on him during our quiet sitting at church. No response.
I know he likes Citrus Bliss, so I pulled some out and put some on my wrists hoping he could smell it, too. About 20 seconds later he sat up. He still had a grumpy face, but there was a shift. My 2 year old asked for some oil, so I put some on her hand and gave her a hand massage. When I was done, she gave me her other hand and said "This one, too. Squish it." So I did. By the end of the second hand, my son said "Mom, I think I'm ready for that hand massage."
So I put some Balance on his hand, and massaged it. When I was done he said "How about some Citrus bliss on the other hand?" So I did. By the time I was done, my sweet boy was back. He thanked me and laid his head on my shoulder. When the meeting was over he popped up off the bench and happily went off to his next class. I just sat there in awe. Never have we been able to get rid of the grumpies so quickly! What a blessing! I love how the oils help me to nurture my children with loving touch.
December 11, 2010
My son put a load of laundry in the washer and forgot about it until the next day. Like always, it smelled mildewey, so we ran it through the wash again. I also added about 4 drops of doTERRA's Purify blend to help get the mildew smell out. Once again we forgot about it until the next day. I pulled a damp towel out and smelled it and then smelled it again. I was suprised that there was absolutely no stinky smell to the load this time. Same load, left for the same amount of time. Load one, stinky. Load two, fresh. Only difference was the Purify.
November 5, 2010
My dad was bitten by a dog on his thigh around noon. He had some superficial scratches and one very deep wound where his fatty tissues were extruding. He was taking blood thinners and was bleeding severely. We got the bleeding to slow down and took him in to get stitches. About an hour after we got home we had to change the bandage because he had soaked it. Two hours later we had to change the bandage again. This was 7 hours after the initial accident and when I changed the bandage this time it looked as fresh as if it had just happend 3 minutes ago. Even the scratches hadn't scabbed up one bit. I pulled out my oils to see if they would help stop the bleeding. I applied Helichrysum all around the wounds and anywhere it looked like there was bruising. I applied Melaleuca (Tea Tree) around the wounds to kill any bacteria. I applied Lavender on top of the scratches and poured a drop directly on the deep wound to help with healing the tissues. We bandaged it up and checked it 3 hours later before bedtime. The scratches all had scabs on it, and half of the deep wound was scabbed over as well. The bandage was only soaked about half way through. We cheered that the bleeding was stopping (we were all getting worried by that point). I re-applied the oils, only this time I used doTerra's Purify blend in place of the Melaleuca. I checked it the next morning 8 hours later. The bandage was only soaked about 1/4 of it's capacity and the wound looked clean and healthy. Scroll to the very bottom of page if you are interested in viewing photographs of the injury.
October 1, 2010
We went to a neighbor's birthday party where they fed us a delicious BBQ dinner. I stuffed myself to the brim with good food. After the BBQ, we came home to get the kids settled before Rick and I were going to go on a date night that was LONG overdue. I ate too much, and my stomach was hurting. I was having a very sharp pain right at the top of my stomach and I was worried it was going to ruin my date night. I put one drop of peppermint oilin my waterbottle, shook it up, and took a couple of swigs from it as I got ready to go. Once we were in the car on our way out, I noticed that my stomach cramping was completely gone.
September 29, 2010
My girls were painting their fingernails in the kitchen and spilled bright pink fingernail polish on my kitchen floor. I put a few drops of lemon oil over the spill, rubbed it around with my finger and then wiped it up with a dry rag. The lemon oil took it right up!
September 26, 2010
Rick's cold turned into a sinus infection. Sunday he said "I give you one day to cure me with the oils, or I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. He stayed home from church and I had him apply Melaluca (Tea Tree) and Orange oil to his face, over his sinuses, and OnGuard blend and Lavender oil to the bottoms of his feet rotating oils and locations every 15 minutes throughout the day. By bedtime he was feeling a lot better and the next day he was feeling great and was good as new!
September 16, 2010
Rick has a cold and asked if I had anything for congestion. He laid on the bed to rest, and I applied some Melaluca oil on his temples, on either side of his nose and across his forehead. He said he immediately felt relief from the pressure in his sinuses and was able to take a nap.
August 2010
I woke up with an awful bladder infection one day...I could barely walk it hurt so bad. I made up a blend in a 5/8 dram bottle of
40 drops Oregano 2 drops Lemon
2 drops Melaluca (Tea Tree)
I rubbed this on my abdomen over my bladder and on the bottoms of my feet about every 2 hours throughout the day. By dinner time the pain had subsided, and by the time I went to bed that evening I felt alot better, and the next morning I would have never known there was a problem.
First, a little background...
Completely new to the world of natural heath care, 9 years ago I planned to have a home-birth with my second child. When my turn for the Group-B strep test was approaching, my midwife suggested I get some Lavender Essential Oil and add it to my bath every day prior to my test. She had had success with other clients testing negative for Group-B strep when using this practice. I was all for not having anti-biotics during labor, so I went down to the health food store, asked for lavender essential oil, followed to protocol, tested negative on my test, and put the oil in the medicine cabinet. There it stayed for 9 years.
Last Fall when the swine flu scare was occurring, I was uncomfortable with the flu vaccine that was being offered, so I researched online about some natural remedies to the flu. One thing that kept popping up was Oregano oil. So I went down to the health food store and bought some "Oil of Oregano" (Which, by the way was NOT essential oil, and smelled awful).
A few months later in the spring, a woman in my ward invited me to a class she was having called "Dr. Mom: how to become a healer in your own home." This really appealed to me, because I love the idea of mothers being empowered to care for their families in this way. I wasn't able to attend the class because of a prior commitment, but I saw that the class was about DoTERRA Essential Oils. I didn't realize that essential oils could be used for healing. I thought they were just to smell good. This intrigued me, and I began to research essential oils and their healing properties.
I remembered my long lost bottle of lavender oil and decided to dust it off and try it against some of the claims I was reading about. I put it on my kids' mosquito bites and the itching stopped. I put it on my kids' sunburns, and the burning stopped. I put it on my fussy baby's feet when she was fighting bedtime while camping. She was asleep within 2 minutes. My kids started coming to me and asking for lavender oil for this or that. I decided it was time to add to my repertoire.
I started checking out books from the library, listening to podcasts, watching webinars and videos on youtube. I was fascinated by what I was hearing could be possible. I continued to research DoTERRA and their products, but they were more expensive than what I could get at the health food store, so I tried a few more less expensive oils to make sure essential oils were something I wanted to invest in. I tried different brands to compare. I got Tea Tree oil, Lemon,and Peppermint. We continued to have success.
I was reading a friend's blog and she is a massage therapist that has been using essential oils in her practice for years. She mentioned how she recently tried the DoTERRA oils and fell in love with them. She had joined the company to be able to offer the oils to her clients who were asking for them. By this time I was sure that I wanted to at least try DoTERRA to compare to what I had been using. I asked her to get me a couple of oils. I've fallen in love with them, too.
I love that my children ask for them. I love that it encourages touch, as I don't feel that physical affection comes naturally for me. I love how it makes my home smell, and most of all, I love feeling empowered because I know what to do when my child comes to me in pain. I feel like a healer in my own home.
BEFORE and AFTERS:
November 5th Dog bite injury on back of thigh above the knee:
This photo was taken 9 hours after the initial injury. The first application of essential oils was 2 hours before just over the bleeding wounds. You can see how the scratches to the left had finally begun to scab over, and the deep puncture wound was also beginning to scab. I re-applied the same oils and bandaged it up for the night.
This picture was taken the next morning, 8 hours later. All the wounds were completely scabbed over. I love how you can see what the oils have done because of the bruising pattern. My concern the night before had been the external bleeding, so that is where I concentrated the oils. I put a square gauze over the wound and wrapped it with an ACE bandage for the night. You can see where the gauze was because it held the oils over the skin. Where ever there wasn't oils is where the bruising got worse.