Why Essentail Oils?

My Story

I decided to start this blog to keep track of my journey with essential oils, and to help others trying to make sense of essential oils.  This is the story of why I started using essential oils for my family.

When you live in the Midwest, a family faces a number of seasonal issues that need to be treated.  Go to most doctors or pharmacists and they can tell you which over-the-counter medicine can lessen your symptoms.  You purchase it, and hope for the best.  You do it more often in the fall and winter months too.  I didn't want to keep medicating my kids for coughs, sniffles, and other minor irritations that come with the change of seasons.  There had to be a better way.  This is when I started to consider essential oils.  They've been around since biblical times.  If they are still around, there has to be something to it, I told myself.  My brain kept searching for a solution to ending the cycle of using over-the-counter medicine to combat minor issues on a regular basis.

Years prior we started treating some issues with our diet (no processed food, no food with dyes, only clean foods).  Later we tried a gluten free diet for one of our sons to help with focusing in school.  Our family was gluten free together, so he wouldn't feel like he was missing out on anything.  It worked.  It also helped with my husband and other son's eczema.  He is now 13 and maintains a gluten free diet on his own. I'm very proud of him.  What you eat can make a huge difference in your health.  Why am I telling you this?  To let you know we are a family willing to try other means to medication for wellness.

When I first started using essential oils, it was to try on various skin irritations.  I was treating it like I did the over-the-counter medicines.  I was acting AFTER the fact.  I had no idea that oils could be used to prevent illnesses or to lessen them as they occurred.  I can't remember where I read it in all of my researching, but this made things clear to me:  "Oils don't give the body medicine, it gives the body the nutrients it needs to heal itself."  Something just clicked for me.  If feeding your body nutritious food helps you stay healthy, then the oils extracted from those plants would do the same thing.  The oils are concentrated, so it would also take much less.  

I contacted a friend who uses essential oils regularly, and asked a million questions.  Always research for yourself.  Read every view and make your own assessment.  It's amazing how many chemicals we put into our body without a second thought.  It's just easier to find a box on a shelf that meets "most" of the symptoms we have, and take it without knowing what all of the ingredients will do do our bodies.  Don't get me wrong, there are times for some of those medicines, but but I don't want my family taking them daily.

Let me give you an example.  I have a 10 year old son.  Ever since I can remember he's gotten sick.  Cough, sniffles, flu, stomach ache, leg ache, you name it he's got it.  If it's floating in the air, it is inevitably coming to him.  He was the main reason I looked to essential oils.  At the first sign of fall he would get the sniffles.  The first time we turned on the heat on for the winter he would get a cough.  For the sniffles he would always have tissues with him in his backpack, possibly get a dose of some stuffy nose or allergy medication before school, and tylenol if he was achy after school.  The prescription cough syrup induced sleepiness, so I could only give it to him at night.  I tried running a vaporizer at night, so that I didn't have to give the cough medicine every night and it worked.  Unfortunately, as soon as he would go to school, he would cough all day long.  So the vaporizer only helped when he was around it.  We tried Clariton for the coughing in the day, which did help.  It lessened the cough, but we would have to give it to him EVERY day.  I hated it.  And if he was coughing all day, he would end up with a sore throat, which meant he needed cough drops.  And kids are not allowed to take cough drops at school.  These are just the seasonal symptoms!  Add on a fever, flu, head cold, vomiting, diarrhea and everything that comes with the cold and flu season, and that's a lot of medication.  What oils did I start with for him?  THIEVES.  I learned that thieves could benefit all of those issues.  So, thieves on is feet at night with a carrier oil is where we began.  That's all we did.  Can you believe it's all gone?  He takes NOTHING.  Just thieves with a carrier oil on his feet at night.   WOW.  I was sold.

I have since used a number of essential oils, made a number of DIY home products with my oils, as well as founds some great websites online to learn from and to purchase various supplies I need when making my own household items.  I am happy to share it all with you.  I have become an essential oils distributor in the process, and love learning all things oils.  Feel free to share all you know!

Disclaimer:  The statements and products referred to throughout this site have not been evaluated by the FDA.  They are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.  If you have a health condition or concern, consult your health care provider.