There's an oil for that...

You know in the Bible where it talks about anointing with oil for healing of physical ailments? To be specific: Mark 6:13 and James 5:14 are just a couple of them. Anyway...turns out, it's true. I know, imagine that.

I have a good friend who has been singing the praises of essential oils for about a year now and all the amazing things she and her family have experienced because of them. **Here's where I'm going to reveal my prideful, know-it-all, ugly self. It's not pretty and I like to pretend that I do not have this in me but I do.** I was truly happy that she and her family were having such great results like not getting sick as often as before, no one has needed antibiotics for infections and they are getting real relief from allergies. All of which is awesome but like I said, the ugly part of me surfaced and was whispering in my ear that no one in her house has a chronic illness or chronic pain so really, how effective would it be for me? 

Um, yeah... so the thing about being a know-it-all is that you often have to eat your words. And they taste terrible.

After hearing some success stories from friends who do have chronic illness and pain similar to mine I began to rethink my stance on the whole oil thing. (I have since apologized to my friend for not exploring it further just on her experience.) I started wondering if there was something to this for those of us with chronic crap.  Not all of them share my belief in God and not that that matters but us holy rollers tend to believe in the super natural healing accompanying the anointing of oil. 

Yes, I believe God created natural things like oils, minerals and nutrients derived from plants and such for our use but I tend to get caught up in the modern world  of medicine. For centuries people have used natural remedies for ailments so why was this so hard for me to open my mind to? I guess I'm used to living in a prescription world. 

So I gave Young Living Essential Oils a try, very skeptically I might add. The first two weeks were nothing short of amazing! After reading up on the oils in my starter kit

Yong Living Starter Kit
(my kit contained valor but I think
it's been removed from the starter kit
now due to high demand and low supply.)

and finding various "oil recipes" on Pinterest I set about using them for various issues. My kit also came with a diffuser for aroma therapy. Now, I use them every single day and even have one of my kiddos and the hubby using them. Watch out people, I'm a true believer!  

Here is the first success story: Our youngest developed pleurisy after a bad upper respiratory infection. 2 rounds of antibiotics and a 5 day prednisone pack later he was still in significant pain. He's a dedicated football playing fool and this being his senior year there was no way he was going to miss out on any games. The first game he played after being diagnosed with pleurisy he was in extreme pain, he could barely get up after being tackled, reaching for a ball was almost impossible and playing on defense was out of the question. My oils came in the following week and so I researched what to use. What was recommended is an oil blend, PanAway, and a single oil, Frankincense, so I decided to give these a try. I diffused Frankincense by the couch where he was sitting and made a roller bottle of the PanAway and grape seed oil (used to dilute the concentrated essential oil and as a carrier oil to spread it on the body) to apply to his left lung area where the pain was the worst and then to the bottom of his feet on the lung area (see the Vita-Flex foot photo). He also used a heating pad across his chest/lung area while we watched TV for about an hour. We applied the roller ball PanAway to his feet again before bed and 2x daily for the next few days. By the time Friday came, he was ready to go and in a considerable less amount of pain! Pleurisy takes forever to heal but I think we sped up the process big time with the oils. The difference he felt over the few days we used the oil and how he felt after the antibiotics and steroid was unreal. I believe both therapies were instrumental in his recovery.

Roller bottle is about the size of a
lipstick and so easy to take anywhere
even on an airplane.

Second success story: Again this involves my son who had pleurisy. He gets severe headaches from fluorescent lighting and often they turn into migraines that end up sending him home from school. He's had this since about 3rd grade and we've been to the doctor and chiropractor hoping to find relief. All his tests come back normal so it's basically a sensitivity to light causing the headaches. Being a kid and concerned about fitting in, he was not about to wear any kind of tented glasses so suffering through the headaches with advil/tylenol and sometimes laying in the dark nurses office for 20 minutes would help get him through the day. He'd come home from school absolutely zapped and often take a nap in order to get relief from the pain. I started looking for a possible treatment with the oils and came across a headache recipe: Peppermint, Lavender, and Frankincense oils were blended together with the grape seed oil and put in a roller bottle. He applies the blend to his temples and across his brow and massages it in as soon as he feels one setting in. I also had him place just a dab under his nose to help like aroma therapy as the headaches can also cause nausea. And guess what, it worked! He told me that it will sometimes ward off the headache completely and if not, at least it takes the edge off so he can function. He LOVES it! We call it his headache voodoo. This, by far, is my favorite experience with the oils so far. It has been 10 years of these stupid headaches with hardly any relief until now!

Third success story: Shannon has been struggling with TMJ pain for the past month due to some dental work he had done so I made him a roller bottle of Valor. He applied to his jaw joint just below the ear and to the vita-flex point inside the ear which seemed to help considerably. I also made him a roller bottle for high blood pressure of Lavender and Peace and Calming (pre made blend from Young Living).

I have chronic joint and nerve pain and hate having to take narcotics so I'm always looking for another alternative. I haven't quite found the exact pain recipe that works but I'm still trying. What I have found that has made a difference is applying Lavender in a roller bottle to the bottom of my feet. This helps me fall asleep even when I'm in pain. I also tried the PanAway bottle on my knees today because they were killing me due to a nasty cold front that moved in. That gave me more relief than I thought it would too. Something else I'm trying and having success with is an ointment of Lavender and coconut oil. This was recommended for help with dry eyes. Basically, I mixed Lavender into the coconut oil which is a solid and then spread a small amount around the eye area after washing my face before bed. I have to admit, I didn't have great expectations for this one but it proved it's value and my contacts have been a lot more comfortable for the last 5 days that I've done this. Another oil I've experimented with is Purification which is a blend of several oils pre made by Young Living. I've applied it directly to canker sores inside my mouth and it seems to have a pain reducing element as well as a healing one. It tastes terrible but it beats the horrible pain and uncomfortableness of the stupid sores. I've been diffusing Theives or Peace and Calming too which has a nice relaxing effect on us all. 

This is the grapeseed oil I use.
Olive oil is another good carrier oil too.

I had no idea but there are several forms of coconut oil available.
The one recommended for balms is cold-pressed and unrefined.

If you are interested in learning more about the Young Living oils, you can find all kinds of info on Pinterest as well as Young Living Essential Oils information.