I hope you have given some thought to replacing your toxic cleaning chemicals with Thieves Cleaner. Please leave a message if you are interested in more information - or e-mail me at mclemore.shelby@gmail.com.
Next up - your medicine cabinet. This one is going to be a little more involved, so I decided to do more than one post on this. We'll start with the basics and try to move into more involved health issues. This seems a good spot to put my disclaimer, "I am not a doctor and YL makes no claims about diagnosing, treating or curing any disease or illness." These are the things that I personally use for my family. For this post I am also only recommending oils that come in your basic starter kit. I want you to see that for the basics - first aid, minor burns, headache - you can use these very common "go to" oils. We'll talk about some other oils for other issues in our next post.
Let's start with just Basic First Aid - we all need that from time to time and especially if you have kids. If your little guy is out riding his bike and falls and scrapes his knee, you typically reach for the peroxide and then the neosporin. I like to instead reach for my bottle of "owie spray." (My big kids refuse to call it that anymore - but, Patrick loves it!) I just have purified water in a 2 ounce spray bottle along with 10 drops of Frankincense, 5 drops of Purification, and 5 drops of Lavender. All of these oils come in your starter kit - all of them kill germs, fight infection and soothe the skin. No burning - no tears. You can also apply any of them directly on a scrape or cut. Sometimes the big kids just grab the bottle and apply that way.
Next, Minor Burns. You are reaching for that hot pan on the stove and sizzle the side of your hand. Please tell me you do that as often as I do. Instead of reaching for that petroleum based burn cream - reach for your bottle of lavender. I am always amazed at how quickly it takes the sting out of a burn. Apply a drop or two directly on the burn every 5 minutes until the sting is gone and then apply several times a day until the burn is completely healed.
How about a Stomach Ache? This could include heartburn, nausea, indigestion. Our go to for this is Peppermint. This plant has long been highly regarded for digestive upsets. You can rub a drop directly on your abdomen or you can put a drop into a glass of water or hot tea. Tastes yummy and works well.
Let's talk next about pain relievers. There are many different types of pain relievers available over the counter. Tylenol, Advil, Aleve. We have all heard the recalls, we've all read the long list of side effects - including but not limited to stomach ulcers and liver damage. Long term use of these pain medicines is dangerous. We cleaned out our medicine cabinet years ago, but I will admit that our bottle of Advil remained for emergencies - until I found Young Living. So, what are the most common things we grab the pain reliever for? Remember, in this post I am talking about occasional use of over the counter medicines for common ailments - if you take regular pain medicine prescribed by your doctor, I would love nothing more than to help you find a long term natural solution for that - please contact me. For the purposes of this post, though, I am speaking to common headaches, menstrual cramps, sprains, sore muscles and bruises.
Headaches - Headaches can be caused by a variety of triggers. If you have a sinus headache typically a drop of Peppermint on your temples can help relieve congestion and open the sinus passages, which relieves the headache. It is the place to start.
If you feel you have a seasonal allergy induced headache, we have what we like to call the "allergy shot" - which is three drops each of Lemon, Peppermint, and Lavender in a capsule. Taken three times a day we have seen amazing results in our family from seasonal allergies and the symptoms they cause.
Another great remedy for a headache is one drop of Thieves on your tongue and pressed to the roof of your mouth. Again, it opens the sinus passages and this is my favorite headache remedy.
Finally, if you think you have a stress or tension headache then your "stress" oils are the ones to reach for. I like to use Joy or Valor. You can rub them along your shoulders and up your neck to relieve the tension and relax your entire body.
Menstrual Cramps - All of us ladies know how miserable these can be and sometimes curling up in bed with a heating pad is just not an option. The most common oils in the starter kit for menstrual cramps are Joy and Panaway. You can mix them together and rub them directly over your abdomen.
Sprains, Sore Muscles, Stiff Neck - All of these conditions are caused by tightening and/or inflammation of a certain area - usually a muscle or a ligament. Panaway is the go to pain oil. It works much like an aspirin and should be used with caution on young children. Rub it into the affected area every hour until symptoms are reduced and then a few times a day for a couple of days to completely reduce inflammation. Valor is another oil that I always reach for if I wake up with a crick in my neck or just feel out of alignment.
I am going to stop here because I don't want you to feel overwhelmed and I think this will give you a good start. Let's talk briefly about costs. A tube of Neosporin with pain relief is $10.00. (I had to look that up - so that is according to target.com) The three oils that I recommended for the "owie spray" come in your starter kit and there are about 100 drops of each oil in each bottle. Depending on how many kids you have and how often they get hurt, you can make enough spray to last you a really long time - and your oils have no expiration date and they do not lose efficacy over time.
A bottle of 300 count Advil costs $30 - that is about 100 doses. The side effects read like this "Stop using if you feel faint, vomit blood, or have bloody or black stools." The ingredients include Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Propylparabens - I will let you Google those for yourself. A bottle of Panaway that has about 100 drops (one drop per "dose") is also $30 - it has no warning labels and no synthetic ingredients.
So, as you can see - getting into the habit of transfer buying (replacing oils for things you have been buying anyway) does not have to "break the bank."
Please contact me if you have any questions or click here to get your own Everyday Oils Starter Kit.
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