Drop by Healthier Drop

Enjoy today's post written by one of my best girlfriends, Amy Bryan, and her discovery about the natural health benefits of using essential oils.

When Stephenie asked me to write a piece about essential oils I thought, “How in the world can I put this all in one article?!” There is so much to say. So much I would love to just sit with you over coffee…or better yet a glass of wine...and gush about how they have changed the way we address health in our home.  So go get your coffee...or your glass of wine...and let’s pretend we are just chatting.

Over the last few years I have been on a path to find more natural ways to address health and wellness in our home. I have changed a lot of the way I feed my family and through the process have quickly learned how food can positively or negatively affect our bodies. Which got me thinking…..what else is affecting our bodies? If food alone can make such a difference then what about all of the pharmaceuticals we use? What effects are they having on our bodies especially when we have long term use of certain drugs?  

When my son was six weeks old he contracted RSV (Respiratory Syncytial Virus) and had to be in an oxygen tent for seven days. We battled respiratory issues for 14 years now, ranging from breathing treatments, using steroids, prescription drugs, inhalers, and daily over the counter medication. Every year when allergy season hit in the fall we would gear up and start all of typical protocol. And I hated it. I hated giving him all of those medications, not knowing what it was doing as far as long term effects for his body, but what choice did I have? He has to breathe, right? Enter essential oils.

I had been quietly stalking a friend who was using and selling essential oils. (Anybody else do that? No? Just me?) I watched her posts on Facebook about her health wins with oils, and more and more I was hearing about other people’s success with essential oils. But I was skeptical. Not because I was afraid of them, but because I couldn’t believe it could be that simple. Could plants really be the answer? It seemed crazy. But didn’t I believe that God put things on this earth to help us with our health issues? Yes, I did. And wasn’t I worried about using all these chemicals on my son? Yes, I was. So, what did I have to lose?

After much research about companies and brands and purity and a few other things that are for another blog posts, I finally bought a starter kit. I was determined that if we were going to try this, we were REALLY going to try this. I researched some information on allergies, asthma, respiratory issues and ways oils could support the body systems to fight those things on its own. Our life was completely changed by something we call, “The Pollen Bomb.”

Prior to allergy season, I started my son on a regime of two drops lemon oil, two drops lavender oil, and two drops peppermint oil in a spoon mixed with a little honey.  (He was not taking any other medications at the time because in the summer he did not need it.) As we headed into what is his major allergy season we did not have to add anything else to keep him breathing clearly.  Nothing. ZERO. ZILCH. NADA.  We continued “bombing” him throughout the entire fall season. And do you know what? Essential oils were the only thing we used to support his respiratory function. Do you have any idea how happy that makes a mama’s heart to know that I can support my son’s health naturally without the fear of side effects?  

So how does that even work? Essential oils work in a way that support our bodies so that they can fight more efficiently on their own. They don’t do the work for our body…they support our body.  Think about when you cut your hand. A healthy body responds to that on its own. Your blood starts to coagulate, your skin cells start to regenerate, and the cut eventually heals on its own. You don’t have to tell it to do that. (Isn’t that crazy when you really think about it? God is so cool.) Essential oils support your body’s ability to function effectively.

We have many oil wins in our home. We have fully incorporated them into our lives and have seen significant health benefits. Does that mean I’m opposed to modern medicine? No. I absolutely believe it has its place and when we need it we access it. But if we can treat our health naturally as much as possible, I believe that when we do need to access medicine our bodies will be able to better handle the effects of it (but that’s a whole other post).

You are probably at the end of your glass of wine now…but if you’d like to chat more about oils I am always up for it! I love to answer questions and educate.

If you have more questions or would like to get started using essentials oil, you can reach out to Amy at amybryan1973@yahoo.com or at www.amybryankit.com