Monday Health & Wellness: Essential Oils as Remedies

Are you curious about essential oils?  I’ve been intrigued by them for the last few years myself.  We use them sometimes, depending on what the situation is.  I know there are far more uses out there than I actually use, though!

Recently I partnered with some doTERRA representatives who promised to teach me (and all of you) more about essential oils!

What Are Essential Oils?

Essential oils are the oils from plants — think if you pick up a leaf and rub it, you have a slightly oily substance on your hands.  That’s the essential oil.  These oils contain vitamins, minerals, and all the medicinal compounds of that plant.  As you can imagine, it requires a lot of plant material to get even a small amount of these essential oils, which is why they are sometimes expensive.

Some of you may have run into very cheap oils on the market.  The truth is, though, there are no purity standards for the market as a whole.  Essential oils can claim they are “pure,” but be cut with cheaper oils, including carrier oils (think coconut, palm, avocado, etc.).  While there’s nothing wrong with diluting essential oils with carrier oils, you should know what you’re getting.  If it says “pure” then it should be 100% undiluted essential oil.  If it’s a blend or says it’s diluted in a carrier oil, fine.

Since there are no standards for production, the only way to know what you’re getting is to go with a company that has a reputation for producing high quality oils.

doTERRA has just such a reputation.

Why doTERRA?

I’ll admit, I saw a presentation from a doTERRA rep a couple years ago and I was not impressed.  I liked their blends and I appreciated the personal stories of the rep, but I could not stomach the prices.  They were 4 – 10x what I was paying through my online coop groups.  The way I used essential oils at the time (never internally, often for cleaning), it was not worth it to me to pay so much more.

Since that time, I’ve gotten stricter about the types of “medicine” I will use and how it is prepared.  I only choose the most natural, pure forms of medicine.  I am even wary of many homeopathic remedies at this point (more on that in a minute).

So when Brianna approached me about working with her and doTERRA, I agreed.  I was curious.

I have only had a few opportunities to use them over the last few weeks, because thankfully we have been mostly healthy!  I’m sure I’ll be sharing more about them over the coming months, as we move into the winter and people around us start getting sick.

If you’d like to learn more about doTERRA and essential oil use, though, Brianna has an awesome opportunity for my readers:

Webinar- Essential oils for Modern Alternative Mama – ALL ABOUT KIDS

In this webinar we will discuss the why, how, where, and when of using essential oils with children.  Common health concerns we will discuss include: Ear infections, Stomach Aches, Asthma, Owies, Fevers, Viruses, Burns, Teething, Warts and more…

Two opportunities:

•  Tuesday August 28th at 11am
• Wednesday August 29th at 7pm

Readers who have subscribed to the Modern Wellness newsletter will receive all the details on these (If you have requested the free ebook you are on the newsletter mailing list).

Pretty neat, no?

Our Experience

Our first experience was with a blend called “Deep Blue,” which is supposed to help muscle aches.  My husband works out 5 days a week and tends to get sore, so I used this to massage his legs.  I think it helped him, but the strong wintergreen smell (wintergreen is a natural pain reliever) gave me a headache, and it isn’t good for pregnant women.  We’re temporarily waiting on using this again because of my experience.

I used a blend called “On Guard” on my kids’ feet because they begged for oils on their feet…it was around the time I felt a cold coming on…they didn’t get it.  (I didn’t either, but that was because I took a big dose of FCLO.)  I can’t be certain if that was completely due to the On Guard or not.  I will certainly keep trying this on their feet in the mornings, especially once we get closer to “sick season” and if we are going to be out and around potentially sick people (think the mall, indoor play areas, etc.).  It won’t be the only measure I take, but it will be among a few.

The most dramatic use, however, was related to my now wariness of homeopathic remedies.

Jacob is a year old (which I cannot believe).  He’s teething, and has just gotten two top teeth in (the ‘side’ incisors?  I don’t know teeth names), and is working on the bottom two to match.  Despite his amber necklace, he still tends to drool, bite, and fuss when the teeth are just about to break through.  We don’t have crazy screaming, but we do have irritability and fitful sleep.  Teething tablets (homeopathic) had been my go-to remedy for months, and were with my older kids as well.

Except after a couple of particularly rough weeks, I tied the teething tablets’ use to the worst nights.  They would stop his drooling and biting.  But then he would not sleep.  We would settle him for bed, but the second we laid him in his crib, he’d pop up and scream.  Over and over and over.  If we (eventually) managed to successfully transfer him, he would sleep for an hour or so, then wake again.  I’d nurse him, but he’d pop up and climb all over me and thrash around and absolutely refuse to lie down and go back to sleep.  A few nights I had to leave the room and go sleep on the couch while he slept next to my husband — because he would at least lie down and try if I did that.  It was rough on all of us.

One night he got overtired and screamy and he was biting and drooling, so against my better judgment, I gave him teething tablets.  Of course he absolutely refused to go to sleep.  I gave him the tablets around 8:30.  The previous times this had occurred, he continued to be fitful and restless and not sleep well the whole night, plus the next day at nap too — not to mention being fussy all day from a lack of sleep.  After investigating ways to help him, I settled on a little vanilla extract in his mouth (he wouldn’t let me put the On Guard, which contains clove oil, in his mouth — he did not like the way it tasted and would clamp his jaw shut) and the doTERRA Serenity blend on his feet.  At 10:30 he still would not settle down, so I went to sleep on the couch and left him upstairs.

By 1, he was crying, so I went up to him.  I nursed him, but this time he settled down and went to sleep.  And I was able to transfer him to his crib easily.  He slept soundly for the rest of the night.  It only took a couple hours after applying the oils to calm the reaction and help him get restful sleep.  Compare that to a whole day of fitfulness?  Clearly the Serenity blend had helped him!  (Essential oils, btw, are known to stop homeopathic remedies from working effectively, which was part of the reason I chose to use it.)

In the future I will be relying on essential oils and my own herbal preparations (you’ll several new ones coming up here soon) and avoiding homeopathics, at least for acute conditions.

How to Order

If you’re sold and want to give essential oils a shot, we have some awesome news for you!  Brianna, my doTERRA consultant, can help you get started!

To purchase doTERRA essential oils visit http://www.mydoterra.com/iamdrmom/.

For discounts and promotions please contact us directly (801)-448-6531 , we would love to help you get the best deals…and this month there are tons!  We are offering a discount for MAM readers 15% off through Aug 30th.  Call and mention MAM to receive this discount.

You can also visit  Modern Wellness to learn more about essential oils before ordering.  They will have a September giveaway celebrating the launch of the site.   They will also begin covering lots of great topics, educating readers how to use essential oils in their everyday life. Such as: Using natural medicine, Children,  Mood,   Pregnancy, Cleaning, Cooking, Gardening, Releasing weight, and so much more.

Want to Try?

Some of you are going to need more convincing.  I know; alternative medicine isn’t cheap.  (Does it help to tell you that the doTERRA oils come with a special cap so that you only use a tiny drop for each application, and that the bottles, even the teeny tiny ones, will last a long time?)

How much better is it if you get to try for free though?

7 lucky winners will get to do exactly that!  This giveaway is brought to you by Modern Wellness (in partner with doTERRA Vita).

We will have TWO “grand prize” winners.

Grand Prize #ONE includes:

• 1 doTERRA keychain with eight must have essential oils (Lavender, Peppermint, Melaleuca, On Guard, Lemon, Breathe, Balance, Digest Zen)
• 1 TerraShield - Natural Insect Repellant Blend
•  An Essential Oils A-Z Guide
• AND an Educational CD 

Grand Prize #TWO includes:

• 1 Introductory kit (Includes Lemon , Lavender , Peppermint, and an educational CD )
• 1 TerraShield - Natural Insect Repellant Blend
• An Essential Oils A-Z Guide

We will also have 5 “runner up” winners, who will each receive:

• A sample (you choose specifically for your needs; Brianna will help)
• An Essential Oils A-Z Guide
• AND an Educational CD 

There are several ways to win:

1. Request the Free ebook, which signs you up for their free newsletter (then leave me a comment letting me know you did)  REQUIRED
2. Visit the usage guide page and then return to this post and leave a comment with an ailment you (or someone in your family) are dealing with and which essential oil you would need for it
3. Like us on Facebook (We’re new, pardon our ghost town appearance )
4. LikeModern Alternative Mama on Facebook
5. Like the NEW Modern Alternative Health on Facebook!
6. Post a question or comment about essential oils to the Modern Alternative Health Facebook page and tag Modern Wellness
7. Share this giveaway on Facebook (tag Modern Wellness in the post or as a comment on the post)
8. Email this giveaway to 5 friends
9. Bonus for doing them all!

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents over 18 years of age.  It is open through Saturday, August 25th, and the winner will be announced on Monday, August 27th.  Please leave each entry in a SEPARATE comment to count.  Winners will be drawn at random via “And the Winner Is…” WP plugin.  Entrants must leave a valid email address with each entry, and winners will be contacted via email.  Winners have one week to respond to claim their prizes.

Redmond Clay Giveaway Winner

Yet another awesome addition to your medicine cabinet!  The winners of the Redmond Clay giveaway are:

• mindy@…
• annabethqz@…
• stephanieper@…

Congratulations!  If you didn’t win, you might still want to hop over to Redmond Clay and stock up on some bentonite clay before fall (and the sick season) begins!

What do you most want to use essential oils to help?

**I was provided a sample of essential oils for free to facilitate my review.  My opinions however are my own.**