Essential Oils

Happy Saturday! It’s lovely and sunny out there today and we were getting ready for friends to come to a big rib roast, but alas, they cannot make it, so the ribs are going in the freezer for another day. Of course that means that I get to get some chores done, including my blogging!

I usually try to blog on Sunday, but I’m spending it with my girls.  It’s Father’s Day, but they don’t see their father, so we are going to a Salt Cave.  Perhaps blog material for next week? It will be a nice day together no matter what and the salt cave is a new and different thing to try out.

Today, I am blogging about essential oils.  I will confess that I am only just learning about them, but I think I am pretty much sold so far.  I was looking for something non-medical for various things.  Cavan has trouble sleeping and one of my daughters suffers from anxiety sometimes. I think it is nice if you can go the natural route, rather than the chemical route.

For Cavan’s sleeping, there are several alternatives.  I have a diffuser and I love the lavender in it myself and I’m even trying various combinations so that I don’t wake up with my usual allergy symptoms.  The diffuser doesn’t help Cavan because he uses a CPAP (Continuous positive airway pressure) machine. For those of you who don’t know, it is for people who stop breathing when they sleep.  I will probably blog on that in some detail at some point, but for the purposes of this topic, it is relevant because his nose is covered, so the effect of the diffuser cannot help him.

A friend of mine, who got me involved with the essential oils, pointed me to a site that sells an attachment for the hose of the CPAP machine, so that I can put a drop of the oil on an insert and we’ll see if that makes a difference.  I only just received the attachment, so we have yet to try it.  I’ll report on that after we have tried to find an oil that works for him.

Lavender is the most often used oil for relaxation, so we will try that first, but I am buying oils from doTERRA, so I have a few blends that might be helpful.  We’ll keep trying them until we find something that works, or find that none of them help.

What I did discover about the lavender, however, is that it is helpful with a burn.  I was helping Cavan drill holes in our brick wall to install a hose reel.  The drill bit gets VERY hot.  At one point, my arm was tired, so I lowered the drill enough for the bit to touch my leg (I was wearing shorts!) and I got quite a burn.  The lavender applied directly took the pain away.  After several days, it is still looking pretty nasty, so I applied some frankincense, so hopefully, I can avoid an infection.

For my daughters, I have purchased a starter kit for each of them (from doTERRA, with points!), and I also got them necklace diffusers, so we’ll see if they find it useful. I also got them each a different oil blend from doTERRA.  I chose Cheer for Alysse and Peace for Kaitlyn.  I couldn’t decide which to give to whom, but I let my cat smell both.  He really did not like the Cheer, so that settled it, because Kaitlyn also has a cat.  Alysse’s dog isn’t as likely to be as fussy.

So, this is the beginning really, of my essential oil journey. I will blog again, when I know some more about how they have helped (or not helped) us.  For now, I shall enjoy the new scents!  God bless!