Essential Oils - Fact or Myth

Photo courtesy of jessicasapothecary.wordpress.com

Approximately a year ago I began to hear a lot about essential oils, and how they were the new, natural miracle worker. Despite all that I heard from friends, my family, and co-workers I was still reluctant to give them a try. Honestly, it seemed to me that if an oil was the answer that all of the health problems (and low life expectancy) throughout the ages would have been erased.

I decided to throw my skepticism to the wind, and give one a try after a friend told me essential oils can help with weight loss. To Amazon I went, and I searched for a reasonably priced oil that would provide the miracles I had been told about After I received it, I put the oil to the test, and it did not work. At all. I used the entire bottle, as directed, before coming to the conclusion that the oil was worthless. And I was disappointed, but not completely surprised as, again, I had deep down decided that there was no way these could work.

Then, a few weeks later, I became sick. Very, very sick. Nothing worked to give me relief, and I had visions of the ER in my head if things got any worse. On the worst day, I hurt so badly all over my body that I could not move. My mother found out, gathered up her Doterra oils, and rushed right over. As I was completely miserable, I decided I should give this a try again because any relief would be welcomed. An hour after rubbing myself all over with the trifecta she had given me, I began to feel human again. Within a day, I was up and around as though nothing had ever happened before.

Though I was impressed, I still wasn't ready to fully commit to this idea of essential oils. Several months went by and I never thought about it again. Then, the sick season hit. Since I work at a school, and have two children that are elementary ages, once September hits the germs just spread throughout our home. And spread, and spread, and mutate, and then spread again. By November, my son had the croup (along with a punctured ear drum), I had gone through the flu and sinus infections, and my daughter was coming down with bronchitis. Again, my mother ran over some Doterra to try and help get things under control. It did not work for my son (we went to the ER a few days after starting with the oils again. He was at the too sick point for preventative measures and needed medicine.), but my daughter and I got better almost immediately. I was impressed enough that I decided to continue using the oils by both diffusing and rubbing on with a carrier oil (like olive oil or coconut oil), and see what would happen.

Photo courtesy of www.bestessentialoildiffusers.com

Now, for my family, money is tight. I am a full time student, work part time for a school district in order to get more experience (a foot in the door, so to speak), and my husband's job spikes in hours based on the season. Spending $30.00 + per bottle of oil is simply not something that we can do. My mother, in knowing that some of these essential oil brands (like Doterra and Young Living) were wonderful, yet pricy, set out to find brands that were affordable and were as well, or nearly as well, as the main brands.

What she found were two brands that work incredibly well at the fraction of the cost: Bulk Apothecary and Edens Garden. After several months of using these, I am happy to say that I have been sick one time - the one time that I chose to not diffuse my oils while on vacation. For me, that is a record on the wellness charts, and I make certain to keep stocked up on Thieves, Peppermint Oil, and Tea Tree Oil (among others). It is important to note that there is one difference between these bargain oils and those with a higher price tag, they cannot be taken internally. They still, though, are able to be used topically as well as in a diffuser and work just as well as the other high price tags on the market. Why, I ask, should anyone spend three times the amount for something that works almost exactly the same?

Edens Garden Essential Oils

As you can see, I have found that these essential oils truly are amazing. Do they deliver the miraculous punch that others claim? No, of course not. Essential oils will not solve every single health problem that comes your way: Modern medicine is wonderful, and necessary for many things! For an inexpensive, and highly effective, way to stay well, and combat many other ills, this is definitely the way to go!

 

Stay tuned for my list of top recommended oils and how to use them!