Do Essential Oils Really Work?
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UPDATE: I am no longer a Young Living Distributor. You can read about my search for the Best Essential Oils Company here. You can also skip to the end of the series here.
The other day, I wrote about how I overcame my serious doubts about essential oils (specifically, Young Living's oils) and experience using Young Living's Thieves blend.
I was a complete skeptic about essential oils, thinking they were some kind of scam or “woo woo foo foo” stuff that really did nothing.
As in, “you put it on and it smells good and somehow you convince yourself that it's really working” kind of thing.
Today, I'm going to share with you some other oils that I've been experimenting with and what's happened with them.
Really, read on. Some of these things really surprised me.
How Essential Oils Have Helped Me
Following are ways that we tried using essential oils for common ailments, and the results we had.
Head Tension
Peppermint Oil is great here too. Again, I don't typically get headaches, but when the occasional one strikes, just a drop of peppermint rubbed on my temples has taken the pain away. Amazing.
I can't say that it cured my head tension and I personally think that it's important to figure out why your headaches are happening and work on that, rather than just treating symptoms, but I assume that the peppermint supports the body's work in getting better. My youngest gets head tension sometimes, but his has been diminishing since starting a new therapy and using zeolite. Regardless, he has found relief with the peppermint as well.
No acetaminophen.
Nice.
Stomach Aches and Digestion Issues
I typically don't struggle much with stomach aches, but at times I do. One particular time when I had some tough stomach issues was when I was trying to address adrenal fatigue.
I worked with a practitioner Nutritional Balancing that is designed to rebalance minerals and remove heavy metals and toxins from my system. (2014 UPDATE: I am no longer doing Nutritional Balancing, but have moved on and found other things that have helped immensely.)
More on all that later, but when the metals are coming out, I've hada some uncomfortable symptoms at times, one of them being an upset stomach.
And of course we all can have a sour stomach or stomach but at times.
Peppermint tea is supposed to be good for upset stomach, but Peppermint Oil is like super-charged peppermint tea. There are a lot of essential oil reps saying to just put some peppermint oil on your tongue at times like this, but that's not safe.
You should instead dilute it with a carrier oil and apply to the stomach. If you are going to take essential oils internally, they should be diluted with an appropriate amount of carrier oil in a capsule.
Growing Pains
My youngest had growing pains regularly until we started Nutritional Balancing. Now, he really only gets them every once in awhile. These pains were one of the first things that we tried essential oils on. I was really skeptical – “So, how on earth is an oil going to help with something painful going on inside of him?”
Well, they did. We've used Peppermint, Wintergreen, and a blend for pain, all of which have helped him. What a blessing to have your little one, who was in pain a moment ago, say to you, “Mom, I really think it's working! I feel better!”
He gets to sleep and so do I. And having your son smell like a Wintergreen Lifesaver is a nice side bonus.
Tendon Issues
This one really floored me.
I'm a blogger. That means I type a lot!
Well, about 2 months ago I started experiencing pain in my right pinky finger and it really hurt to type.
I'd had carpal tunnel years prior that was cured with B6, but this pain was worse.
I didn't really want to own up to myself that the pain was there. What if I couldn't blog anymore? What if I needed surgery? Not pleasant thoughts.
After a few days of pain and worry, I decided to turn to my Essential Oils Desk Reference Guide for some ideas. It recommended a blend for pain, so I tried it.
Again, the skeptic in me thought, “This surely isn't going to work.” But I doubtfully rubbed a drop around my knuckle where the pain was, just before bed.
I awoke the next morning completely amazed.
The pain was gone!
No surgery, and I can still blog. I am not for sure I had carpal tunnel or cubital tunnel, but my pain went away.
Since then, I've used peppermint and lemongrass diluted in carrier oil for tendon issues and that's worked amazingly well.
Muscle Aches
Numerous times we've had aches and pains that needed some TLC. Whether from injury or overuse, we've tried several oils and blends: Peppermint, Wintergreen, and several pain blends as well. Each one has worked well. Depending on the situation, sometimes one oil or blend has worked better than another, but it sure has felt nice to use something natural rather than OTC meds or synthetic chemical-filled creams and ointments.
Update: – Please use caution when using wintergreen. It can be dangerous when used topically and ingestion can even cause death.
Are Essential Oils Worth the Cost?
And I know, you're probably wondering about the cost of these oils.
There are loads of kinds of essential oils in stores and online.
Some are cheap and some are more pricey.
Let me assure you – I am super frugal. I'm sure that you've figured that out if you've been following me for awhile. If you haven't, you can see how stingy frugal I am by checking out my posts on:
- Easiest Almond Milk Ever
- Homemade Coconut Milk
- Homemade Coconut Butter
- MYO Powdered Sugar / Powdered Sugar Substitute
- Homemade Taco Seasoning
As you can see, I don't spend money typically if I don't think it's worth it. And I save wherever I can.
I personally try to choose the best quality that I can, for the best price, and for me that means paying up a bit to make sure that I am not getting lower quality essential oils – especially since I will be putting them on my skin (where they will be absorbed) and using them occasionally internally.
UPDATE: I am no longer a Young Living Distributor. You can read about my search for the Best Essential Oils Company here. I ended up choosing this company, Rocky Mountain Oils (formerly Native American Nutritionals).
You can find out why and see all of the “dicey” discussion by starting here.
Here are my basic thoughts on the cost:
- Health is priceless
- I'd rather use natural oils than OTC meds or prescriptions drugs (and they're not cheap either)
- Essential oils can be cheaper than going to the doctor or physical therapist (or even surgery!)
- When you feel good, you have more energy to save money elsewhere
Basically, yes, if you choose quality essential oils you will be paying more than the inexpensive brands, but if you use them only when needed you will likely save in other arenas that will more than make up for it.
Regardless, I am thrilled to have a new natural remedy in my medicine cabinet.
What has your experience with essential oils been?
Very cool info! We even have this stuff around the house…my husband was doing some reading and shopping about EO’s. I suffer from headaches…next time, I’m getting out the Peppermint Oil!
I am new to the essential oil scene. So I’m slowly learning what all the benefits are. Like you, I would rather use these than OTC or prescribed meds. My son has ASD and since his diagnosis last year we have been taking care of our bodies with a more holistic method. Chemicals in every shape and form are bad news and we tend to stay away from them.
I have been wanting to use essential oils for aroma therapy for a long time. But I avoid them as a pre-caution in bodycare products and don’t add them to my homemade cleaning products because some of them MAY be endocrine disrupters, just like everything else, it seems: https://www.nih.gov/news/pr/jan2007/niehs-31.htm
I don’t think one study confirms anything one way or another but I would like to see more research done. I’m glad to hear you are getting great benefits though. I have no doubt they can have healing properties.
Hello. I just read this. Being the “investigative reporter” type that I am, I searched the internet. Here is what I found. “Neither Lavender nor Tea Tree Oil Can Be Linked to Breast Growth.” When I read the study you forwarded I was concerned about the possibilities that this second resource brings up.
I really appreciate you mentioning this. I just hope I can keep up w/ all the questions and thoughts! Yikes :-)!
Love these posts, I need to try that peppermint, cause I’ve been having headaches far to often lately, and hate taking anything for it (won’t take tylenol at all). Would like to try some of the other ones you have talked about too…will have to wait a little while though, cause I don’t have the money for the kit, and thats what I’d love to get, as there are several that sounded like they would be good to try.
I don’t like Tylenol either. I’d be happy to talk w/ you any time you think you might wish to try the YL oils. Also, of course, it is good to get at what is really causing your headaches. My son used to get them a lot until we started doing Nutritional Balancing. You can see the link to our practitioner, Theresa Vernon, on my adrenal fatigue post. Also, there may be food issues involved. Take care!
Great article about the beneficial uses of essential oils. I would like to add a few points for clarification.
First, not all essential oils are made equal. Young Living Oils (as well as our OraWellness blend) are made from the highest quality of essential oil ‘ranking’, called therapeutic grade.
Also, if one is going to be using essential oils internally, it would be wise to take serious consideration of the energetic effects of the oil(s) on the system. For example, I noted in one of the comments a person mentioning about peppermint for digestive issues (and how it wasn’t for her because it caused heartburn). Taking broad brush strokes at health issues that really require a consideration of the imbalance is potentially dangerous. The energetic reason why peppermint may not be ‘good’ for your digestive issues is due to the fact that peppermint is cooling. So, if you have signs of stomach fire then peppermint would help balance. However, if one has a ‘cool’ stomach already, peppermint would aggravate the imbalance.
This brings me to the issue I have with the Thieves line of oral health products. They use only warming oils. While Thieves does work to reduce the bacterial load in the mouth, being only warming oils, it can also imbalance the system used over time.
It is for this exact reason why we created a blend of therapeutic grade, 100% organic and wild crafted essentials oils to use to help restore health in the mouth that is made of a balance of both warming and cooling oils. If you would like more information, here is a link to our site. http://www.OraWellness.com
Holler with any questions. We’re here to help.
This arena of cool vs warm and our whole systems is very new to me. Thanks for adding to the conversation. I wonder what you think would happen in the mouth over time and what you think one should do to find out about “cool” vs “warm” with our whole systems. I assume it gets pretty complicated.
The concept of herbs being cooling or warming finds its roots in Traditional Chinese Medicine and the concept of yin/yang. I agree that it seems complicated at first. In reality, much of it is just common sense too so it’s not as complicated as it seems. For example, mints are cooling (think of the peppermint patty commercials from childhood with the person going down a ski run). Cinnamon, clove, ginger and many others are warming (think of mulling spices used in winter time to ‘warm’ a cold tummy)
My concerns of long term use of a product that is made with only warming or cooling influences is in its impact to the whole system, not just in the mouth. You see, it’s been proven that what we put in the mouth in the form of oral care products gets absorbed into the bloodstream, sometimes even faster than if we swallowed it.
What this means is the warming or cooling influence of the products we use in our oral care will impact the system. In some cases short term cases, this influence could be beneficial. However, over the long term, I question the impact of imbalanced formulas to overall health. You see, our systems are constantly in flux and changing. While I don’t know that using imbalanced formulas in the mouth will cause imbalance in the body, I prefer to apply the ‘precautionary principle’ and assume the risk. This is exactly why we formulated our blend as a balance of warming and cooling oils. Thus, the blend effectively addresses the bad bugs in the mouth and does so without inadvertently imbalancing the system as a whole in the long run.
Ok, I got long winded… Maybe I’ve just been thinking this way for many years and the idea is more complicated than it seems to me now. 🙂
I hope this help with the discussion of assisting each of us to navigate to greater oral health as well as positive change in supporting our immunity as well.
To your health!
Thanks for clearing that up somewhat. I have not looked into Chinese medicine as much as I’d like, though my current practitioner is very well versed in it and apparently studied under an expert. Always something new to learn!
I generally have a strong dislike when bloggers put together product promotion posts, I’ve even stopped reading some because of too many junk posts (Freschetta frozen pizza posts, really?). You are different. I have so much respect for you and believe that you wouldn’t promote something that you hadn’t thoroughly researched and I will now be looking into essential oils myself.
Wow – thanks, Julie! I must admit, it’s been tempting on occasion to write posts “just to make money” but I haven’t done it. And don’t plan to. I am even working on getting ads off my sidebar that I don’t care for. It’s hard. Blogging takes a long time (as I’m sure you know) so it’s important to get paid–but I hope to gain trust and then readers will know that I am really only recommending what I like. Of course, I can be wrong, but I am trying to do as much research as I can. And I really didn’t mean for this to be a promo. There are other products of theirs that I’ve loved and I just can’t believe how they’ve helped me.
Let me know if I can help you with your research at all. I’ll do what I can.
Hi,
Do they have oils that will help with asthma? Just curious as one of my young daughters appears to have the cold/virus induced kind.
Hi Laurie.
According to the Oils guide that I referenced, a number of oils could help. They recommend a number of types, but when I looked at a forum that I have access to where remedies are recommended, overwhelmingly people with asthma recommended RC and said it worked great. Others mentioned were Peppermint and Raven (another blend). The RC is made from a number of oils including eucalyptus. I am glad you asked since my son doesn’t have asthma, but he has needed an inhaler for a deep asthmatic cough that’s accompanied an illness. Thank you! Let me know if I can help you further. I am going to order the RC and Raven with my next order so I can have them on hand and hopefully avoid the inhaler.
Hi – I just wanted to say that Peppermint oil is great for digestion – EXCEPT for those with GERD (which I unfortunately suffer from) – the oil relaxes the esophogeal sphincter even more and can cause very intense heartburn.
We have used YL oils a lot. Our vet actually uses them too. For headaches we use peppermint and lavender at the temples and the base of the neck. In case of a fever you can put a couple of drops of peppermint in the belly button and on the feet. It actually works. For digestition you can also use DiGize. I do not like the smell at all but it works. You can rub it on the belly or drink it. For virus I have actually put a few drops on the tongue and it has stopped the throwing-up. My husband was a skeptic at first but he will not let us be without DiGize or Thieves in the house.
Wow – how interesting, Sharon! Thanks for sharing!
This website http://www.sharinggreathealth.com has some great info. Go to her articles library.
I signed up for the free email subscription (I didn’t know where to leave this note to you)… 🙂 Have a wonderful day!