Those of you who know me may be wondering why I have all of the sudden become hysterically obsessed with DoTERRA. OK for those who are really close it may not be such a huge surprise because I tend to have an obsessive personality, and be dramatic and passionate about many things. But still I wasn't expecting to get as hyped up about natural medicine and essential oils as I did, so I wanted to share a little bit of my journey into the world of natural healing.
It all started with a book club. A super, awesome, amazing, life-changing book club ;). Friends from the book club got involved with DoTERRA- I should note that my book club friends are way more health conscious than I am. . .OK most everyone is way more health conscious than I am. They asked if I wanted to volunteer at a Symposium that DoTERRA was hosting. I was like, "Sure, why not. It's not totally my thing, but I'll take the free skin care kit and donate some time out of my life." I mean I wasn't against natural healing. I'm on guard about some things, especially when they say New Age. But I have just grown accustomed to the ways of doing things with medicines and doctors and such.
Slim and Sassy Drops. Help control appetite and can be used on trouble areas, to help with cellulite, etc.
Why did I like my medicine? I have used natural remedies before. For years I took a handful of supplements everyday: vitamin E to help my hair and skin, vitamin B to help my metabolism, vitamin C to combat illness, vitamin A keep warts away, etc. My mom would also look up different herbs to take for different things. The one that sticks out is plantar warts. For the most part things seemed to work. I mean the herbs eventually took away my warts. But it seemed to take so long. So I came up with this idea in my head, "If there's a vitamin good. If there's an over the counter drug better. If there's a prescription drug, BEST." So that's how I sought things out when it came to healing. I didn't doubt that natural ways worked. I just thought modern medicine worked better.
But I started to notice that medicines just weren't available for every ailment. Especially with kids. A lot of the time I started to feel like my hands were tied.My mind was constantly plagued with questions, "Is this a cough to worry about? Should I take them to the doctor, or will they be OK? Is it enough of an emergency to spend the money? Why can't we have insurance right now?" After fighting myself with these questions, I'd often sit through a stressful night hoping that my decision to not take my child in didn't turn into a horror story. Or I'd take them to the doctor and hear, "They look happy and healthy, nothing wrong here" or "Yeah they are sick, but it's a virus so there's nothing you can do."
I started to open up more and more to natural medicine as I talked with a friend of mine. She has always looked for natural remedies, and she said that natural remedies will work. The problem is we don't use them aggressively enough. It made sense to me, and so I decided I'd be open to the idea of natural remedies. This was when I went to the DoTERRA Symposium.
After hearing a couple classes I was totally hooked. I began searching my A-Z guide fascinated by the things essential oils could treat. I was so super excited I couldn't wait to try them all. Within a couple of hours of being at the symposium I was going over which oils I would most like to purchase that day. I loved sampling the oils. And I just told myself if they have a remedy for it I bet it will work. So I began searching. Skin care? They have a line of skin care products, I bet it will actually work. Weight loss? They have a line of weight loss products, I bet it will work.Hair care. . .and so on. . .
I can't explain it, but everything they said just made so much sense. How our bodies work, and how these oils work in our bodies to treat things. Then there were the success stories they shared. It was all awesome.
I guess I was way open to it to because I just see so many problems with modern medicine. Like anti-depressants or medicine for ADD. I haven't ever been totally against these, but when it came to using them myself I just never felt like it was the answer. And I've just heard the same story from so many people who take drugs for behavior or mood. A lot of people say it leaves them feeling numb, like they can't feel anything. It's not that I'm against using these things, it's just that I felt like there had to be other options.
So I bought a DoTERRA kit that day, and I was full on ready to dive into the world of natural medicine. I was so excited, and fascinated, with everything I was learning that I just wanted to share it with everyone. Look, how cool this is! You can treat all these things with oils. Isn't that amazing? I really didn't want to get into the consultant side of it, I've never been very good at things like that. But my friends eventually convinced me-- not that it was very hard ;). So now we have this fun little group of DoTERRA-ists. My friends are much better at the sales side then I am, but I keep trying to work my way up there. If I could I would buy oils for everyone, and go around treating all the illnesses I could. But that's not an option, so this is as close as I can get.
We've enjoyed using our oils as just part of our daily lives. We put lavender on our kids at night-- works great! I brush my teeth with On Guard-- It helps fight germs, protect against illness and whitens your teeth. We've used Deep Blue to treat body aches and pains when we go to bed at night. I would use peppermint everyday to help keep me awake for my 8:00 AM classes. And I would put frankincense on my face to help my skin. I love the everyday uses. And I totally recommend using oils this way. Don't wait for an illness to come around, start using them now. They have so many benefits.
We use them to treat too. Like we used lavender and melaleuca to treat our sunburns. We have used peppermint to treat headaches, lavender to treat cuts and sores, DigestZen to treat any tummy issues, etc. And we have been way impressed.
Using Melaleuca to treat cradle cap. It has gotten a lot better since these pics, he just won't let us take anymore :)
One night I woke up with horrible gas pains. I looked up the treatment for it: lavender and peppermint. I rubbed some on my stomach and within minutes the pain was gone. I LOVE this. These pains have always been such a horror for me. Especially when I'm pregnant. There has been times where I screamed out in pain in public because it hurt so bad. I was told by doctors there wasn't much I could do for the type of pains I was having. Well, now I have a solution.
The other day my child woke up with a tummy ache. It quickly turned into throwing up. Soon he was just dry heaving. It was so sad, and he couldn't get a moments peace. I would leave the room to start some laundry and pretty soon he would be crying again and I would have to rush up to hold the bowl. I tried DigestZen and Peppermint. Neither of those worked. So I asked my DoTERRA friends if one of them had ginger. Apparently DigestZen is great for anything stomach, but according the book peppermint and ginger were better for vomiting. So a friend brought me some ginger. I rubbed some on his belly. He woke up ten minutes later and threw up, at least it wasn't dry heaving. He asked for some crackers. "That's a good sign," I thought. I rubbed some more peppermint and ginger on him. He threw up one more time, I rubbed the ginger and peppermint on him again and then he calmed down, went to sleep for a couple hours and woke up as happy as can be.
Using lavender to treat our poor kids swollen mosquito bites. These were double the size the night before.
We don't have a lot of huge health issues in our family. But I have been grateful for the things the oils have helped us to deal with. My Dad has high blood pressure and really doesn't want to go on medication. I have slowly been trying to gather up the oils it suggests-- so far we've tried marjoram and Serenity-- and we've looked for some herbal remedies as well-- my friend recommended cayenne pepper. This is one of the things I love about DoTERRA. It gives you options. For those that don't feel like medicine is the best route they have other remedies they can try, and these remedies are pretty effective. It just all depends on what you're looking for. And if you don't have any major medical issues, or you aren't looking for other options, I still totally recommend using the oils for their daily benefits.
Have I been disappointed? I haven't really been disappointed. The hard part with the oils is finding what will work best for you. Their are several oils listed under each ailment because everyone is different and the same cures may not work straight across the board. I have friends that love frankincense, but lavender seems to do it for our family. Anyway. . .sometimes finding what works can be frustrating. Like I have a wart I'm trying to get rid of. I have put oregano on it pretty aggressively. Almost every hour for the last 3 or 4 days. When oregano didn't seem to be working I started using frankincense, but still the wart remains. So now I'm trying both oregano and frankincense, and I'm putting a band-aid on it at night. My husband keeps offering to just buy me the freeze away kit, but I kind of want to figure out how to get the oils to work, so I can share it with others. We'll keep trying. It seems to have at least gotten smaller :). So it hasn't disappointed but it can just take patience sometimes. It all depends on if treating with natural remedies is what you are looking for. There are a lot of benefits, but it can take patience, effort and time.
The kids love using the oils. They always come and sit next to me and ask for a dose.
Why DoTERRA? We have kind of stuck with DoTERRA because we like what they offer so far. We're not necessarily against trying other oils, but we do like what we've tried and feel like its worth our money. I like that all their oils can be ingested. It makes me feel good about what I'm using, and I feel good about using it on, and around, my kids. I like the Life Long Vitality Vitamins that DoTERRA offers. We have loved using them, and have heard a ton of success stories. I love their blends. They have oil blends that are awesome like DigestZen, On Guard and Serenity. And their oils are very potent, which I like because if makes them more effective when it comes to treating things.
The benefits so far. You really have to start using oils to see all the benefits. They are going to sound expensive, but once you start using them you'll see that it doesn't take much, and they last a long time. Seriously, the bottles last a lot longer than you would think. And the more you use them the more you'll see that you don't need a ton of oils to treat a ton of things. Each oil has multiple uses, and one oil can replace a lot of medicines. I've noticed just feeling better, and having more energy all around from using the oils, and especially from the vitamins. I can also feel myself getting stronger from working out and such, instead of just feeling like it wears me out. I like that they are safe for kids, and that if they are sick, under the weather or just a little grumpy, I don't have to play a guessing game as to which medicine to give or if the situation really calls for medicine. I can grab an oil or two, the oils will treat multiple things and if nothing is really wrong I don't have to feel like I gave them medicine unnecessarily because they oils won't harm them and they will benefit them even if they are not sick.
We're pretty excited about the new things we are learning about oils. And we're excited to see where DoTERRA takes us :).
To order oils go here.
