November 12, 2019 – favorite natural health aids
This week my favorite natural remedy is using a couple of essential oils to help with my allergies. This time last fall, when the heating came on and house got closed up, I had 3 weekends in a row of out of control sinus issues related to allergies. I would start sneezing continuously for hours and my nose would run, just flowing causing the use of boxes of tissues. (One of these events happened during Peter’s 60th birthday party while I was trying to host – sorry friends!) The days following these sinus attacks I would feel really lousy with my head blocked with sinus congestion.
I suspected right away it had something to do with the air and my breathing. The 2nd weekend I was able to get the situation under control by spending a few hours outside. After the 3rd weekend caused me to miss a day of work on Monday I realized I needed to find some way to manage the occurrences. (I don’t take over the counter sinus medicine. When I was younger and did I was one of those people who the meds that said they would put you to sleep would instead raise my blood pressure and keep me awake. Nowadays I just avoid any conventional medicines to try to reduce the toxins my organs have to clear out.)
For some reason aromatherapy came to my mind. For Christmas 2017 I had put on my Christmas list an aromatherapy essential oil diffuser necklace. It is a pendant necklace which holds a piece of felt that you drop essential oils into. For most of 2018 I had worn the necklace and had used myrrh oil for the peaceful feeling it brought.
So … for my allergy issues I researched essential oils to help with sinuses. I found eucalyptus and tea tree oils recommended (A nice surprise was that I had both in the house from the essential oil gift boxes I had received.) I changed out the felt circle in my necklace diffuser, using one that I placed drops of eucalyptus and tea tree oils onto each day. Now if that scratchy nose starts I just breathe in the scent of my pendant necklace a few times and it settles down.
And here is another tip; tea tree oil is great for itchy skin. I now carry a bottle in my purse all year to put a drop onto bug bites. I also made my own concoction for poison ivy this past spring. I mixed calamine lotion with drops of tea tree oil for the first few days of having poison ivy. The calamine helps with the drying of the blisters and the tea tree gets rid of the itch. Once there are no more blisters I just used the tea tree oil on its own to help with the healing of the skin which seemed over-dry from the calamine.
Tea tree has been a life saver a few times when visiting my Mom in the nursing home and she can’t get settled because of itchy skin on her neck. The tea tree oil gave her relief in moments.
