Oil of the Week - Peppermint

I can't believe I haven't blogged about peppermint before. Peppermint is an everyday oil in our house. *giggle* It's also one of the oils included in our Everyday Oils Collection. My youngest son, Lei & I have allergies and daily we use a combination of lavender & peppermint oil in order to manage those allergies and remain symptom free. I put lavender on our faces before we go into a situation where we may encounter an environmental allergen. We put a drop of peppermint oil in the palm of our hands and sniff. Using this oils protocol, we've been allergy drug free since 2010. You can read all about that in this post.

 More uses for peppermint oil include:

• respiratory infections
• cold sores
• fungal infection/candida
• digestive problems
• headaches
• nausea
• skin conditions (itchy skin, vericose veins, eczema, psoriasis, hives)

Mamas, my absolute favorite use of peppermint oil with minis is to bring down a fever. Friday night, my oldest son had a fever. I don't know how high because we're currently without a thermometer but he had a headache so that means it was 102 or higher. I put 5 drops of peppermint oil on the bottom of his feet and within an hour, his fever had gone down. His head didn't hurt. He was sleeping soundly and his skin was no longer hot to the touch. You must have peppermint oil in your medicine cabinet.

Oil of the Week: Lavender

I was super concerned about using lavender as the oil of the week because I blog and post about it so much. This blog, however is about my family's experience as oilers and right now during allergy season in the Midwest, our experience involves a LOT of lavender. LOL! For those of you who aren't familiar, my son Lei and I have quite severe allergies. Lei's are much more severe than mine are and this time of year, we go through lots of lavender, peppermint, lemon and Purification oil.

During allergy season, you want to arm yourself, not with an OTC drug, but with lavender, peppermint, lemon and Purification oils in order to support your body's natural ability to manage allergens.  Lavender is God's antihistamine. It works to block the effects of histamine in the body. Immediately upon noticing my son  rubbing his nose, I send him to put a drop of lavender oil in the roof of his mouth. By the time he's done complaining about how disgusting it is (Lol! It does NOT taste good, y'all), he's stopped rubbing his nose. Even the fastest OTC drug doesn't work that fast. ;)

So, if you're experiencing allergies this lovely spring season, grab you some lavender, peppermint, purification and lemon and skip the drug store this year. Rub lavender on your face, put 1 drop of peppermint oil in your hand and cup your hands before your face and inhale deeply, place lemon and purification oils over your liver and support your body in purifying itself.

Ask Lila About Oils

• This week, in lieu of the 'Oil of the Week', I'm sharing a Q&A that arrived in my FB inbox from a friend.
  

  
  

  Curious MamaI have a question...You and oils...What is your favorite, or favorite few?
  
  Lila Simmons
  Lavender, peppermint and Thieves.
• Curious Mama 
  

  Awesome stuff. I was just curious. Thieves...What do you do with that?
  

  
  
• Lila Simmons
  

  Put it on the bottom of little feet before they connect with other little ones. Thieves keeps the germs away.  It kills germs too.

  Curious Mama

  Ahh
• Lila Simmons
  

  
  

  'Hubby' had swine flu in '09. Made him drink it, diffused it and put it on his feet. Not only was he recovered in 4 days but no one else got it either.

  LOVE me some Thieves.
• Curious Mama
  

  OMG talk about a testimonial.
  
  Lila Simmons
  YES!

& just in case YOU are curious, Dear Reader, peppermint is good for: inflammation, fever, allergies & more. Lavender is called the Universal oil. There's not much that it isn't good for. In our house, we use lavender for allergies, relaxation, burns (I burn my self quite a bit...) and more. 

Lavender + Peppermint = No More Steroids for Lei-Bear

So, for the past 3 years, I've gone through HELL with Lei (my four year old) with his allergies. I missed almost 6 weeks of work. We've given him every antihistamine that's available. We've cut out everything from his diet that he's even remotely allergic to. Last spring, he was on Zyrtec, Benadryl and Prednisilone (a steroid) and he STILL broke out in incurable hives around his eyes.

Doesn't he look MISERABLE?

Well, I was recently reading through my friend Cristina Campbell's newsletter and there was a testmonial from a woman who used lavendar and peppermint to relieve her niece and nephew of allergies when they visited her barn. A lightbulb went off! So, we went to our yearly 'get ready for allergy season' appointment with the allergist last Tuesday and she informed me that allergy season is beginning this past weekend. WHAT??? It's still winter!!!

Well, I decided to give the lavendar and peppermint a try before I started giving him the drugs. I'm not a real fan of the drugs but I'm an even smaller fan of an itchy, hived-out baby. On Monday, I tested my theory by taking us to the park. Lots of trees and grass and things to make his nose and eyes water. I put one drop of lavendar on his face (he's a tiny person) and one drop of peppermint in his hands, had him rub his hands together and then sniff a few times before I sent him off to play.



2 HOURS later we left the park and not once did he have a runny nose or itchy eyes or anything resembling either of the two. Ha!!! It's working. The real test will be at the end of March when oak season begins. I'll keep you posted.