Friday, September 27, 2013

Oils of the Day - Peppermint, Frankinsense

I just went away for five days.  It was lovely.  LOVELY!  But I didn't take my oils.  I debated.  But I figured that I'm not too attached to them and therefore wouldn't miss them.  I was right.  Though two nights while I was away I woke up feeling sick to my stomach and boy would I have given peppermint a run for it's money!  But tonight I was walking with the kids and my stomach felt a little funky.  Yay!  Another chance to put my oils to the test! (just kidding...yay is never my gut reaction to funky tummy...no pun intended)  Nevertheless, as soon as I got home, I pulled out my peppermint oil and rolled it on my lower abdomen (with my new roller top, thanks to a friend who had some extras after my lid decided to take a trip down the bathroom drain this morning!).  Peppermint oil is supposed to calm the rumbles in your tummy and help digestion, I believe.  There are a few oils that are supposed to do that, but peppermint is the one I have so I gave it a shot!  Did it work?  Well, yes and no.  Or maybe yes and I don't know.  The neat thing about oils, the thing I love, is that you can actually feel them working.  It's hard to describe.  When I put the peppermint oil on my stomach, I could actually feel it being absorbed, if that is possible.  It was like a relaxing, calming, warm hand pressing on my stomach.  Now, did it take the tummy rumbles away?  Not completely.  But I feel better now, a few hours later, and with no sudden runs to el bano this evening! (sorry if TMI) The thing I'm still questioning is whether I would have felt better by now without the oils.  Part of me thinks that I would have felt the same this evening, regardless of the oils.  Sometimes tummy rumbles just pass on their own.  But the feeling I had right after I applied the peppermint oil, the sinking in of the oil...that was worth feeling.  So maybe if I'd applied it again, an hour later, that would have done the trick?  Or maybe if I'd applied it in a slightly different place? Or added another oil? Who knows.  But there's my oil of the day story :)  The verdict?  It's worth a shot!  I'd rather rub (or roll!) on some peppermint than take some Pepto if those are my options!

I'm also conducting an experiment with Frankincense and my c-section scar(s).  I'm guessing it will take a while to tell if it's doing anything but I'm curious to see if it will fade my scar faster than regular old "time."  I'll let you know.

Oh, and something that I was going to rant about, while I'm blogging about oils anyway, is how much of a nuisance they are to apply.  I'm all for natural healing and all that jazz...but we are a socks wearing family (at least myself and the kids are) and often you have to apply the oils far more often than just once or twice a day.  Seriously, to have to take socks off every hour or two all day to apply oils?  Not fun people.  I do wish that I could just apply the oils in the morning and evening, when my socks (and the kids' socks) are off anyway, and have them actually work their magic.  We just don't love being barefoot so it's not convenient at all to just stop what we're doing, take off our socks, use our oils, then don our socks again.  Just saying.  I realize there are other places to put oils, but we are also long pants and sweater wearing people. There's not alot of bare skin in this house to use oils on without undressing to some degree.  I guess I might just get used to it...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Well I haven't had a lot of chance to test mine out so far, but I am in agreement about there being just a "good feeling" from using the oils. I can't say I've noticed a definite improvement to what I was treating(sore throat and stuffed up nose), but there was a sense of relaxation. I also love how RC feels cooling on my throat, like vicks, and the Thieves is warming. I should seriously try rubbing it on my feet in the winter if they get chilled and won't warm up!

I like the smell and feel enough that I'm happy I bought them...I'm just not totally sure/convinced of how effective they necessarily are. Too early to tell I guess. I'm quite happy to repeatedly dig them out to apply them on whatever I think they might be helpful for..I totally hear where you are coming from with them being a little aggravating to apply, though! Glad you had a lovely trip. :D - Katie