The (VERY LONG) story of how I have come to LOVE love LOVE Young Living essential oils starts several years ago. At the time, I had never heard of essential oils, and had never even considered that there might be alternate ways to approach health outside of modern medicine. I had seen sections at the grocery store for natural health and was intrigued, but I had just always assumed that Doctors knew best and trusted basically whatever they told me to do.
I have a history of horrible migraines, tons of headaches, and a stomach that gets nauseous at the very thought of motion, heat, dizziness, basically anything you can imagine. I have a weak stomach that doesn't deal well with life.
I also have a history of lots and lots of medicines. I was always at the doctor for something and was always taking medicine to see if it would help. And never failed I ended up throwing up and having to switch medicines until finally I would just deal with the pain until I couldn't take it anymore and the cycle would repeat. For probably almost 15 years this has been the story.
I am a girl who loves to workout, have never been over weight, and have always been conscious of my health. I have been frustrated for as long as I can remember at the way that I felt. I have described myself as a 20's something in an 80 year olds body for my entire 20s and now into my 30s it has just progressed to where I feel like a 90 year old. Just a general lack of energy, pain in all my joints, and probably 3-4 days a week having a migraine, and at least once a week having a very upset stomach. Also have had arthritis since I was 20.
Not all the time and not to the point of completely inhibiting me, for the most part. I still was able to be a college athlete, finish my Master's in Kinesiology, teach Pilates and run lots of races and triathlons!
But, I moved to Guatemala before getting married and there I became very sick. I had Typhoid Fever, multiple parasites, and Dengue Fever. For almost a year, on any given night I would wake up in excruciating pain and would spend the rest of the night on the toilet with a trashcan in my lap. And again, every medicine I would try, would cause some reaction that would make the symptoms worse. However, I was desperate and really had no idea that there were other options for me.
I began researching diet changes that I could make to help heal my gut. I didn't even know what that meant, but I knew that it hurt bad all the time and there had to be something I could do to help it out. I had attempted Gluten Free several times in the past, only to become defeated in the lack of options that were available and again, it always seemed to make me feel even worse. (I now know that I never gave it an honest shot for long enough to really see any benefit) Living in a different country is hard enough on its own, but plagued with illness and trying to communicate with doctors that speak a different language just adds a whole new element, let alone trying to completely change my diet. Well again, I failed, but continued to research a whole new world that I was discovering. It really is true and completely scary that you are what you eat.
As my eyes became open to this new world, I began to look into all kinds of things. My fiance {now husband} and I had always both struggled a lot with allergies. As I began to look into that, I found that not only do a lot of the foods we eat affect our allergies and cause inflammation in our bodies, but also what we breath and put on our skin does as well.
As I returned to the states and got married, I was still dealing with a lot of sickness and just feeling awful. We began working towards having a chemical free home, which I knew would be more healthy for both of us and would help our allergies - which it did, but that wasn't the final puzzle piece....
I became addicted to researching. I was still seeing tons of doctors and having all kinds of tests run, but I was becoming more and more convinced that there was something I could do to help heal my body.
8 months after being married, I got pregnant and dealt with a lot of things that most pregnant women deal with. Heartburn like crazy, restless legs, migraines, lots of nausea. This was all before 30 weeks when I was put on bed rest and had lots of other complications. I started trying a few natural ginger teas and things like that in the beginning, but when I gagged on them, I began just listening to my midwife and doing exactly what she said, which meant I was eating bottles of tums a day and taking medicine to help me sleep at night. All things that I swore I would never do when pregnant, but desperate times called for desperate measures. It was not until I stopped the tylenol 3 times a day that I actual got relief from my migraines!!!! If only I would have known then what I know now.......(but I can see how God used those things to help me rely more on Him and seek His healing and press in to Him when the nights were long....I can also see how He used those times to prepare me for what He was about to show me)
Then I had the baby and had a series of complications from a faulty epidural, ending in almost 2 weeks in the hospital, I was sent home on more medicines that my husband or I could either one keep up with. We actually had a notebook that we kept a list of what all i was supposed to take and when. I just trusted the doctors and when I would be throwing up and feeling completely awful, on top of all the pain I was in, I just took more medicine, as I was told to. Not really what you want when you are trying to care for and enjoy every second with your sweet little new baby! Again, the cycle just repeated itself over and over until I took myself off all meds and suddenly started feeling better and better...... you would think I would have gotten the point by now right.....
Well fast forward a few months and its flu season and I have a 6lb baby who has not been vaccinated yet and my husband is teaching at a school full of germy sick kids. I went to the local grocery store and bought us essential oils, being very proud that I was going to help us fight off any sickness that even thought about making its nasty little way into our home. We dosed up on probiotics, vitamin C & D3, and started eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables. ALL REALLY REALLY GOOD THINGS THAT WE STILL DO!!! And at the first sign of sickness I began treating my husband with a home made concoction of oils to rub on his chest and bottoms of his feet, along with making him some oh-so-tasty Apple Cider Vinegar, Honey, cayenne shots (again good and we still use this mixture). BUT - after so many days he ended up at the doctor and taking antibiotics.
But after everything I had been through, I decided I was done with medicines (AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE - there had to be a better option than what is in medicine that always causes me to be more sick) and began really looking into other oils, which at this point I had started seeing friends posting about on their facebook pages. I was researching like crazy anytime the baby was asleep and also just praying for wisdom. We were in the midst of one of the craziest seasons of our lives at this point (we had a newborn, husband was taking 9 graduate hours plus interning for his principal plus teaching full time, and we were looking at moving and job searching and doing lots of travel involved with moving). All that to say, I was just gaining knowledge but didn't have the time to really put anything into action. Well shortly before moving I attended a class to learn more about the benefits of Young Living essential oils and learn how they could benefit our family. Let me just tell you - I WAS BLOWN AWAY!!!
I came home and could not stop talking about all the testimonials I had heard. We were literally days away from moving at that point, but the second we got moved in to our new home, I ordered my Premium Starter Kit! I was giddy for it to come in and was almost excited when my hubby told me that night that he was feeling sick and his throat was hurting. I immediately dropped lemon oil down his throat and started diffusing Thieves. After two days of this treatment, he was symptom free!
So why YOUNG LIVING? Why is this the answer I have been looking for? Next blog!
