Essential Oils Disclaimer

I have posted a few times about how wonderful and effective essential oils can be. The more I use them (now daily), the more I realize how I depend on and appreciate them.

But--

A couple of things that have happened lately have made me realize I need to say this: Essential oils do not cure or effectively treat everything. And, at least the company who makes the oils I use, doesn't claim that they do. In all the classes I have been to, the presenter always says something to the effect of: "Oils are very empowering because they help you treat yourself and your family and improve your health, without paying to see doctors for every little thing. However, use discretion; the medical community is there to help us when oils can't."

I firmly believe that. Because, I believe:

1. God created plants and herbs for our benefit, both nutritionally and medicinally.
2. God inspired people to understand more about the human body, disease, and how the body responds to chemical compounds, and to create modern medicines that help us recover from illnesses.
3. Both need to be used in wisdom and order. Moderation in all things.

One occurrence that brought this on was that, a while back, someone found out about my last summer's fight with pneumonia and, knowing that I use essential oils, asked, "Didn't oregano work?" (For those who don't know, oregano is a powerful, natural antibiotic and anti-viral herb, and is particularly potent for respiratory ailments.) I didn't have oregano yet at that time, so I couldn't use it for pneumonia. But when asked the question, I didn't have to think twice to know that it wouldn't have worked for me for that particular ailment. After all I went through, I know now that I waited too long to go into the doctor, and too long to go to the hospital after that. Pneumonia is one of those illnesses not to fool around with! If I had seen the doctor earlier on, so much would have gone better and been easier. Maybe there are people out there who get a mild case of it and recover quickly. But I've found that in one way, having had pneumonia is like having had a miscarriage: you have no idea how many people have been through that harrowing experience until you talk to others about it. And everyone who has told me their pneumonia story, has completely empathized with me: "Now I can understand how someone could die from it." "I kept thinking I would feel better in the morning, but I never did." "It was all I could do to work up the energy to go to the bathroom." "I wanted to die." "It took me a year to fully recover." As powerful as oregano is, for someone with an illness as bad as pneumonia, it isn't equipped to combat this kind of nastiness--especially when it turns into something even worse (Legionnaire's Disease), like mine did. (Unfortunately, nasty illnesses require nasty antibiotics, which often carry nasty side effects, and I experienced that too. But, it was better to be alive and experience them than the alternative!)

Again, the medical community is there to help us when oils can't. And another side to the coin is that oils are there to help us while we're waiting for drugs to kick in, since oils often start working more quickly--but might not work as long or as effectively, depending on the drug and the oil.

I always lean toward natural treatment, and I really don't like antibiotics, but there are times and places for both. Case in point: my sister is a nurse who works in a large and very good hospital. Just the other day she reported to me that sometimes they have people come in for treatment who have been using all kind of essential oils hoping for a reversal of symptoms who, as a result, wait so long for doctors' care that things only become worse and are harder to deal with. Don't be like that! Know your limits, know what works for you, and listen to what your body and your gut feelings tell you.

Telogen Effluvium and on Being a Survivor

My hair now

I've jokingly told my kids they can call me "fuzzy head" and have wondered how many others around me have noticed my perpetual "bad hair days." I haven't let it bug me too much, trying instead to just focus on how grateful I am that it's growing back in. Although, some days I wish I had a shirt that says something like I'm a Pneumonia and Childbirth Survivor. Those who have been through grueling cases of one or both of these can empathize with me. The problem, in my case, was that I went through both within two months of each other. (I've written about this a few times here.)

My hair at about 6 months pregnant

During pregnancy, the rate of my hair growth increases (and it normally grows fast) and I lose very little, so I have great "pregnant hair"! But a few months after I have the baby, all that hair I retained begins falling out in clumps. It's always alarming, but I've learned that it's normal and I'll be okay. This last time, however, my hair started falling out within a couple months after my son was born, and a couple months later it still hadn't quit. In fact, my hair loss seemed to have accelerated, and I was truly beginning to feel frantic. About five months after the birth of my baby, my hair loss finally slowed down and I discovered "baby hairs" growing back in--all over my head. Thus, "fuzzy head." As I had lost a fourth to a third of my total hair volume, this discovery came as a great relief!

It wasn't until my mom happened to mention her hair loss last fall that I realized there might be a pneumonia connection, since she had also had pneumonia that summer (a month before I had it). So I decided to do some research and found out there is actually a scientific name for this condition: Telogen Effluvium. It "occurs when sudden or severe stress causes an increase in the shedding of the hair. In Telogen effluvium a sudden or stressful event can cause the hair follicles to prematurely stop growing and enter into a resting phase. The hair will then stay in the resting phase for about 3 months after which time a large amount of hair will be shed. (This other site says it may only take 1 month, which was closer to my case.) Often the person involved will have recovered from the event before the hair loss occurs. In most cases the hair loss is temporary and the hair soon recovers." (see this link for more information)

For me, this has felt anything but soon. It has now been a year since my baby was born and I have a long way to go to get back to the very long, fairly thick hair I had last year at this time (I had to keep having it cut shorter and shorter as it became thinner and thinner). At least my hair does grow fast and it is growing back.

Until then, I'll just keep remembering I'm a survivor.

Brewer's Yeast

I grew up drinking Brewer's Yeast in orange juice and loving it. I don't know if it's one of those things you have to grow up with to like, but I still love it. It just feels good to drink. And I like how it tastes, too. I started drinking it again lately, hoping it will boost my immune system, which is shot after all the antibiotics I had for pneumonia (remember, antibiotics kill the bad bacteria in your gut, but they also kill the good bacteria, which keeps you healthy). After having pneumonia, I developed C-dif, and now am getting over a bad cold. All this in about 5-weeks' time. I am definitely ready to be healthy and strong again!

Brewer's yeast is also called nutritional yeast (the inactive form of yeast) and is chock-full of vitamins and minerals. I had never looked at the nutrition information on Brewer's Yeast, so I was very impressed when I did so the other day and found that it contains a longer list than I care to type here, including amino acids, protein, and the B-complex vitamins. According to the information I found online, many vegans and vegetarians sprinkle it on their food to help them eat a balanced diet.

So you might try it, if you need a boost too. It's certainly worth a try!

Reglan

This recent experience with pneumonia taught me a few things, one of which was about Reglan. I became very, very sick before I went into the hospital, and one thing that added to my stress and worry was the fact that I was drying up. I knew how incredibly important the antibodies in my breast milk are for my baby and how crucial it was for him to get those so he didn't contract my pneumonia. Even though I didn't really have the energy for it, I nursed him more often than usual, but with the combination of my fever and lack of appetite (and accompanying inability to eat much at all), I could tell my baby wasn't getting enough milk. Once I even let him suck for an hour and a half, and when I finally took him off, he cried with hunger. That broke my heart. It also gave me new empathy for those mothers I know who have dried up long before they were ready to wean. It's a terrible feeling!

In desperation, I had my husband call a local lactation consultant (who also happens to be my friend), and instead of giving me all the pat answers that I have memorized, and knowing that I have breastfed twice before, for a year or more each time, she recommended the herb, Fenugreek. I had heard of this herb but didn't know of its milk-enhancing properties. She also told us about the drug, Reglan, which has similar properties, and recommended that we ask my doctor for it. When I was admitted to the hospital later that night, my husband asked that I be given Reglan, in addition to my other IV meds, and they complied. An added benefit with Reglan--which is what it is most often used for--is it reduces nausea, which I was also having trouble with.

I mention this herb and drug in the hope that it may help someone else in a similar situation. Without those regular doses of Reglan, I probably would have dried up completely. I was very grateful that my husband was able to take time off his summer job to be with me in the hospital, and was able to bring our baby with him so that I could nurse throughout the day. That, besides the Reglan, are what saved my milk because I didn't have enough energy to pump more than once a day, in the evening, after my baby had left. (Did you ever realize how much more energy it takes to pump than to let the baby do the work?) There were so many times during the worst part of my illness when I despaired of being able to continue breastfeeding. It would have been so much easier to give up and just resort to formula, and I was often tempted to do so. But my knowledge of the importance of breast milk for the health of my baby, and my commitment to breastfeeding kept pushing me to keep trying, though I really didn't have the energy to even nurse him lying down. (It was alarming to be that weak, let me tell you!)

Now we are back to exclusively breastfeeding and I can tell my baby is once again getting enough. I can't tell you what a relief that is, to be able to provide for him myself again! How grateful I am for an informed lactation consultant, and modern medicine. (I still want to try the Fenugreek sometime, though...)

Pneumonia

For those of you who don't already know, I haven't been blogging lately because I ended up in the hospital for a few days with pneumonia. I am now home and on the mend, but everyone tells me it's a long recovery. So I don't know when I'll be back regularly, but I'll do what I can when I can.

In the meantime, I hope you are enjoying your summer!

Sincerely,

Katrina

Year in Review: What I Learned in 2011

The year 2011 was quite a learning year for me and my family. I suppose most years are for most of us, as we strive to become more educated and more proactive, but last year was particularly eventful for us. So I wanted to look back and see what were the biggest things I learned--the top 20, to be exact. This post may be more for me than for anyone else, but I hope that it may provide a good review for others of you as well.

In 2011 I learned:

• A lot more about the evils of MSG (here and here), its many hidden forms, and how to avoid it
• The value of red meat and the necessity (for us) of adding it back into our diet
• The joy of purchasing a vehicle in full--ie, owning it free and clear from the date of purchase (which is the only way we've ever done it, but I had forgotten how good it feels!)
• More about essential oils (particularly those from the company I buy mine from, which are so pure they can also be taken internally) and the science behind why they work (This has been so empowering! I happily use them regularly on myself and my family now)
• More about refined sugar and the plethora of negative health consequences resulting from its over-consumption
• A lot more about the value of baking soda and its surprising uses (here and here)
• Why infant circumcision is completely unnecessary and why we chose not cut our baby boy
• How important magnesium is to our health (and that I need it daily)
• Why we decided to wait to cut our baby's cord
• The joys of Freecycle
• How easy it was to can pickles all by myself for the first time (and boy, are they yummy!)
• To value the Five Love Languages again as I re-read the book about children's
• About Reglan (and Fenugreek) and how it saved us while I was hospitalized with pneumonia
• More about the amazing properties of garlic
• How to grow and harvest potatoes (a first for us last year!)
• About root cellaring
• About the school lunch "Food Revolution"
• The recipe for the most scrumptious pumpkin bread imaginable
• How much wood is in the processed and fast food diet (eewww!)
• About the Emotion Code and how amazing and empowering this information is (If I could, I would underline this one three times!)

As the year drew to an end I also realized how many more vegetables we are eating, just as a matter of course, than we used to. I attribute this healthy improvement to our weekly Bountiful Baskets, which provide us with more vegetables than we would otherwise be able to afford (or honestly think of buying) and enforce the eating of them (since we have so many and I don't want them to go bad). I love that I desire vegetables every day now, whereas I used to be pretty ambivalent (even as I knew I needed to do better at including them in our daily diet).

As I look over the above list, I am amazed at all the learning that was crammed into one year! I believe that one of the main reasons for life is to learn, so seeing this list makes me happy. And, of course, learning without applying the new-found knowledge is pointless, so I am also happy about all the ways I was able to help my family improve our health last year. If my blogging has served no other purpose, the fact that it documented our improvements in 2011 and showed me all I've actually learned, it is worth it. 

Here's to a great 2012 for all of us, with a lot of learning and application along the way!