Natural Body Guru

I notice that the older I get the more my digestive processes (among many other things) change.  Last night I had some delicious Chinese food but a little while after dinner, I was miserable. The garlic and onions in the food was killing me. I usually drink peppermint tea when I have indigestion but this seemed worst than usual so I wanted a little something extra.

I made my peppermint tea and then I added a drop of ginger essential oil. My husband likes to eat crystallized ginger which is a candy and a little too sweet for me. The ginger essential oil in my tea was much better to me. When I had finished the cup (and after an unladylike loud burp) my stomach felt much better.  The next time you have indigestion, try a drop of ginger  essential oil  in your peppermint tea.

My daughter’s dog is 18 years old which is pretty old for a dog and she has arthritis so bad that sometimes she can’t walk at all. My daughter asked me what essential oils I have for my “grand-dog” so that the next time she can’t walk or go up and down the stairs she can treat her without having to force  pet medicine down her throat. She’s a little Shih-poo and this is not the only ailment she has but let’s talk about the arthritis treatment today.

Just like with people, arthritis is painful for dogs and you must be careful when you are handling them but dogs do love to be massaged. If your pet has arthritis, they will love your touch as you massage them and the essential oils will be a beneficial treatment. The arthritis dog treatment I suggested to my daughter is 4 drops of rosemary, 2 drops of lavender, and 3 drops of ginger diluted in 2 tablespoons of a carrier oil like sweet almond oil or grapeseed oil.

Try to get the massage oil mixture onto the painful joints working it through the coat and into the skin. Start at your pet’s back  and massage the muscles in rhythmic movements working towards the haunches. Cover all of the legs and include the vertebrae. This may be a little messy but your pet will soon lick off most of the oil and enough will penetrate the skin to be effective.  Also, what they ingest will help their digestive system. An added bonus to this treatment is that fleas do not like lavender!

This weekend, I helped out at Fragrance World of Topeka. Sunday is always very busy and I was on my feet most of the day. When we got home, I could hardly walk because my back was hurting so badly. I wanted something that would help my back stop hurting but I did not want to take any kind of over the counter pain killers.

My husband offered to massage my back and reminded me that shea butter cream works wonders on sore muscles. I would have taken anything at that point so I got the shea butter and he massaged my back, shoulders, arms and neck. I almost went to sleep and I’ll tell you what, by the time he stopped, my back felt 100% better and today I had no pain .

I got too ambitious with the cleaning this weekend and when I finally stopped, my back was killing me! I have an aromatherapy treatment for back pain that I will share with you. The best way to administer this treatment is to massage the sore area. Massage using essential oils provides welcome relief from chronic back pain because the oils penetrate deeply into the sore contracted muscles causing them to expand. Essential oils also cause increased blood flow to the sore area and allow torn tissues to be repaired by the body. Use any of the following essential oils in blends of 2 to 3 oils and then use 5 drops of the blend per 1 teaspoon of a good carrier oil like sweet almond oil, jojoba oil or liquid shea oil.

• Thyme
• Camphor
• Chamomile
• Vetiver
• Cypress
• Peppermint
• Eucalyptus
• Rosemary
• Ginger
• Lavender
• Juniper
• Sage
• Oregano

I don’t know how old I was when I had chicken pox but I think it was about Kindergarten or 1st grade. I do remember how much it itched and standing on a chair while my mother rubbed lotion on me while she told me not to scratch. I still have the scars to prove that it is not good to scratch but it’s very hard not to do so.

Chicken pox is a viral infection that is highly contagious and can be caught more than once. The virus can also lie dormant and then reappear later in life as shingles. A child can catch the virus two weeks before any symptoms appear. Symptoms include fever, a small rash that can turn into blisters that burst and crust over. The spots usually start on the trunk but can spread to the face and limbs. The child should be isolated until the scabs are completely gone.

Sleep is one of the best treatments for chickenpox and bed rest may also keep the fever down. To sooth the irritating itch, add 10 drops of lavender and 10 drops of chamomile German to a 4 ounce bottle of calamine lotion and shake the bottle well. Apply the lotion all over the body twice a day. A bath can also relieve the itching so add 2 drops of lavender essential oil to 1 cup of bicarbonate of soda and mix it in the bath water. It is also helpful to spray the air with an antiviral mixture of 8 drops of tea tree and 4 drops of thyme shaken in 1 cup of water in a plant spray bottle.

My spouse is always busy on Sunday at  Fragrance World so when he awoke this morning and said he didn’t feel good, I thought he was going to stay home but he didn’t. He went to work but his stomach was upset all day. I tried to get him to eat something besides a smoothie for breakfast but he wouldn’t. He called me about an hour later and said he had just upchucked the smoothie and was feeling terrible so I went to the store to help with customers.

When we got back home in the evening he still didn’t feel well and he hadn’t eaten anything all day so I persuaded him to eat some soup. When he finished it, he felt nauseous again so he went to lay down. After 30 minutes, I told him I was going to brew him some tea that would make him feel better. He drank the tea and 15 minutes later, he felt back to his old self. I tried to get him to drink this brew this morning and if he had, he probably would have had a better day.

Aromatherapy tea for indigestion and upset stomach

• 1 cup very hot water
• 1 to 2 drops peppermint essential oil
• 1 tablespoon honey

My husband, Ron, bit his tongue while chewing gum yesterday. I told him he chews his gum too fast and I just laughed at him because he does it quite often. Later, we were talking and I asked him what he had in his mouth because he sounded like his mouth was full. He said his tongue was swollen from when he bit it and then he showed me his tongue. I almost fainted when I saw it because it was very swollen and it looked like he had bitten a chunk out of it.

There are essential oils for just about every health problem so I looked up abscess on Wikipedia. Big mistake – that was gross. His tongue does not have any pus coming out of it so I think it is just an abrasion because that is simply a wound with superficial damage to the skin.

To take care of the abrasion on his tongue, I had Ron put 1 teaspoon of hydrogen peroxide plus 1 drop of clove essential oil in a cup of warm water and gargle with it. His tongue is better now after one application. He will do it again before he goes to bed tonight. He says to tell everyone he is not going to chew anymore gum!

Did you know that you should eat your carrots because they can help you have great eyesight? This is something my grandmother used to tell me and I thought it was an old wives tale. Now I know that the beta carotene which gives carrots their orange color has been shown in studies to help protect the eye, particularly the cornea, and to be useful in the prevention or slowing down of cataract formation and age-related macular degeneration.

Carrot oil is also an abundant source of carotenoids or antioxidants which  are important for fighting the effects of harmful oxidants, or free radicals in the body. Free radicals can attack and destroy healthy tissue, causing many health problems, one of which is cancer. Because of the antioxidants it contains, carrot oil can reduce the risk of developing certain types of cancer and it is often used in sun tan oils to prevent over exposure to UV radiation from the sun.

When I left work today at 4:30 pm, the thermometer said 109 degrees. I was so surprised that I took a picture of it and sent it to several of my relatives. The temperature in my car had to be 10 degrees hotter than that, at least it felt that way to me. I saw a rake in the yard when I got home and our yard looked neat and trim so I knew my husband had cut the grass and trimmed the shrubs. I wondered why the rake was still out and one section of the yard still had lots of leaves still on it.

I asked Ron about the rake and he said he started feeling lightheaded around 1:30 pm so he thought he would go in the house for a while and go back out later to finish the yard. He was outside from 7:30 am until 1:30 pm – no wonder he had heat exhaustion. He came in and took a cold shower, continued to drink water and then proceeded to work in the house as usual. When I got home, his muscles had locked on him and I treated him for heat exhaustion. It was a good thing he took a cold shower or I may have had to take him to the hospital emergency room because heat exhaustion can easily lead to heatstroke.

Not drinking enough water or replacing the salt your body loses when the temperature soars into the 100s is dangerous. If you feel dizzy, faint, and nauseous (you may not even feel thirsty) get out of the sun, retire to the shade or go inside. Then drink as much water as you can. Try to drink 3 quarts of water with 1 teaspoon of salt added. Apply undiluted lavender or eucalyptus essential oil to your temples, the back of your neck, and your solar plexus (upper abdomen), and breathe deeply.

Ok, I confess. I was going to tell you about the results of my stimulating peppermint essential oil experiment today. Unfortunately, I was running so late I forgot to take the peppermint with me this morning. I was so sleepy at work again today that I almost fell off my chair at one point. I stayed up extra late last night writing the blog and unpacking etc. from our stay at Clubhouse Inn. I thought I would have the peppermint to help me stay awake but since I forgot it I’ll have to report to you tomorrow. I am going to go get the peppermint as soon as I finish this and put it in my purse! I promise to report out to you tomorrow!