Blunt Perspectives

How to (really) keep your family from getting sick this winter!

I have 6 kids – 4 in Elementary School (Jake, Sahara, Meghan, Kyle) one toddler and one infant, plus I travel on airplanes and through germy airports.   Like dominos the first one gets sick then the rest fall. I think we had 5x flus in 2007, perpetual colds, sinus infections, ear infections, sore throats and runny noses - all 8 of us, five separate flus.  We officially had a quarantine procedure and everything.  We had to buy extra bowls and lay down towels on the floor.

It was insane, totally gross, depressing and expensive.

And let’s be clear, the kids shower every other day, germx when they get home and we eat mostly healthy meals.  This wasn’t for lack of trying.

We spent hundreds of dollars on cold and flu medicine, prescriptions and doctors; medicine that hurt our livers and bodily eco-systems and gave us side effects almost as bad as the sickness themselves.  It was stupid – I should have bought stock in pharmaceutical companies, kleenex and rug doctor.

2008 was a different year.  Really different.

We tried essential oils.  I heard some BS about it and read some more BS about it. Well, we figured it wouldn’t be worse than 2007…  They saved our household with 6 kids from getting sick and made the house smell great.

Last year nobody puked and we sniffled a few times. I didn’t buy stock in kleenex or nyquil. I didn’t buy gallons of germx. The pharmacy and doctors office was not our second home, we even dropped our health insurance (no joke)… why?

Essential Oils.

Below is why they work and what they do. Here’s the high level:

1) Some essential oils have very powerful anti-microbal (viral, bacterial, fungal) properties. Diffuse them in the air in your home and space to kill airborne germs. Basically it’s like a healthy version of lysol or oust, germx.  Makes the air smell good too!

2) Essential oils boost immune and healthy cell function. Cell memorization and other biological effects of ingesting essential oils (like through breathing) have positive systematic effects. And again, they smell good and help to boost your mood which reinforces the positive biological systematic effects.  This is like inhaling emergen-c, airborne, or zinc – not only is the air disinfected, but it’s also an immune system booster.

3) It works. Proof is in the pudding. When I have neglected to diffuse the oils in the air in 2008 because I was getting lazy, we started getting sniffles or feeling under the weather, so I’d up the dosage to make up for lost time and push out the germs.

So in 2008 we got flu symptoms once, kid #1 stayed home then kid #2… I kicked it up… and kid #3 felt a little bad for a day and that was it. No extra missed school, no carpet cleaning, no missed work – unlike 2007!

I’m still amazed.

But let me put it to you this way, the day we started to close the windows and turn on the heat in 2009 I bought new essentials for this winter – they are running now.  I feel like the close call of 2008 and the hell of 2007 was enough to show me the light.

Yes, there’s a cost; but it’s less than copays, otc medicine, prescriptions and time off work.  The oils aren’t cheap and you should invest in a nebulizing diffuser (as opposed to a fan diffuser).  Nebulizing is less wasteful and more automatic and its a one-time expense.  You might spend $100 to $200/yr on oils – way better than copays and meds.

Here’s my Essential Oil Shopping List

There are four blends made primarily for killing germs (from birchhill):
- Pure Cleansing (50+ml)
- Four Robbers (50+ml)
- Heroes (in lieu of robbers if you want)
- Breathe Easy (10+ml)

* Depending on your budget, but definitely stock up on the Pure and Robbers.  It’ll save you money to buy in bulk then just refill the 10ml bottles that come with the AromaAce.

Robbers smells a bit more pleasant (kinda like dentyne gum original) but is more expensive.  Pure Cleansing has more of a eucalyptus scent but is cheaper.  I usually use Pure most of the time and switch it up with Robbers on occasion.  I have enjoyed the new Heroes blend, which is a premium version of Robbers with even more germ killing oils.  I like the Breathe Easy (equal to a Vicks) for those stuffy noses and lung issues if they creep up.

Check out other cool blends that smell good.  You can run these on occaision for a little festive scent.  But if they do not have significant germ-squashing capabilities like basil, lemon, tea tree, lavender, etc you won’t get as much germ benefit.  I like to use special “smelly” blends like Holidays and Xmas, and Muffin on a separate diffuser or use them on a fan/paper towel or fan diffuser when we need a festive scent.

Because it’s not a pitch and I make no money, here’s where I buy my stuff.  If you drop my name you won’t get special treatment or prices and neither will I.  Just do it for your health, ok?

http://birchhillhappenings.com

http://diffuserworld.com

I buy diffusers from diffuserworld.com and essential blends from birchhillhappenings.com and both have had excellent support, especially birch hill who has quality oils and blends for small prices – they are willing to answer questions and they ship fast and cheap.  Diffuserworld just released the AromaAce which is an automated diffuser that rocks.  I set mine on for 3min and off for 15-30min and it just runs all day (in our modest but large-size 3,000sqft home).

I hope this helps.  I’ll add to this as we move into the 2009 winter season.  Maybe we can keep H1N1 Swine Flu from getting us…