I love essential oils. I also love tinctures and other herbal remedies. But my kids aren't always thrilled with home remedies because of taste/smell/random finicky-ness, and *sometimes* I run through a few natural options and still can't solve a problem myself. Case in point: my 7-year-old has a nasty bug. We had family come and visit this weekend, and someone was sick. Sunday he started complaining of not feeling well and by Sunday night he was running a moderate fever (100-101 degrees Fahrenheit). I rubbed some lavender oil on him to keep it moderate and put him to bed. The next morning his fever was 101.8 when he got up. Still no big deal. But within an hour it was up to 102.8. Hmmm. Time to try something a little more potent. Out came my glycerin tinctures, diluted in water. He wouldn't take more than a sip and then refused more because it turned his already painful stomach. Out came the essential oils again. Within a half hour it was up to 103.5. Now I was getting a little concerned. It was climbing a little too high for comfort, and I wasn't willing to wait to do more research because of how quickly his temperature was climbing. So out came the children's ibuprofen (generic for Motrin or Advil). He hasn't had ibuprofen for a couple of years, since I have learned to let a fever take its course. But for me, once that fever is nearing 104 degrees I try to bring it back down to a reasonable level. Before now the lavender or glycerine tinctures have done the trick of keeping his fevers reasonable, but for some reason wasn't enough with this illness (well, the lavender wasn't, since he wouldn't take the tincture). This time the ibuprofen, which he was much more willing to take, brought it down to about 100 degrees. In the meantime, I was able to do some tweaking to a custom essential oil blend (Litsea Cubeba, Peppermint, Yarrow and Lavender) that seemed to do the trick once the ibuprofen wore off and his fever began climbing again (103 before I applied the oils and it came back down to 102). BUT, I still gave him a dose of ibuprofen at bedtime, simply because I didn't want to have to wake him every three hours or so to apply the oils. I decided the rest was more important at that point for his healing. Today we have been able to just use the blend for fever and pain management and his fever has stayed, reasonably, below 102 degrees.
My point is this: sometimes time is of the essence. Since natural remedies are often problem-specific, and what worked for one malady may not work for another, it is important to keep something you KNOW will work around just in case time does, in fact, become an issue. Over-the-counter fever reducers may be the perfect example of treating the symptom and not the problem, but sometimes the symptom can become a serious problem in and of itself. God has done a wonderful job of creating a world full of herbs and plants that can heal and nourish. But God has also inspired the minds of men to help solve difficult problems throughout history and the modern era. Modern medicine has its place, and sometimes we need it, too.
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