DIY Natural Remedy: Slivers & Splinters

Slivers have always felt like a DIY kind of problem.  As a kid I remember hating them and crying as my mom would pull them out with tweezers.  As a teen I remember hearing people talk about how they just need to be encouraged to come out on their own with different types of packs or by pushing on and manipulating the skin.  At that age usually the only slivers I got were pretty close to the surface without me even needing tweezers to pull them out.  Just a day ago I was moving our wooden side table and out of the blue this little table bit me!  I know that sounds funny, but that's how it felt.  I had a very large gash right through the inside of my knuckle.  Yes, it was bleeding, and in the middle of it was the largest sliver I have ever had going the deepest I've ever seen.  I couldn't fully straighten my finger.  I also couldn't fully bend it.  I was fatally wounded... Oh you better believe I yelped like a wounded puppy, this hurt!

Sliver Damage to My Middle Finger... Ouch!

I started off wishing I had a potato because potato packs are very useful in situations like this with drawing stuff out.  No potatoes in the house so I did the next best thing.  I soaked it in epsom salt water with a drop of Lavender essential oil.  It really reduced the pain and the swelling.  I cut open some extra skin to try to get the sliver.  No such luck, it wasn't even close to the surface.  That night I packed a cotton ball with epsom salt water on my finger.  It helped the pain through the night but didn't get that sliver any closer to coming out.  In the morning I cut a little more trying to get the sliver still with no success.  Asking my mom for help, she recommended packing it with a slice of lemon to draw it and any toxins that could cause infection out.  It stung a little but only for a few seconds.  This reduced the swelling even more and helped increase my fingers ability to straighten.  I still could not bend my finger very well and whenever I took a break from soaking or packs the pain was unbearable.  Not to mention the redness around the wound was growing.  Finally, as I was talking to my dear friend that I work to teach about essential oils with, I asked her if she thought my next step was to go to the doctor.  She said a bunch of things I knew for milder slivers and then said I should google slivers and DoTerra because there were oils that would help my body push out the sliver.  I swear that I almost always go to my essential oils first because they tend to work better then any of the other remedies I can find, be they herbal or medicinal, but this time I hadn't even thought of that for some reason.

The DIY remedy that worked:

So after that phone call I didn't want to turn my computer on, so I just went into my bathroom opened my medicine cabinet where I keep a lot of my essential oils, and looked at them.  I have learned that knowing a few properties of oils helps, but in the end if we feel drawn to a certain scent of essential oil, we usually need it for either our physical or our emotional health, since they help both.  I have seen many times that when even other oils were not quite what I needed to heal, Helichrysm essential oil has that extra boost of power to kick start my body.  I saw it in the cupboard, was immediately drawn to use it, and dropped 1 drop right onto my wound, undiluted.  Within a couple minutes I decided to try to pull out some sliver.  A little shard had surfaced so I tweezered it out.  Then I cut a new opening for a deeper part of sliver I could see emerging and I squeezed the skin together.  It was like my body was all of the sudden pushing it out because enough was coming that I could now grab it with the tweezers too.  The sliver was the biggest my hubby had ever seen in someone like that.  I could immediately bend my finger again.  We put a drop of Melaleuca essential oil on it to disinfect after the fact.  Its the morning after and my finger feels fantastic!  Thank you Helichrysm... You saved me when I had a bad burn, a cut that didn't want to heal, and now with this sliver.  You are a great friend to have in my first aid kit!

The Oil Healed My Cut!

I have to tell you all what happened to me today.  So I was fixing lunch for my kids when the lid of a can after I opened it sliced the top of my knuckle on my hand!  I took this picture after I had washed it off, it was bleeding really bad (gushing) and I was getting quite nauseated by all the blood.  I wondered why it was taking so long to clot and remembered how well the Lavender with Lemon essential oil worked when I used it for Tye's nose bleed (stopped it in under a minute).  I decided to try the doTerra Lavender Essential Oil on my cut directly, just a drop or two.  It was amazing!  Clotted in 15 seconds or less without any more issues!  I am so grateful that I decided to try to use these oils for as many things as possible.  I used oils before that were not Certified Pure, and always had to use them in conjunction with other natural remedies.  These Pure Oils are pure enough that they work without needing anything else with them.  They are amazing and have actually made day to day life and its little emergencies so much easier.  I can't imagine the extent of their importance if we were to have a big emergency - like a natural disaster where doctors weren't readily available!

Our New Venture

I am finishing writing my book on helpful smart solutions for mothers soon and we have had it in our plans to teach courses on the topics that I cover in my book.  I started this blog for some of the topics I cover in my book, tips and tricks, and to sell or recommend the different health products I recommend through vigorous research and personal results (so they are only things we've used and fervently believe in).

Its funny because we found a company that sells Certified Pure Therapeutic Grade Essential Oils (called doTerra) and it has the option for being a distributor and teaching health courses as well.  They are definitely on top of their game because most of their information that they distribute actually falls in line with the extensive research that I have done.  It seems like a lot of people and places overlook much of the research that has been done on health, so this is a very good perk.

We have decided to teach, distribute, and lead others to do the same when they desire to (and if not, we can help people get the products at wholesale pricing). We feel like we are entrepreneurs, teachers, and leaders at heart and are so excited to do this and share it with everyone!  Hopefully we will be able to travel as a family this summer because of this too.  That would be so fun!

Here is a video of me opening the enrollment kit that gave me a bunch of free product along with the ability to purchase everything at wholesale prices (technically below wholesale because I earn points toward free product with every purchase).

Essential Oils a Scam? Part 2

To Read Part One Click Here:  Essential Oils a Scam? Part 1

An essential oil from the market may say 100% pure essential oil, but in actuality it is not pure.  There are tests given on oils to actually know if they are pure: Gas Chromatography testing along with testing on Specific Gravity, Optical Rotation and Refractive Index.  If there is a warning that the oil should not be taken internally be very wary of its purity and safety levels.  The ones that are Food Grade Truly Pure Essential Oils are the ones that are safest to use.  In America there are very few companies that are truly pure.  Why does it really matter and how do they get away with saying 100% if its not 100% that oil?  This was my question for a while, as I used the cheaper oils from the market that I knew were not as pure (only for external and distilling uses though).  More research on this topic led me to learn that when the plants are taken to derive oils from them they are actually placed into lots of chemicals.  These chemicals force the plant to produce more oil than what is naturally possible without them, causing the un-pure essential oils to contain toxic chemicals that do not need to be listed on the label.  Hence the don't eat warning.  These chemicals may also be harmful for use externally and when distilled so be careful.  My two favorite brands of essential oils that are "Food Grade Pure" and that I've put some research into are DoTerra and TRUessence as you can see in some of the other sections of this site.

Once I became more comfortable using the oils as a mother they helped my family so much.  We went through a time period when my 2 oldest kids pretty much constantly were re-catching whooping cough.  Those of you who have dealt with this sickness before probably know how dangerous and scary it can turn out to be for children ages 3 and 1.  I was so worried and found out from our doctor that this disease was a viral infection.  Antibiotics don't do anything for viral infections so I was on my own with doing other nutritional things.  I did some research and found out that Food Grade Pure Oregano is an amazing essential oil that not only boosts the immune system but also helps fight and kill off both bacterial and viral infections.  This was my answer.  One drop in a big glass of water, swished around, dumped out, then re-filled with more water (so very dilluted).  I put that in a squirter thing, gave them a dose of the oregano water 3 times a day, and it made it so that instead of a 10 day sickness, it became only a 3 day sickness.  That year they caught 10 or so strains of that same whooping cough, and now I feel like a pro at getting rid of it quick and easy.

As I've said before and I'll say again though in another post YOU have the power to heal YOU!  Nothing else can ultimately heal you besides you, other things can help your body kick into gear to heal itself though, and that is what we ultimately want from any care, including essential oils.  Essential Oils are something that help push our body closer to a state of internal strength.  They do things for us physically & emotionally, and on the sidelines can also effect us spiritually & psychologically for the better.

In conclusion, there are essential oil scams out there, but the scams are not from the Food Grade Essential Oil distributors, but rather the distributors of cheep chemically derived oils from local markets and health stores.  Just make sure to do your research on each brand and distributor before spending your hard earned money, then enjoy all the numerous benefits of using truly pure essential oils.  

To Read Part One Click Here:  Essential Oils a Scam? Part 1
To Read Research on Essential Oils Click Here:  Research on Essential Oils