They are cropping up everywhere. In every store, every magazine, there is invariably an ad or display for essential oils. Most people think they are a fad, or a passing phase, yet essential oils have been used for hundreds of years and with much succcess.

I started using essential oils a few years back, after two years of being back and forth to the doctors with my middle son. He had asthma and allergies that developed when he was about eight years old. The asthma wasn’t bad, but the allergies were horrendous. He was on allergy shots twice a week, nasonex, advair, singular, flonase and zyrtec every day. Yet, each day, he would sneeze for hours, his nose would always run and each week at the allergist they would be sure he had an infection. The doctor said that the allergy shots should be working, and with all the medicine that he was on, it should be having an optimal effect on combating the symptoms. So, they would have him blow his nose into kleenex, often requiring more than one kleenex, as he was quite filled with junk. The doctor would put the clear, whilte slime under the microscope, and come back with the same answer. This boy is full of allergy. There is no hint of infection, these are all allergy cells, better known as eosinophils.

I knew that I didn’t like the way my son was on all these medicines. His personality was already laid back, and now he was always in a complete stupor because he was so tired from all the medicine. The allergy shots would leave his arm feeling sore and sometimes quite swollen for days. I knew there had to be a better way.

I went on my quest to find any other remedies for his allergies. Since, when he would have a bad allergy attack, he would end up with ear and sinus infections. He was already deathly allergic to two main antibiotic lines, and I hated for him to have to be on an antiobiotic.

That is where the essential oils came in. I researched for months. What I found is that most oils, claim to have health benefits, but few are labled therapeutic. Hardly any are labeled safe for ingestion. I’m not here to sell any oils, or any brand, I am here to inform you of what I use, and why I use them. The safety and efficacy of each one.