In a developed country like here in the US and many other countries, when one is confronted with pain, one often heads out to the nearest drugstore, pharmacy, or apothecary to purchase medications and creams to soothe away the aches and pains. We are all too quick to reach out for a pill, trusting that it will make the pain go away. And when it comes to aching and tight muscles, we don’t hesitate to call on something like ibuprofen. But did it ever occur to you that there are ways from Mother nature herself to deal with pain without you needing to reach for the conventional type medications, most of which also include other chemical content as well?
I know personally I am very anti pharma after coming out of a two week hospital stay addicted to Dilaudid several years ago. I don’t have any horror stories to share about how I was so dependent that I drained my family’s bank account and started robbing people to pay for illicit drugs. I did however come home and spend the next week virtually sleepless with the shakes and cold sweats while I was attempting to recover from a colon resection. After seeing how easy it was to let these drugs take hold of you I vowed never to make casual use of them. They are a last resort in this house.
We don’t need to go take them usually. There ARE other alternatives.
Have you ever considered that plants from nature have the capacity to heal not only light pain but chronic and serious pain too? Essential oils are miracle workers, getting down to business and penetrating your cells quickly, providing you with oxygen and even improving the circulation to your joints that are writhing in pain from inflammation.
Essential oils are highly effective because they get absorbed directly into your bloodstream, getting down to work straight away – they go past your digestive system. It’s no wonder that essential oils have been used for centuries already to help in the effective use of aches and pains. Many of the plants used for essential oils already contain pain-relieving ingredients in them that so many pharmaceutical companies use in their synthetic pain relievers. But the fantastic news about essential oils is that they have far, far fewer side effects than the synthetic pharmaceutical products contain, being so easily accepted by the body. Essential oils are compatible with the human proteins in our bodies, and they are chemically structured in similar ways as that of human cells – even having a similar type of hormone compounds. Essential oils also have tiny amounts of chemical structures in them so that as you apply it to your body, they start reaching the cells of your body straight away, within a few minutes, helping the body to start its recovery and healing.
Essential oils that assist you with pain are homeostatic. What does this mean? It means that they are complex, not able to disturb your body’s normal, natural balance. Pharmaceutical drugs are synthetic; therefore, they have a huge capacity to disrupt your body’s homeostasis. This means that when you start drinking a lot of synthetic drugs for instance for headaches, the kidneys need to start working overtime to deal with the intake of the synthetic drugs. Because they are suffering, they react – and that straight away starts disturbing your body’s homeostasis.
Medications for pain like antibiotics can be very harmful to you because the work of the kidneys is to flush out waste. Some of these synthetic medications prevent the kidneys from doing their job properly. Diuretics and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory type drugs have been known to cause up to 5% of kidney failure in people every year.
Instead of a pill bottle look into these instead…
Essential Oils for Pain Relief
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- BASIL is an uplifting and energizing plant and it has both muscle relaxing and anti-inflammatory benefits as well.
- PEPPERMINT just sounds so calming and cool and that’s exactly what it is, offering anti-inflammatory benefits. It helps the gallbladder.
- WINTERGREEN: Sometimes when we are on the sports fields, we can often catch the smell of wintergreen, but it is because it pays special attention to problems like a herniated disk, neck pain, nerve pain and carpal tunnel pain as well.
- CLOVE: This little plant literally does wonders for tooth pain, it improves your memory and it is anti-aging too. If you suffer from rheumatism and arthritis pain, check out what cloves can do for you.
- LAVENDER: Relaxing lavender balances the body and helps to fight against inflammation.
- SANDALWOOD: When you are all tensed up, sandalwood will come to your rescue, relaxing you and helping you to overcome depression as well.
- ROMAN CHAMOMILE will help you over the stress and anxiety associated with muscle pain as it is a relaxant, it is anti-inflammatory and detoxifying,
- MARJORAM will sooth pains and aches associated with muscular cramps.
- ROSEMARY is wonderful for the memory but is known to soothe muscle soreness as well.
- THYME helps you overcome fatigue and is excellent for rheumatism.
Wintergreen, as mentioned above, is a very well-known pain reliever. It comprises of around 90% Methyl Salicylate and when you rub it onto your affected painful areas, the Methyl Salicylate kind of causes a soothing aesthetic effect on your nerves. Wintergreen also increases blood circulation, bringing delicious warmth to the painful area. It is said to even have cortisone-type of effects which go towards relieving pain in rapid time. Whilst soothing your pain, wintergreen relaxes and uplifts your mood too. Aren’t these sufficient enough reasons to let nature intervene and do the curing?
What about Helichrysum This is another powerful pain reliever containing big amounts of Neryl Acetate in it. The main components of this amazing plant relieve pain and soothe trauma, being an antispasmodic as well. Spasms occurring in the muscles are unbalanced and unwanted, and they manifest by painful cramping. Even severe stomach cramps can get quick relief from Helichrysum.
Make your own pain relieving balm
Ingredients
8 oz sweet almond oil or avocado oil
5-10 drops of the above essential oil(s)
Instructions
Measure out your oil into a cobalt or amber glass bottle. Add your essential oils, shaking gently. Rub this onto your sore muscles or pained areas in circular movements until absorbed. Apply up to around 3 times a day as required.
In the USA, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) doesn’t regulate essential oils, meaning that essential oil products can vary according to different manufacturers. These will vary according to their strength, purity and quality. That is why is it important that you only use top quality essential oils from manufacturers you know and trust.
