Allergies

This right here is exactly why I love using essential oils in our home. I wish I had a better photo to share of Finn while he was at his worst, but I don’t. Last Friday Finn woke up with green gunk collecting in his left eye. I immediately thought it was a symptom of an ear infection as Kensi just had one with similar symptoms. Saturday morning came and I decided to take Finn in to our pediatrician’s office. Of course it being Saturday meant I had to do a walk in appointment and sat in the “sick section” with several kids wearing masks because they were running fevers and coughing up who knows what. I was cringing with every cough, sneeze and wipe. As any mother knows it’s the perfect brew as your toddler decides now in this moment, in this situation that he would really like to be wiggling, try to get down and nearly scream as he doesn’t get his way. All I could think about was what in the world am I doing here exposing him to all of this.

When we were finally called back the nurse practitioner checked him out and declared there was no ear infection. She diagnosed Finn with pink eye and I immediately sunk thinking 'crap, here we go with this stinkin' pink eye.' However, she informed me Finn didn’t have bacterial pink eye which is the always dreaded one that terrifies every parent and teacher. He was reacting to our pollen pop here in North Carolina. The poor kid inherited Mike’s awful allergies and just like his daddy it was affecting his eyes. So not only was I relieved it wasn’t contagious in the sense of THE pink eye, but I also learned there are three forms: bacterial, viral and allergic. Which now makes sense as I grew up I often would have a cold in my eye....viral pink eye. Finn had a combination of viral and allergic and the only medicine offered for him was an eye drop that's meant for bacterial pink eye, it wouldn’t do much for him according to the NP since his was not bacterial, but it would help with the redness. So now I was faced with another decision. Do I give him the antibiotic? I know so many people are probably rolling their eyes as they read this and saying duh! yes you take the antibiotic, but in my parents’ house we were taught to try a natural remedy first, then go to an antibiotc.

Together, Mike and I opted to skip the medication and instead looked to our essential oils. One of the things I love about essential oils is the community. It doesn’t matter where we are or who we’re under we’re all here to help each other. When I was trying to figure out what oils to use for Finn other than eucalyptus, I turned to my friend Hillary who recommended using lavender and purification. I created a blend and applied it above Finn’s brow line and a tiny bit on his cheek bones. I also rubbed a little breast milk on his eyes, I know that may sound crazy, but breastmilk has super powers and when I put it to work with my oils it was a dynamic duo. Within a day Finn was looking better. When I tried to take a photo of his eyes on Sunday night he was so irritated. Today is day three since using our oil blend and his eyes are nearly back to normal. Yes, he still has a little goop, but nothing like he had over the weekend...hopefully it doesn’t pass to Olivia or Kensi, but if it does I’m now equipped! By no means are the oils a cure all, but they may be able to help relieve some symptoms. I’m so thankful to have been introduced to essential oils as it’s changed the health of our family, home and lifestyle and the fact I have another option when my mom gut just says no, maybe there’s something better.