Jana's into Essential oils....

[Cheetah]

This was on Jessa's instagram: http://websta.me/p/784708198594378066_1357320893

Caption is that Jana made something out of her essential oils to help Jessa's cough.

Sigh... I guess this doesn't really surprise me... seems to be the fundie thing to do at the moment...

[coffeebean7]

I didn't realize it was a fundie thing, but I have some very religious friends and they love doterra.

I don't really see the problem with it though and feel like I'm missing something? I don't know that essential oils do much but I think it's pretty harmless. I also don't think the Duggars are against things like cough syrup, tylenol...are they?

[Geechee Girl]

I'm surprised the fundies haven't jumped into Amway yet.

[PennySycamore]

I'm surprised the fundies haven't jumped into Amway yet.

Some of them have. I think the family that started Amway are fun dies.

[Cheetah]

I didn't realize it was a fundie thing, but I have some very religious friends and they love doterra.

I don't really see the problem with it though and feel like I'm missing something? I don't know that essential oils do much but I think it's pretty harmless. I also don't think the Duggars are against things like cough syrup, tylenol...are they?

It's the latest snake oil.

Not that it isn't useful for minor complaints, but it's become a big MLM and in order to be successful they have to keep selling more and more, and they keep upping the claims. One FB friend, who should know better (met her in college, at a top-25 US university...) keeps posting testimonials and lately they've really been over the top.. e.g., certain oils can cure scoliosis, or prevent sunburn.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

Essential oils are miraculous for third degree burns and Ebola, from what I've read.

[Antimony]

My best friend in high school was Wiccan and I was really stuffed up one day and she made me an herb/oil sachet and boy, it really cleared me out. Whew. The oil school doesn't not work, as it were, but it is no replacement for real medicine.

I also found a really religious site (can't link cause I read it on mobile, my internet is pretty slow) that details how to use essential oils to spice up your (biblical) marriage and includes bible quotes. Ooooooohhh. :stir-pot:

[FoxyMoxie]

The whole essential oil trend isn't harmless if people are giving bad or false advice about what essential oils can cure and how to use them. Essential oils should not be taken internally, for starters, and the only ones you should use neat on your skin are lavender and tea tree. All other essential oils need carrier oils (like olive or coconut oil) and to be used externally only, and not as a replacement for actual medicine. There's no harm in many traditional remedies and some do work, but they do not replace professional medical advice and treatment.

The Duggars (as we know) do use conventional medicine, but I am concerned at them maybe influencing others into relying on essential oils alone. Also the idea that one particular brand works better than others is nonsense.

[alba]

The whole essential oil trend isn't harmless if people are giving bad or false advice about what essential oils can cure and how to use them. Essential oils should not be taken internally, for starters, and the only ones you should use neat on your skin are lavender and tea tree. All other essential oils need carrier oils (like olive or coconut oil) and to be used externally only, and not as a replacement for actual medicine. There's no harm in many traditional remedies and some do work, but they do not replace professional medical advice and treatment.

The Duggars (as we know) do use conventional medicine, but I am concerned at them maybe influencing others into relying on essential oils alone. Also the idea that one particular brand works better than others is nonsense.

QFT.

I tend to think essential oils (as well as herbal remedies) are, with appropriate knowledge of their risks, great options for complaints that are irritating, but not doctor-worthy, and a cough does fall into this category. As you said, though, they shouldn't be taken internally.

[Irish13]

Not all essential oils are created equal. There are in fact different levels of quality between brands of essential oils. When working with quality oils from Young Living or doTerra (though personally I would only use Young Living) most oils can be taken internally. I rarely use a carrier oil as only a few irritate with out being diluted.

Usually I am a 'to each their own' type of person, but I really hate it when people who know absolutely nothing about something complete dismiss it out of hand.

I am excited to hear that Jana is into Essential oils. She has something that is her's, it's wonderful.

[Evilbad]

You must be a rep, lol.

[Shamrock]

I had to post a comment there. Hopefully it's read and taken to heart.

"You're not supposed to ingest oils unless under supervision of a trained aromatherapist. They are better diffused or used with an essential oil inhaler. I love my oils, but they are better not being ingested! :)"

(If anyone is interested, there is a FB group called Using Essential Oils Safely with a lot of good info. There are also oils that absolutely should not be used on kids or kids under a certain age. No, i don't sell oils or own this FB group.)

[pega127]

I'm surprised the fundies haven't jumped into Amway yet.

OR Thirty One Gifts. I am a consultant for that company. It's a Christian based home business. With their thousands of contacts; success would happen easily for them!

[lagenialester]

The whole essential oil trend isn't harmless if people are giving bad or false advice about what essential oils can cure and how to use them. Essential oils should not be taken internally, for starters, and the only ones you should use neat on your skin are lavender and tea tree. All other essential oils need carrier oils (like olive or coconut oil) and to be used externally only, and not as a replacement for actual medicine. There's no harm in many traditional remedies and some do work, but they do not replace professional medical advice and treatment.

The Duggars (as we know) do use conventional medicine, but I am concerned at them maybe influencing others into relying on essential oils alone. Also the idea that one particular brand works better than others is nonsense.

^this. Some people have told me to use essential oils on my daughter's hemangioma and I roll my eyes at them so hard. A) It's a vascular tumor, not some sort of superficial scab and B) I'm not going to rub potentially harmful oils onto my infant's sensitive skin.

It's sort of "trendy" now, but when done properly and thoroughly researched it can help in some instances.

[Hooligan]

QFT.

I tend to think essential oils (as well as herbal remedies) are, with appropriate knowledge of their risks, great options for complaints that are irritating, but not doctor-worthy, and a cough does fall into this category. As you said, though, they shouldn't be taken internally.

A cough means something. One should check out a cough with a physician before using snake oil. Even then it is best to clear your home remedy with your doctor before using. There can be huge contraindications for individuals.

[Swamptribe]

OMG, the Duggars show all the signs of being witches....

http://mentalfloss.com/article/55276/17 ... witch-1692

[FoxyMoxie]

QFT.

I tend to think essential oils (as well as herbal remedies) are, with appropriate knowledge of their risks, great options for complaints that are irritating, but not doctor-worthy, and a cough does fall into this category. As you said, though, they shouldn't be taken internally.

Actually if you've had a cough for three weeks or longer, you should see your GP. Coughs can definitely be doctor-worthy!

[FiddleDD]

I had to post a comment there. Hopefully it's read and taken to heart.

"You're not supposed to ingest oils unless under supervision of a trained aromatherapist. They are better diffused or used with an essential oil inhaler. I love my oils, but they are better not being ingested! :)"

(If anyone is interested, there is a FB group called Using Essential Oils Safely with a lot of good info. There are also oils that absolutely should not be used on kids or kids under a certain age. No, i don't sell oils or own this FB group.)

THANK YOU. I was taking classes with an accredited school that actually uses science in teaching herbal remedies and essential oils, but have gotten so frustrated with alternative medicine as a whole. There is so much actual science behind specific herbs/oils but people don't want to hear that.

And they definitely don't want to hear about the contraindications of them. I feel sick to my stomach when I read of people using pure, undiluted peppermint essential oil on their infants when I know it can cause respiratory distress in children under the age of six. (a pdf can be found here listing references: http://www.longwoodherbal.org/peppermint/peppermint.pdf)But some DoTerra or Young Living rep with absolutely no training told them it was okay, so clearly it's fine. :angry-banghead: (while doing a google search for the information I found a DoTerra rep telling someone why their ultra pure oil was fine to use on babies...because clearly their super special peppermint oil doesn't contain menthol which is where the danger lies. :doh: )

And don't even get me started on internal use. :penguin-no:

[Phoenix]

Bad information on anything can be harmful, including how much water to drink, how to take RX drugs and the uses of infant formula (Nestle anyone?).

The key is BE INFORMED. I know several top notch aromatherapists (I am not one myself, nor do I sell any essential oils) and their educated use of high quality essential oils do come up with some helpful treatments from assisting in sleep to boosting moods or healing minor cuts and scrapes.

Think of using Vick's vapor rub, drinking Sleepy Time tea before bed or using Neosporin. Would any of these be a substitute for antibiotics for a cough, sleeping pills for chronic insomnia or stitches for a bad cut? No.

Do they have a place? Absolutely.

The problem with this debate is each side tends to take it to extremes citing all or nothing absurdities.

Doesn't hurt to remember most "real" or allopathic medicine drugs were originally based on plant extracted substances that are now amplified or fairly closely duplicated in laboratory based production. Valium, the wonder anti-anxiety drug of the 1950's was based off Valerian root.

Aspirin for that headache was based off willow bark powder whose effective ingredient is salicylic acid. The bottle of Bayer in your bathroom medicine cabinet contains salicylic acid as a an important active metabolite of aspirin (acetylsalicylic acid).

So taking a couple aspirin is not the same of noshing on some local willow branches, but had it's start in breaking down the active compounds.(Besides your local willow tree has probably been heavily sprayed and you don't want to be gulping down anti-pest products.)

Not everything natural in origin is "snake oil", nor is every drug always the best option. Those of us who have watched loved ones die of chemo poisoning are a bit reluctant to grab every drug offered but aren't about to treat an h. pylori caused ulcer with comfrey tea either.

Also if Jana is allowed to be interested in something that isn't solely tied to raising or having loads of children, be happy for her. Her world is so incredibly limited and not likely to expand (even with marriage) any time soon. Someday she might have to support herself and an early interest in essential oils could lead to something viable like becoming a pharmacy assistant.

[It'sFunToRun]

Did anyone read "Haunted" by Chuck Palahniuk? All this talk of essential oils reminds me of the "Foot Work" story. Speaking of "Haunted", "Guts" is my favorite short story ever. I so wish that I had written it! :worship:

[Rescinded and Mended]

I have a friend on Facebook that promotes DoTerra essential oils. Some of her suggestions for using the oils sounded good initially, but her posts have become increasingly far-fetched as she now touts them as cure-alls for everything.

It would make sense that she's posting like this if the leader of her team if pushing her to increase her sales.

And speaking of doing one's homework and being knowledgeable about these things, I can remember when my son was on chemo, there was an incident with a fundie-lite friend of mine. She sold Juice Plus, and told me that she was going to give me a basket of her products for my son to use as part of his cancer therapy.

Now, the premise behind Juice Plus is that it's dehydrated fruits and veggies in capsule form that are supposed to give you extremely high levels of Vitamin C, as well as other vitamins, antioxidants, and nutrients. My friend was telling me that all these studies had been done to show how effective Juice Plus was in helping cancer patients recover during chemo.

Problem is, we'd already discussed my son's vitamin intake with his doctors. With his specific type of cancer diagnosis, it's important not to exceed 100% of the daily recommended value for Vitamin C. Any more than that, and it interferes with the way the chemotherapy works and the chemo isn't as effective in killing cancer cells. One doctor told me she has dealt with patients that went on health kicks after they began chemo, and then had to start treatment completely over because the chemo wasn't working.

Anyway, I tried telling all this to my friend, and she got upset with me, insisting that her products were the best thing for my son and would not hurt him. She had a hard time grasping the idea that the doctor's advice on the matter should overrule her own, because, you know, education and all that. We said good-bye, and she never did turn up with her basket of Juice-Plus goodies. I guess the doctors and I hurt her feelings (and sales). :lol:

ETA: spelling

[neuroticcat]

I also seem to remember that Grandma Duggar is into all natural remedies. I remember one episode when they were all sick (chickenpox? flu, maybe?) and Grandma was there making everyone drink elderberry juice or something. And one of the kids made a comment that she was always trying natural cures.

So maybe there is some influence coming from there as well.

[samurai_sarah]

The whole essential oil trend isn't harmless if people are giving bad or false advice about what essential oils can cure and how to use them. Essential oils should not be taken internally, for starters, and the only ones you should use neat on your skin are lavender and tea tree. All other essential oils need carrier oils (like olive or coconut oil) and to be used externally only, and not as a replacement for actual medicine. There's no harm in many traditional remedies and some do work, but they do not replace professional medical advice and treatment.

The Duggars (as we know) do use conventional medicine, but I am concerned at them maybe influencing others into relying on essential oils alone. Also the idea that one particular brand works better than others is nonsense.

To add to your point: And even there, you want to be careful. ;) Tea tree oil is supposed to be harmless, but the allergic reactions I get are anything but. "Natural" doesn't mean "harmless". Arsenic is natural, so is cyanide. I learned the hard way that tea-tree oil and I don't gel. It's good against mosquitoes, but being able to see would have been lovely too...

[NotALoserLikeYou]

To add to your point: And even there, you want to be careful. ;) Tea tree oil is supposed to be harmless, but the allergic reactions I get are anything but. "Natural" doesn't mean "harmless". Arsenic is natural, so is cyanide. I learned the hard way that tea-tree oil and I don't gel. It's good against mosquitoes, but being able to see would have been lovely too...

I STUPIDLY put tea tree oil directly on my skin about a month ago. Some sites say its fine, some say it's too harsh. I don't know if it was an allergic reaction or just a reaction of the strong ttc, but it made me itch SO BAD. I was clawing at myself for days, causing....whatever you call it when the capillaries burst, all I can think of are hickeys lol. And it was on my fingers and I spread it all over my body. So like after my shower I put the ttc oil, used same fingers to put on lotion. Not to be graphic but it was on my vulva which caused me to scratch myself raw. I could barely even walk. It was misery. All from a small amount of TTC.

[Shamrock]

To add to your point: And even there, you want to be careful. ;) Tea tree oil is supposed to be harmless, but the allergic reactions I get are anything but. "Natural" doesn't mean "harmless". Arsenic is natural, so is cyanide. I learned the hard way that tea-tree oil and I don't gel. It's good against mosquitoes, but being able to see would have been lovely too...

Yes. I'm all for using natural remedies (and i do use them a lot of the time), but you need to be informed just like you do with prescription medications as even though it is natural, there can be drug interactions and allergic reactions especially with younger children. (And personally, i have to be careful with TTO as it is toxic to cats and i'd rather not kill by furry babies. :mrgreen: ). I'm thinking of taking Aromatherapy schooling as soon as i'm done with Massage therapy school, or even during.