cruddy case of strep throat, also known as "Streptococcal pharyngitis". Symptoms include: body aches, fever of 101 degrees or higher, sore throat, and of course those delightful white or yellow patches that coat your tonsils and your throat. When these symptoms hit you, you can feel like the living dead and all you want to do is sleep and pop ibuprofen every 4-6 hours (depending on directions on the bottle, I am not a medical professional). Believe me when I say, antibiotics are not the way to go. Now, before you think I am trying to trick you and prolong your illness let me make one thing perfectly clear: I had strep throat three times in a five month period and I used antibiotics for the last time I had it (the first two times were just patches and no body aches so I wasn't as concerned).
I went to a walk-in clinic two Saturdays ago and sat in there for nearly an hour and a half to receive confirmation on what I already knew (my mother is a nurse) and received a prescription for antibiotics and something called "Magic Mouthwash". Now, maybe for some people these two remedies work out and you don't get strep for a good while as long as you practice good hygiene. As for me, it worked for all of the ten days I was on the antibiotics until three days after finishing the prescription I was sick yet again with strep throat.
At this point you get a little infuriated and really don't want to make a visit to the doctor again or even a walk-in clinic to ask for more antibiotics. This time I referred to my mother, the nurse, for another alternative. She mentioned some essential oil remedies from Young Living Everyday Oils, which I am going to admit I was very hesitant at first because I figured it was a bunch of ridiculous nonsense. Well, I wasn't willing to cough up another office visit payment just to get antibiotics that probably wouldn't work. You see, if you don't allow your body to build a natural immunity to it, it will learn to adapt to the medication and over power it. Again, I am not a medical professional but you can read more about how antibiotics may not work for everyone at WebMD.com.
Now, back to the essential oils I was talking about a few sentences ago; I honestly didn't believe it was going to work. It seemed a little too good to be true, quite honestly. However, I decided to give it a go and see where it took me.
First, my mother referred me to a natural gargle you can make with the Thieves essential oil.
This simple remedy is very easy and any one can follow it as long as you have a measuring cup, some filtered water, salt, the Thieves oil, and a cup to reserve for gargling. You simply just take 1/4 cup of warm (not hot because that is going to hurt) FILTERED water, and one spoonful of salt, one drop of the Thieves oil. Next you stir and gargle for 30 seconds and I know some people can't do 30 seconds all at once. The goal is to gargle all of the solution until it is gone. DO NOT THROW ANY AWAY! The direct link to this remedy can be found on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/367536019564497786/.
Now, after that is all said and done you can also try a warm, soothing drink also inspired by the Young Living Collection. Again, another very simple remedy that anyone can follow.
This simple remedy calls for another warm cup of filtered water, two drops of the Thieves oil, and one drop of the Lemon essential oil. This mixture is very soothing to the throat as well as the tonsils. Another benefit of this drink is how it helps numb the pain from your tonsils and throat and boosts your immune system to attack the bacteria residing on them. This remedy can also be found on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/366691594634171976/.
You can find both of these remedies on Pinterest or if you don't have a Pinterest account you can Google these remedies as well, as long as you include that they are inspired by the Young Living Essential Oils . I am currently not a vendor of this marketing opportunity but you can find one online or maybe even someone you know sells them.
Now, I know what you're thinking, how do you know that this is going to work out and kill the bacteria without having to take antibiotics from your primary care physician? Well, hold unto your hats and if you have a sensitive or easily queasy stomach don't look below.
I woke up at 2am on November 16th, 2014 to what you can see on the left (Before 11/16). Again, I was unwilling to go to the clinic again and suffer another round of antibiotics to most likely be disappointed yet again. At 4PM that same day I came home with the two essential oils mentioned above: Thieves and Lemon. Immediately, I created the gargle remedy above with the Thieves oil and finished the whole solution and waited 30 minutes before I made the second remedy with the Thieves and Lemon oil. However, instead of filtered water alone I brewed a 8 oz cup of organic green team and steamed lemonade to help multitask with killing the bacteria and sooth my throat. After twenty four hours I woke up on November 17th, 2014 to what you see on the right side above (After 24 Hrs). Now, while it still did hurt to swallow, though not as painfully bad, you can see a dramatic reduction in the white/yellow patches on the tonsils. Also, as you can see, the tonsils have reduced in size and are a little less inflamed. I will be updating this blog for the next twenty four to forty eight hours to keep track of my progress, so you can see that this actually does work.
*Disclaimer: I am not a medical professional and not a vendor of Young Living Essential Oils. This blog is purely from personal experience.*