Oil Essentials: Why Lavender Essential Oil is my Favorite

In my quest to help people find practical ways to use natural remedies, I never imagined I'd be taken to task so quickly on it!

About 2 weeks ago, I began to experience some leg pain going up into my back across my kidneys. I wasn't sure what it was about. I hadn't done anything to tweak my back, or so I thought, but you know how things like that happen! Suddenly, my ankle began to blow up as well.

"Could it be the all of these bug bites I acquired the weekend before walking out near in a grassy area?" I had asked my mom.

"Definitely," she said.  THAT had not really occurred to me.

I was still unsure of the reason for the back pain. I could not really find a definitive source for answering my questions about a possible infection from a bug bite. So, while I waited it out, I took some Benadryl out of desperation because I didn't really know what else to do. But, it did nothing and only made me tired.


After a few hours, I decided that if it were just a back injury, possibly something was happening to cause the swelling and I went in for an adjustment at my chiropractor. This did help quite a bit. It was here that doc suggested he could not find anything wrong with me, so he concurred it must be the insect bites causing this pain.

After leaving there, the swelling went down a bit, but I started to feel nauseous and became paranoid that something had gotten into my blood. He had suggested some Epsom salt baths and to keep my foot up. I ran a bath, and my dad brought me some Epsom salt because I was afraid to drive. After he eyeballed me, I knew I looked pretty rough. So, I went to the medicine cabinet and pulled out this:
  I knew I needed to calm down and lavender is my all-time favorite essential oil. It's the first one I'd ever used and I'm attracted to it's smell. People have accused me of being calm, but I assure you I am not. I'm high on lavender usually! (Kidding.) However, I have also read about the analgesic and anti-fungal properties of lavender as well. And to me, this seemed like the perfect addition to my Epsom salt bath.

I wish I would have thought that I might blog about this later so I could show you before and after photos. However, within a few minutes of placing my foot in that bath, soaking it and laying back down. I began to feel much better and the swelling began to go down even further!

The Lavender Oil was that right thing to add. Not only did I calm down, but it added a great bit of reassurance that if there was any sort of infection that was about to brew that Friday night and landing me in the ER the next morning, I could rest assured it assisted the Epsom salt in drawing it out of me.

Just this past June I was able to take a class while the lavender was in bloom out at my favorite local herb farm, Red Road Herbs. And we made Lavender Wands, which are supposed to keep their fragrance for years!  I also keep it handy at my desk to reach out for during a stressful work day!

I'd love to hear your favorite practical ways to use lavender!

 Photo Credit: Red Road Herbs