If anyone were an expert on the topic of pain and the relief from it, I believe I hold a Ph.D on the subject. To help paint a picture so that you understand, let me take you back a bit in time...
In 2006, I was in the second semester of my first year in college. I was a dance major, of course, because I had spent the majority of my childhood dancing both recreationally and competitively. The vast majority of my classes were dance-which was awesome for me. I got to major in the very thing that I considered "fun" instead of work. I vividly remember the day I walked across the campus with a blank stare in my eyes, almost like a zombie. I had just dropped all of my dance classes due to a recent diagnosis of spondylolesthesis. In a moment, my dance career had come to a screeching halt and I had also just lost a whole semester of college with these classes now dropped. Walking through the crowds of people I thought "What am I going to do now?" I remember flipping through a catalogue of other college majors. Nothing else appealed to me. Nothing. In a moment, all of my dreams, aspirations, and plans for my future in dance were gone. It was sheer panic. I was used to functioning (and dancing) in a large amount of pain, but this was different. Everything changed. From the way I showered, got dressed, walked...everything. Learning to do life all over again to avoid escalating pain became my M.O.
Fast forward to 2012. I had been teaching and practicing Pilates for a few years now. It was the only thing that rehabilitated my back to the point of having some normal life. After completing a front splits on a reformer, I moved over to the ladder barrel to do my ballet stretches. As I was in a deep side bend, I felt my vertebrae actually slip forward, pinching and pushing on my spinal chord. The pain was so horrific that it made it almost impossible to be present and alive in my body in that moment. The next day, my emergency spinal fusion surgery was scheduled, I was sent to bed for 2.5 weeks, and my life as a "normal" person was over once again.
I did not have a normal recovery. In fact, I didn't have one at all. I bounced around from doctor to doctor, and pain specialist to pain specialist. I was getting worse in PT and knew there was a serious problem. At this point, the pain was so bad that I could not function. After 1 year post-op, I was finally diagnosed with chronic pain (which was no surprise to me). Chronic pain is the closest I believe a human being comes to experiencing a pit of hell, trapped inside the prison of their own body. There is no key to let you out, no remedy or solution. You name it, I tried it: epidurals, injections, medications, etc. I was even hospitalized for kidney failure shortly after the surgery from all of the medication I was on. I was in a catch 22: take medication (that doesn't offer tremendous relief and apparently shuts down my kidneys) or take nothing-an option I didn't have. My friends and family have always characterized me as a happy, bubbly, energetic (I was a cheerleader after all!), and outgoing person. By this time, I was sinking into a black hole of depression, as I saw no way out. No doctor I went to had any answers. And I went to a lot of them-locally and out of town.
Then one day, after being connected with the right person, I was told that my fusion failed, I was severely allergic to the hardware in my back, the screws in my back were coming loose, and they were also placed incorrectly inside of me. I was heading into surgery #2. After falling apart, I picked myself back up, checked myself into the hospital, and began the whole circus all over again.
After my now second back surgery, I was back in the medication dillemma again. Take my desperately needed pain killers, or wake up vomiting every morning- something that my newly flayed black was not liking at all. I turned to the holistic world for alternative pain relief. I tried literally everything I could think of: meditation, herbs, massage, chiropractic, acupuncture, etc. And the good news is that all of those work. Although I highly recommend all of these healing modalities, I still needed lasting pain relief- especially in between sessions. And it is hard to beat the relief that I would get from narcotics. I had a friend in the essential oil business who gave me a sample of a soothing essential oil blend. I thought it was very sweet of her, but didn't have high hopes that it would actually help. I mean, come on, they're essential oils for crying out loud. How effective can they actually be? I was used to the big leagues of pain killers, and I was taking them around the clock. A bit skeptical, I slathered a good amount across my low back. Almost instantaneously my pain was GONE. Yes, you read that correctly-GONE. In one moment, I dramatically decreased the amount of narcotics I was taking and eventually was able to stop taking them all together! I used to wake up in the morning, stiff and sore, and reach for pain killers just to be able to get out of bed and walk (sometimes with a walker). And now, in a matter of minutes, my pain completely disappeared. Using this blend of essential oils has allowed me to start driving, go to physical therapy, social events, sleep through the night, and get up in the morning. Sounds like a steep claim for some hippy oils, but honestly, at this point in my life I have no agenda to promote anything other than staying out of pain.
Perhaps you have experienced chronic or acute pain yourself, or have watched a loved one suffer through the same thing. You may be tired of taking pain killers and all of the side effects: nausea, drowsiness, depression, and an inability to drive-making you dependent on those around you. What do you have to lose? Give essential oils a try! I personally, 100% recommend them and would like to offer the same healing benefits to you!
If you are interested in purchasing or learning more about essential oils, please email me through the "Contact Me" page on this site.