Newsletters » Prescription Meds vs Essential Oils

Essential Oils Work in Harmony

I receive a steady number of emails from those who want to understand the differences between using pharmaceuticals and essential oils. I hope this little "science" lesson helps us understand better the how, why, strengths and weaknesses of both.

A cell is the smallest living unit in the body, and your body is made up of trillions of cells that communicate and work together to make up the larger structure known as an organism. Depending on the type of cell, cells lead very different types and lengths of lives. Many cells that live in your esophagus (the "food tube" between your mouth and stomach) live only two to three days. Cells in your large intestine live up to six days. This means that there are many new cells forming and many cells dying every day to maintain the function of any tissue-organ system. Some cells live longer, such as red blood cells that typically live for about 120 days, and some nerve cells live as many years as you will.

In many ways, the cell is like a mini person. It has skin, brains, organs to support its life functions and has a need to eat, drink, breathe, excrete, sense, respond, communicate and maintain balance. Even through the cell has its own life, its very life serves the larger organism in some way. It does not live for itself, but for the whole.

Some cells, such as red blood cells, work primarily in transportation. Some cells work to break down food; some work against microbial invaders, while others work to coordinate the movement of the body. For any structure or function of the body, a cell is somewhere playing a part. Our amazingly organized bodies coordinate all of this with little or no conscious effort on our part.

Our cells and body systems communicate with each other in two ways: 1) electrically with neurons via the nervous system (like a text message) and 2) by hormones, peptides, neurotransmitters, steroids and other molecules that travel about carrying messages via chemicals through the endocrine system (such as a courier service).

When a fast response is needed, such as reaching out to pet a dog that suddenly snaps and lunges toward you, your nervous systems zips out a text message, and your reflexes cause you to jump back. Other activities can be handled by the courier system where instructions are passed to the cells chemically by means of hormones, for example.

The gateways into each cell's memory are called receptor sites, and each cell has tens of thousands of these receptor sites. Dr. David Stewart describes it well: "Each receptor site has specific functions and a lock that requires a specific key. For a hormone or other information-carrying molecule to pass its information to a cell, it has to hold the right key. That is why a specific hormone can circulate throughout the body and affect only the cells for which its key was designed to fit."*

Pharmaceutical medications are designed to block specific receptor sites or to pass false information to certain cells to persuade the body to give up symptoms. A commonly used medication for allergies are antihistamines, which are designed to block the histamine receptors so that our body doesn't produce mucous. What many fail to understand is that symptoms are not the problem; they are the messengers that are trying to get our attention. Dr. Stewart explains poignantly: "Instead of trying to interpret the message and address the root of the problem, they kill the messenger."

Essential oils, however, work in harmony with our body to clean receptor sites (phenylpropanoids), erase incorrect information in the cellular memory (sesquiterpenes) and restore our Creator's original information into the DNA (monoterpenes). Essential oils don't trick or lie to our cells; they resonate with truth and stimulate the body to come into balance.

For chronic health issues, using pharmaceuticals that trick our cells and contradict each other, possibly creating confusion and imbalance, may eliminate symptoms without resolving the root problem. Essential oils work with each other toward the same goal of restoring health. You can safely apply numerous essential oils on your body at one time because they move in harmony with each other and speak the truth to your cells. There are no contradictions when there are no lies.

May the Lord continue to bless your journey to gain and maintain good health,

Linda