Flea Bites and Essential Oils

Before we begin here, I'll warn you that there are pictures of my infected feet that some might find gross. But, my purpose here is to tell and show you yet another successful personal experience using essential oils.

This last summer (2013), my husband and I went to visit my family in Utah for a couple months. It was a wonderful visit and we wanted to stay longer, but we had to head back to Tennessee to work again. A couple weeks before we decided to go back home, my husband's 12 year old family dog, Lil'Bit, got infected with fleas.

Lil'Bit was a mostly outdoors dog, despite being a Chihuahua. We were living at his parent's house on the farm, and Lil'Bit loved to wander the farm, so who knows what kind of flea-infested animals he decided to become friends with while he was out and about. The point is, he got fleas. By the time my husband and I got home from Utah, the fleas were completely out of control.

I don't know why, but I was the only one in my family who experienced any reaction from the flea bites. Within days, I had over a hundred bites on my legs and feet only. And they itched! No one else was having any major problems with the pests. My husband and his parents only had a few bites, and they didn't bother them too bad. However, I was being tortured. It was the kind of torture that was slow and creeping, increasing in intensity with each day. I hardly slept for two weeks. I couldn't lay down and relax, even in my own bed. So, obviously, that took quite a toll on my sanity. I felt like I was going crazy.

I had tried EVERYTHING to get rid of the fleas, doing everything from vacuuming to natural solutions to poisonous flea bombs. Nothing worked, not even the bombs. (From the hours of research I did on killing fleas during my sleepless nights, I found that fleas are very difficult to get rid of, and when developing inside their cocoon, they are nearly impossible to kill.) Essential oils did a great job of repelling them, and I was able to snag a few hours of sleep at a time by covering my body with Eucalyptus or Peppermint essential oil before bed.

I wish there was a success story for me to tell about getting rid of the fleas with essential oils...  but there was just something very strange about the fleas that were invading us. We tried natural remedies, as well as a few brands of flea poisons. Nothing worked. Our neighbor also had fleas, but were able to simply get rid of them by spraying Eucalyptus essential oil mixed with water on all surfaces throughout the house. Those fleas were gone within days and never came back. I had tried that multiple times, but I think the infestation was already too out of control, which is why it didn't work for me. Now, it did repel them, but it didn't get rid of them.

Anyway, within about a week of getting flea bites, I noticed a few of my bites were becoming these huge blisters. After a few days, my legs were covered  with those huge, itchy, and painful blisters. My legs, ankles, and feet were swollen and I could barely even wear flip flops.

This is my right foot at its worst.

 (My left foot a few days after I took the picture of my right foot.)

I decided that I couldn't do this anymore. Nothing was working. My mother in law was in Utah during the time all this was happening. She is an herbalist and knows a ton about health issues and how to resolve them naturally. I took pictures of my feet and sent them to her and explained what was going on. She determined that there was something wrong with my lymphatic system and for some reason, it was clogged up and not able to clean the toxins from my blood. So when I got bitten by the fleas, the toxins were not cleared out, but rather just stayed and festered in my skin. My mother in law suggested that I try a detoxification blend of oils and herbs. 

Along with taking the detox blend multiple times daily, I also had to change my diet. I had to eat all natural foods, meaning I couldn't go out to eat, or eat frozen pre-prepared food. Everything was made from scratch. I may have cheated a couple times, but for the most part, I was diligent in sticking with my diet. I also took hour long baths with lemon essential oil and Epsom salt, sometimes up to twice daily.

Within a few days, I started noticing a HUGE difference. My legs and feet weren't swollen, and the blisters were starting to reduce.

(This is about four days after taking the Zendocrine, changing my diet, and taking Epsom salt baths with Lemon essential oils.)

(Both feet together after 5 or 6 days of taking Zendocrine, changing my diet, and taking Epsom salt baths with Lemon essential oils. There are still red dots which are scars and scabs from the blisters, but barely any festering blisters present.)

(A side by side comparison of my feet...The worst being at the left and the healed at the right.The red dots on my healed feet are the scars from the blisters.)

Shortly after I started taking the essential oils and changing my diet, I had a friend in the military who suggested to me that I get a concentrated poison that the Army uses for the soldiers out in the field to keep fleas out of their sleeping bags, clothes, etc. I was hesitant to use poison in the home, but I also had no choice. I bought the concentrated poison and sprayed it directly on the floors, tiles, mattresses, couches... everywhere I could reach. The fleas immediately reduced by 3/4 and when I sprayed for the second time a few days later, they were gone. I sprayed a third time a week later... just in case. (Can you blame me??) We've never had a problem with the fleas again.

As of December 31st, 2013, it has been about over 3 months since this happened.  My scars have slowly disappeared... the scars from the most infected blisters are still present. I'm so happy I was able to figure out what my problem was and able to take care of my body's problems in the healthiest way possible. What I learned from this experience is that it's important to take care of your body in the best way possible. The reason why I had a problem with my lymphatic system was most likely because of years of toxic buildup from eating fast food or unhealthy foods in excess, as well as taking many medications that were not good for me. With the essential oils and my diet and exercise improvements, the problem was 100 percent resolved. 

The amazing thing is that after I did my detoxing, I noticed that I stopped reacting horribly to mosquito bites. All my life, if I got bitten by a mosquito, I'd swell up so much it'd look like I had a golf ball or a tennis ball under my skin, and it would be hard and hot to the touch. It would last for days too. Well, after my detox, when I got bit by mosquitoes, I noticed that the bites itched a little and bumped up slightly, but then was gone the next day and didn't bother me anymore. 

I'm so happy to have yet another success story with essential oils. They have blessed me tremendously throughout this past year and are SO worth looking into, if you haven't yet. 

If you want more information, or have any comments or questions, please feel free to contact me at journeytopersonalfreedom@gmail.com