I'm about to sound like an infomercial but I've been doing the awesomest thing ever! I started it a couple of weeks ago and have been amazed at the results. I've been miserable for almost an entire year from constant allergies and colds as my So Cal body has tried to acclimate to Washington. Apparently my body is not a fan of damp and mold. I've had a cough for almost 11 months that couldn't be explained and has kept me from singing - even in the car.
Doctors kept giving me pills and sprays and inhalers that didn't produce any kind of long-term results. I was told that I was going to have to "manage" this issue with daily medication for as long as we stay in Washington. Yeah, not really my style. I would much rather heal my body than treat symptoms. I recently restarted NAET treatments and that gave me some relief but I still wasn't as well as I could be. If you've never heard of NAET, check it out. Awesome non-invasive allergy-conquering modality. I was also still consulting with my beloved homeopath but we weren't finding any quick cures.
I was becoming resigned to just being sick until my body decided to allow itself to heal with the NAET and the homeopathy. My energy was low. I was completely frustrated and battling depression over the whole thing but didn't know where else to turn. Then, a couple of weeks ago, the Universe intervened, as it always does in it's own sweet time. I received an email from a relative who had heard about my woes through the family grapevine. She told me about this thing called Oil Pulling. You simply put some oil in your mouth twice a day and slowly pull it through your teeth for 30 minutes, spit it out, rinse with warm water and carry on. She said it had produced some great results for her in regards to her allergies and sinus problems.
I looked it up online and read about it some more. It seemed simple enough. The idea behind it is that bacteria, viruses and toxins in your body are pulled into the oil through your saliva. After the 30 minutes are up, you then spit out the oil and rinse with warm water. Online, people were reporting everything from healthier teeth and gums to arthritis relief. During visits to the dentist, they were asked what they were doing to make such a difference in their oral health and when they explained about the oil pulling, they were told to keep doing it. And the most noticeable side effect - at least to others? If you use coconut oil for your pulling, your teeth whiten naturally. Coconut oil is $5.99 at Trader Joe's. Way cheaper than Crest White Strips!
I figured I had nothing to lose. It's inexpensive, easy and one of those things that reportedly does not have any side effects if it doesn't work for you. Everyone has oil on hand, right? I started with sesame oil because I didn't have any coconut oil and there were a lot of online recommendations to start with sesame since it has a pleasant taste. It was an odd sensation at first. This is probably TMI but the more I share this with people, the more I get an, "I have that, too!" reaction so I'll confess it here. Due to constant sinus issues since I was a teenager, I've always had a white film on my tongue. I'm hyper-vigilant about brushing and always having gum or mints on hand to cover any possible breath issues - real or imagined. I've brushed my tongue with toothpaste, baking soda, warm water, etc. In my first oil pulling session, I felt that nastiness being pulled from my tongue and when I spit it out, I was almost in tears at seeing a healthy, pink tongue in my mirror! I've been oil pulling for two weeks now and the white layer still appears but it's showing up less and less. My mouth feels so much cleaner.
I used sesame and vegetable oil for a week and then made a trip to Trader Joe's to get the coconut oil. I was hesitant to try it at first because it comes in a solid form. Some websites recommended putting a tablespoon of it in a shot glass and then putting the shot glass in a shallow bowl of warm water to turn it to liquid but I would never do that every morning for more than a week. I am not a morning person and I know from experience that anything that shortens the amount of time I can sleep in the morning will be abandoned once the newness wears off. The relative who recommended the oil pulling to me said that she just puts a spoonful in her mouth and lets it melt so that's what I did. It's a funky sensation at first. Because it tastes like yummy coconut, you feel like you're supposed to eat it. I had to remind myself to just hold it in my mouth until it melted.
Well, I've been using it for a week now and folks, you would not believe how white my teeth are getting. I went to a new dentist today for a cleaning and the hygienist was shocked at how white they are. She also said that I had very little plaque/tartar and thought I was a regular flosser. Nope. I hate flossing. And the dental hygienist at my former dentist would always scold me for not flossing as she scraped away at my teeth so I know I don't come by low-plaque teeth naturally. The new hygienist asked if I did anything special to have such a healthy mouth and I told her about the coconut oil. She was very excited and said she'd be researching it herself that night and trying it to see if she wanted to recommend it to other patients.
And now the big question. After doing this for two weeks, twice a day for 30 minutes at a time, how is my health? I am happy to report that my coughing is significantly reduced. I really have no way to measure it scientifically but I'd say that there's a 90% improvement. I still have brief coughing fits but they happen maybe once a day instead of all day long. And when they do happen, they are short and don't feel as deep. My voice - both singing and talking - is coming back. I've barely been able to sing for almost a year because it would trigger the cough. And the cough would irritate my chords. I was able to sing "Johanna" from Sweeney Todd on pitch today in the car with no coughing. There is still some vocal fatigue but nothing like it was before I started the oil pulling.
And it's EASY. I keep the coconut oil in the bathroom. I scoop out a teaspoon of it every morning and do my pulling while I take a shower and get ready for the day. At night, I pull while I'm on the computer. In fact, I wrote most of this entry while oil pulling.
My boyfriend notices the difference. My family notices it when I talk to them on the phone. I no longer have to excuse myself every three minutes for a coughing fit. My energy levels are getting back to normal. I no longer feel like I'm constantly on the verge of getting a cold with watery eyes, stuffy nose and scratchy throat. I'm not an expert on the oil pulling by any means and I can't claim to know exactly how it does what it does but whatever it is, it's working.
If you decide to give oil pulling a try, please research it online first as I haven't given you every single do and don't in this blog entry. There are loads of websites and forums on it. Here's a good place to start.
http://www.orawellness.com/Articles/what-is-oil-pulling.html
I've come to appreciate the "if you have your health, you have everything" quote. For the first time in almost a year, I feel like me again. And it's nice. It's super nice.
