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Tuesday, April 10, 2012

In Which I Discover a New Alternative Healing Method

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.

8 comments:

  1. Lora, we need to TALK, girl. I think we may be the same person. :) We moved here via Wisconsin, but I'm a California native, too, and after living here for about six months I developed a debilitating cough that lasted over a year.

    I tried everything (I thought - have never heard of the oil thing!), went to specialists, was hospitalized several times for pulling the muscles in my chest wall from coughing so hard. I was told I had asthma (I don't, nor do I have allergies, even to mold - I've had all the tests, and they all came back negative), but all the treatments made the symptoms so much worse I couldn't handle them. TMI coming up, but I couldn't eat without vomiting due to the cough, vomited due to it several times a day (didn't translate much to weight loss unfortunately), couldn't sleep, couldn't go ANYWHERE, couldn't talk on the phone and hardly in person. I'm paid not to sing, so that at least was not an issue, LOL, though I seriously missed my private vocal sessions in the car. I was suicidal, and I don't say that lightly, but I could seriously not imagine living the rest of my life that way. So please believe me when I say you have my full and complete sympathies for dealign with what you've been going through!

    That was by far the worst year of my life, and I hope it proves to be the worst ever. After a year, it all just went away. I still get very paranoid every time I get a cough now, but thankfully, knock on wood, it has never come back. I wish so much I had known about this oil deal. Since I, thank GOD, don't have the cough to contend with anymore, though, I'm very interested in the other benefits you mentioned, especially the tooth whitening. I don't really understand the "pulling" technique, and since I have a strong gag reflex I'm not sure I can do it, but I'll check out the link you gave, and next time we're together would you mind giving me a few minutes to talk about it in person? Thanks so much for sharing this, and I'm so glad it's had such a positive impact for you! Here's to much improved health. :) Take care! Hope to see you soon.

    Chassily

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    1. Wow, Chassily! I'm sorry you had to go through that, too, but I'm selfishly glad to hear that this experience has happened to someone else after a move up from So Cal. I was fine for the first year and almost exactly a year after the move, I got a cold and the cough never went away. And then I was getting colds every other month. The beginning of this June will be my two-year anniversary in WA. And I've had all the emotions you described over the last year. It's been really tough.

      It sounds like you had the cough worse than I do. I can't imagine how much it must have hurt to pull a muscle in your chest wall from coughing! I can eat but I have definitely had my gag reflex triggered from coughing too hard.

      The oil pulling might trigger your gag reflex but there's nothing wrong with spitting it out and starting over if you feel it being triggered. Or some sites say to start with short amounts of time - like 5 minutes - and then build up to 20 or 30 minutes.

      I'm heading to bed but we should definitely chat about this at the next meeting!

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  2. That's very interesting!! I would think that the coconut oil would cause you to get cavities since it's so sugary, but apparently that stuff is good for everything. I've been drinking 2 TBSP of coconut oil a day in my tea for about 2 weeks now because it's supposed to help with weight loss, and I have to say that it definitely makes me feel full. It was such a weird thing to drink the oil on the top of the tea at first, but I'm used to it now and my lips are really soft too. lol I'm going to have to check out your link...

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    1. Oooh, I hadn't heard about it as a weight loss trick. I might have to give that a shot, too. Thanks for that info. I've noticed the soft lips with the oil pulling, as well.

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  3. I just have to tell you ... I bought coconut oil while I was in Thailand - they use it for massages and also as a hair treatment, and I used mine up in baths. The thing is... it's supposed to be a liquid, it was a liquid the entire time I was in Thailand. It was a liquid in every shop I saw it in. Then I brought the stuff home and when I pulled it out of my bags - it was solid. I was like WTF??? Apparently the melting point is like 80 degrees. =P

    Too bad I've used mine up, because it would be nice to have whiter teeth. I'll have to see if I can find some.

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    1. Oh wow, I had no idea the oil was solid because of the weather! It's becoming really trendy now so it's getting easier to find it. If you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they carry it.

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  4. Thanks for sharing this! I'm starting this right now.....I was in the middle of a $60 whitening kit when I got pregnant, so this sounds like a great alternative since I couldn't finish that. Those white strips hurt my mouth and are bad for you anyways. Coconut oil is sooooo good for you...I regularly cook with it so i'm excited to try it for this. Also, i've never been at a store, looked for coconut oil, and not found it. Pretty sure everywhere carries it these days, its just not always where you think it would be int he store so you may have to hunt or ask.

    Glad you are finding some relief!

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    1. Awesome! I don't know if it's recommended for pregnant women so I'd double check on that but I personally can't see how it could be harmful. I'm also not a medical professional in any way. :D

      The white strips hurt my teeth after a while, too. I used to use them every six months but stopped a couple years ago when they became painful.

      Let me know how it works for you!

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