#6: Exploring 'Alternative' Health: Homeopathy, Flower Remedies & Essential Oils
Despite eyeball rolls from those who see her as 'the woo woo one', Kelly listens to her instincts to avoid pharmaceuticals and explore alternative health remedies.
In this episode she shares what's worked - and what hasn't - when it comes to the emotional and physical health of herself and her family over these past twenty years.
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Read the Transcript for this Episode below:
Hi, I'm Kelly Pietrangeli, the creator of MyProjectMe. com. Welcome back to the show. I am recording this during a huge heat wave here in London. I can't have the fan running or you'll hear it, but I can't have the window closed either or I'll absolutely melt. So I hope you don't hear too much noise from the neighborhood kids outside.
I've got kind of a different one for you this week. Unlike the ongoing drama saga of the previous five episodes, which kind of run in an unfolding series, this one is more of a standalone episode. I said when I started this podcast that I was going to share about all of the alternative or woo woo stuff that's made a positive impact on my life, and that I would also be honest about what I've tried that perhaps wasn't so positive.
So in this episode, I'm going to talk about homeopathy. Flower remedies and essential oils and what's been amazing and what hasn't when it comes to the health and wellbeing of myself and my family. I need to start off by saying that I'm kind of the opposite of a hypochondriac. You know how some people go running for the doctor for everything, and they're on a first name basis with their local pharmacist, and their medicine cabinet is fully loaded and stocked up?
I always half joke that I'll only go and see a doctor if I have a broken limb, and our family medicine cabinet always has, I don't know, a couple bottles of expired cough medicine and not a whole lot else. I can't stand being in doctor's waiting rooms, where I think I'll probably catch something worse than what I came in for, and this was pre COVID.
And once I'm in there, I'm completely torn between wanting there to be nothing actually wrong so they'll just go, Okay, go on your way, or for them to tell me, It's a damn good thing you came in, Kelly, this is serious. Because on the one hand, I don't want to waste their time or mine. But to be honest, I don't want their prescriptions either.
I have a deep inner mistrust of pharmaceuticals, long before I ever even realized how much the system is designed to keep us sick and hooked on them. I see now that my intuition has always been keeping me wary and nudging me away from conventional medicine unless really necessary. I believe symptoms we experience are not just something wrong with the body, but rather they represent the efforts of our body to defend and heal itself.
The body creates fever, inflammation, or whatever is necessary in order to heal itself. When we just pop a pill to stop a runny nose, for example, we're not allowing the mucus to be expelled from our body. We're just quashing what our body's designed to do and messing with our own natural healing system.
When we take medicines to curb the symptoms whenever we're feeling lousy, but then we don't stop our busyness to rest or get to bed early, we're We're not listening to what our body is so desperately trying to tell us about what it needs. So, being this kind of person anyway, and then becoming a mother, where you've got to make these constant judgment calls on whether little human beings whose lives are in your hands should go and see a doctor or take medicine, was really difficult for me.
I'm not a natural nurse by any stretch of the imagination, so this part of motherhood sucks. Now, I know a lot of parents deal with really serious health issues with their kids, and my heart goes out to you if that's you. It's so hard when the ones we love the most are suffering, and of course modern medicine absolutely saves lives.
I'm not an anti vacciner, and I'm super grateful for the National Health Service we have here in the UK where I'm living now, but just the same, I believe nature provides us with so much of what we need, and to turn our backs on that and go straight for the pharmaceuticals all the time is not the best thing for our bodies.
Back 20 years ago, when my first son was a baby, and then a toddler, he suffered constant ear infections that had him screaming in pain. It was one course of antibiotics after another. I started hearing about something called homeopathy, which is a medical system based on the belief that the body can cure itself.
A homeopath will note physical, mental, and emotional symptoms together with all the factors that make the person feel better or worse. A remedy is then prescribed on a very individual basis. This sounded really good to me, as our normal doctor just wanted us in and out and never asked enough questions to get the whole picture before heading straight to the prescription for the antibiotics.
I decided to take little Max to a recommended private homeopathic doctor. She examined him and took lots of notes about his constant ear infections, and then dished out some tiny white sugar pills. I gave them to him as instructed, and he settled down to sleep that night. A while later, he woke up with a blood curdling scream.
I raced to his room, and he was absolutely freaking hysterical. His eyes were wide open, and yet he wasn't fully awake. He was screaming and thrashing around in extreme panic. Well, I ran the homeopath in a kind of blind panic myself as it was so terrifying, and I was told that, yes, sometimes the medicine brings things out into the surface and that it was a good thing.
Well, it didn't feel like a good thing to me at the time, and even though I never gave him that homeopathic remedy again, that was what kicked off a repeated pattern of night terrors from Max that went on for a couple more years. It was awful. And yet, when our second son, Marco, was born, and he was having severe skin rashes and chronic diarrhea, I really didn't like our dismissive GP, so once again, I went to a different homeopathic doctor, and we tried a whole bunch of homeopathic remedies, none of which made any difference.
At that point, I gave up, and I have never tried homeopathy again. I've done a little light research for this episode, and like all alternative medicines, there are arguments for it, and there are plenty that also say it's all a placebo effect for the ones who claim it works. So I decided to ask my Project WE members if they had any experiences of homeopathy.
The first few responses all came from women who, like me, tried it and didn't get results, so stopped. But then, others chimed in, and they absolutely do rate it. Patricia said, I was skeptical too, but after trying several doctors for Julia's severe asthma, I was referred to a homeopathic doctor, and it worked!
She hasn't had any episode whatsoever since she was five. She's nine now. Granted, she might have outgrown it on her own, but it was life changing for us at the time. Ashika wrote, I actually use it quite successfully for many years for my children and myself. She said, I think the key with homeopathy is knowing the right doctor and committing to stick to it a little while longer before seeing results.
It seems to go deeper into the issue and so it does take time, but often it heals the problem for good. She went on to say it works really well for some conditions and a little less effectively or maybe not at all for other conditions. So I always try it first and if it doesn't work after a while, I try something else.
Lynn then chimed in and said, I've used homeopathic medicines and natural remedies for years, particularly for my son who's had asthma as a baby and a small child, and eczema into his teenage years. I was encouraged by a good friend who has always been into alternative treatments due to her significant health issues.
They definitely helped reduce symptoms with no side effects. Alongside this, I also tried homeopathic medicine for travel sickness that I'd had since childhood and it definitely helped to alleviate the sickness. And then our own doctor in the house, Dr. Hilary Fredrickson, chimed in on the conversation and said, I use it all of the time with my patients and I have had years and years of watching homeopathy work for kids and adults.
It takes some knowledge, but an amazing therapeutic. I know and trust Dr. Hill, so I'm really glad I asked others before simply coming on here and saying that it doesn't work. Okay, so when my boys were 10 and 7, our family moved from London to sunny Madrid. We lived there for six and a half years and never registered with a doctor the entire time we lived there.
Sunshine must have been our medicine. We had this great school nurse, and if one of the kids ever didn't feel well, I'd just ring her up and she knew the lowdown on what was going on around school and how long it lasted, and it was always the same advice. Just keep him at home, he'll be fine within 24 hours or a few days, whatever the pattern she'd seen in that particular illness.
My second son went from birth through his entire childhood without ever having antibiotics. I personally have not even had a cold in over five or six years, even after moving back to the UK four years ago. I now know that everything is energy and when I keep my own personal vibrational frequency high by doing what I call my high vibe practices, I am in my optimal health.
I also use the project me health wheel to check in on all areas of my health. Nutritious eating, movement and fitness, self care, making sure I'm on top of health screenings and checkups. The health wheel is different to the Project Me life wheel, so if you've got the life wheel, this is a different thing.
It's something I give to all of my Project We members when they join. Doing my health check ins are what helped flag up skin cancer a few years ago. Anyone else use a tanning blanket and smother yourself in baby oil as a teenager? Oh my god. I express gratitude daily for my health. For how fit I feel, for my organs and cells, I say positive affirmations about my health all of the time.
Now, this is very personal, but I'll admit that I give gratitude for my amazing digestive system every time I use the toilet. I am also a complete sleep freak. I love how I feel when I've had my seven to eight hours of sleep. And so sleep is my highest health priority. I run a free get to bed earlier challenge every autumn when the clocks go back in hours, so get on the Project Me mailing list to take part in that.
Our health is our wealth, and neglecting it or not making it a high enough priority will have repercussions at some point. Now I want to share about two forms of alternative health that have worked absolute wonders for me. flour remedies, and essential oils. I discovered Batch Flower Remedies in the late 90s, that's spelled B A C H, Batch Flower Remedies.
They are a collection of 38 different magic potions that deal with emotional rather than physical challenges. The most popular is Rescue Remedy, you might have seen that, it comes in a yellow spray bottle, it's kind of a staple in any woman's handbag. It's been dubbed yoga in a bottle and a few sprays on your tongue will save you from a meltdown when the going gets tough.
It has saved me so many times. Batch flower remedies can be bought all over the world from health stores and pharmacies or online. Batch flower remedies are made 100 percent naturally from spring water infused with wildflowers. These essences contain healing vibrations of the flowers that they're distilled from.
When we put these drops in our tongue or into a drink, we take in the vibrations they contain and so they help loosen energy blockages that keep us from vibrating at our natural frequency of health and well being. Okay, I know how that sounds, but I have been amazed at how well they work. One of my favorite examples of the power of these flower remedies is When my son was five, and he had a fear of using the bathroom at school.
He was afraid of the big boys, and that the lock wouldn't work, he was afraid someone would come in on him. And so he refused to go, which led to some very embarrassing accidents. So I decided to give him some batch flower remedies. I gave him Mimulus for fear, and Larch for confidence. He wasn't even aware I was putting a few drops into his juice each morning.
About ten days later, his teacher asked to meet with me. She had an assistant there, and they were both looking very grave and serious. I was like, what on earth is going on? We sat down, and the door was closed behind us. They were very concerned about a sudden and dramatic change in my son's behavior.
They asked if there was anything going on at home, in a really direct and weird way. My mind was spinning. I honestly couldn't think of anything, and I asked her to please elaborate. It seemed that he went from being afraid of going to the bathroom to being the king of the bathroom. He went in there frequently, beating on doors and rounding up other kids to make water fights.
His teacher couldn't figure out how this normally very mild mannered and sensible boy could now be doing this. She could only describe him as overconfident. Whoops, I tried telling them about the flower remedies I'd given him specifically for fear and confidence and they kind of rolled their eyes and just pleaded, can you please stop giving them to him now?
I'm sure I became known as that weird woo woo mother. The lesson I learned is that you need to monitor the results and stop once the negative emotion subsides. I was just in the habit of sticking a few drops into his juice every morning without even thinking about it. It did solve the problem. I stopped giving him the drops and he went back to his sweet self, only without the fear of the bathroom.
My second son was incredibly clingy. Oh my god, he never wanted to leave my side. I learned that chicory is the batch remedy for clinginess and a few drops on his tongue or in water were magic. Off he'd go to play with the other children. I was at a children's party once when he was hanging onto my leg and he wouldn't participate in the fun and games and I got out the little bottle of chicory and put a few drops in his tongue.
Moments later, he let go and ran off to join. Some of the other mothers were looking at me suspiciously. One had a child clinging tightly to her leg. I explained what it was and I got the eye rolls. I offered for her to try it. A couple of drops on her daughter's tongue, and she, too, let loose to go and play.
The mother had her mouth wide open in disbelief. She came over to look at the bottle and write it down. Skeptics will argue the placebo effect, and I say, hey, if it works, it works, I don't really care how. But I'm convinced it's not all in the head, as I have effectively used them with animals and children who've had no idea they were taking them.
I've put a few drops of walnut in my cat's water bowl to cope with changes like when we moved house or whenever we had a new baby, and it was absolutely brilliant. Fifteen years ago, I did a course at the Botched Institute in London to learn more about flower remedies and I made it up to level three and I could have gone on to do a practitioner's certificate, but instead, I used my knowledge to really hone in on identifying and understanding my own emotions and the emotions of others.
I have just found a huge notebook of my own case studies in using the flower remedies for myself, my children, my husband, my mother, I'm looking through this book and like I gave it to my grandmother, my brother in law, cousins, and several friends. I'd actually forgotten about this. I'm amazed at how astute I became in all of this and the incredible results people got from the mixing bottles I made up, combining the specific flower remedies I'd identified for them.
But here's what's interesting. Despite the beautiful success I've had with the flower essences, I'm now feeling really drawn to using essential oils for emotional well being. I don't know, maybe the novelty of flower essences has just finally worn off and I was ready for something new and exciting to dive into and explore.
That is my personality. But it feels like something more than that. For years, people have been telling me that they're a bit uneasy about the amount of brandy in botch remedies, which is there to preserve the product. I always argue that four drops contain only a tiny fraction of alcohol, and you'd have to down several whole bottles to have any effect.
Plus, many medicine products contain alcohol, plus loads of other nasties. So, about a year and a half ago, I was at the Mindful Living show in London, when I saw a stall with essential oils. Ah, I thought I'll pick up a bottle of lavender to sprinkle on my pillow at night. I got to talking to the lovely gal running the stall, her name was Rochelle, and I learned about how pure and ethically sourced these Pacific brand of doTERRA oils are.
Most other brands contain added fillers, synthetic ingredients, or even harmful contaminants, making them not suitable for ingesting internally, and not effective in many cases. They have definitely never done a whole lot for me, and I'm super funny and sensitive about smells. I can't wear the kind of perfume you buy in Duty Free at the airport, for example.
They smell synthetic to me, and they just kind of give me a headache, and they turn me off. I'm feeling more that way about scented candles, too, and I'm learning that most of them are pollutants in our home and not even healthy. Rochelle explained how doTERRA ethically sources each and every oil on a global scale.
They responsibly partner with families and farms, and they source their plants where the plants thrive the most. So lavender, which is the one I really wanted, is a great example. doTERRA sources lavender from Provence, in France, where it is local and indigenous, and therefore it's known to be the most potent and beautiful lavender in the world.
And once I smelled it, it was like no other lavender oil I have ever used in my life. It's in a totally different league. Their frankincense oil is much more expensive than other brands. And I learned that frankincense trees grow in some of the poorest and most underdeveloped countries in the world.
Lack of regulation, unfortunately leads to exploitive conditions in the supply chain and unhealthy conditions for both the harvesters and the frankincense trees. In some areas, particularly Ethiopia, mass cultivated agriculture has cleared out many existing frankincense trees. doTERRA is a leading supporter in research and sustainability initiatives to protect these sacred and historic trees.
I also learned about how doTERRA provides harvesters of all of their oils with fair wages and on time payments, cutting out multiple layers of middlemen as historically done in the essential oil industry. Not sold in stores, most people start by buying a starter kit of 10 of the most commonly used doTERRA oils and become hooked on how well they work for physical and emotional health.
And that's exactly how it happened for me. Rochelle has become my mentor, teaching me about how to use essential oils in so many ways. Man, I wish these had been in my life when my kids were little. I'd have used the amazing Air Breathe product rather than nasty Vicks when they were stuffed up and chesty.
I'd have used Zen Jest for constipation, Serenity Blend for anxiety, Peace Blend for calming, Lavender, Roman Chamomile, and Lemongrass for bug bites and stings. I use essential oils primarily for emotional well being, the way I always have with the flower remedies. There is fascinating research about the correlation between the emotional and physical body, and how your body actually becomes weaker or stronger depending on your emotional state.
For example, shame resonates at the lowest vibration, followed by guilt, and then apathy, grief, fear, anxiety, anger, and hate. Conversely, the emotions of trust, optimism, willingness, acceptance, forgiveness, and Understanding, love, joy, serenity, and enlightenment strengthen you. So it makes sense to me to really pay attention to how I'm feeling and to use the appropriate essential oils to support my emotions.
Therefore, there is less need to even address physical symptoms as I seldom have any. I absolutely love this book I've got. It's called Emotions and Essential Oils, a reference guide for emotional healing. It's spiral bound. I got my copy on Amazon. I highly recommend it. I'll put that in the show notes. I have learned not to use an oil burner as it destroys the oils, which I never knew before.
I've now gotten rid of mine. I got the doTERRA home essentials kit, which came with a free diffuser, which is my favorite way to use the oils. The diffuser has this vibrating plate, which gently vibrates the oils into the atmosphere. A vapor is created and that gets pushed gently into the air, which you then breathe in.
It gets into the brain and the blood. It goes far beyond light aromatherapy, which I never found effective until now. I also add drops of lemon oil to my water. Peppermint or wild orange to my morning smoothie. Ginger and lemongrass oils to my stir fries. Note that most other brands cannot be used internally, so be careful.
I never thought I could be bothered to make my own cleaning products, but Rochelle has taught me how to do that too, and it feels so good to lose so many of the toxic chemicals that go into the home and into our drains which contaminate the planet. My woo woo side is also really into using specific oils for chakra balancing, and also for protecting my vibes against negativity, and I use it in meditation and shamanic journeying to deepen the experience.
Thanks. Cypress is my favorite oil at the moment. It immediately transports me into a field of cypress trees and emotionally, it's the oil for surrendering to the flow of life, which is my theme in life right now. Before I record each podcast episode, I roll a mixture of oils across my throat to open up my communication channel.
And that's a mixture of Roman chamomile, lavender, frankincense, and lemongrass. And I do that as I say my affirmation. I am open, clear, and honest. Yes, I am officially hooked on essential oils. I absolutely love them so much that I am now a doTERRA wellness advocate myself, and I support others with getting started with essential oils or growing their understanding of all of the ways to use them.
I am a part of Rochelle's team, and I get to see firsthand how women are building their own businesses and income around sharing these beautiful oils. I will go ahead and put my doTERRA info page in the show notes, and you can also just drop me an email at hello at myprojectme. com, or you can message me on Instagram, kellyprojectme, and I will be really happy to send it to you.
It's far better to order through a rep you like than to just go to the website, as otherwise you'll be assigned a random rep. If you already know someone who's a wellness advocate, sign up with them. It is so great to have a relationship with your doTERRA rep, so you hear about all the offers, and if they've got a private Facebook group, you could join that, that you get ongoing support.
It's just, it's nice to have someone who you've got a nice relationship with. Do I still use botch remedies for emotional support? I do, because I still own a whole kit full of them, and I know which ones to reach for immediately, such as Elm for Overwhelm or Hornbeam for Procrastination, when you've got that kind of Monday morning feeling on a Thursday.
But for this podcast, I was trying to find information about how Botch sourced their flowers and plants, and I wanted to know more about the ethics of their company, and I couldn't find anything at all. I have tried calling them. I've left messages. But I never get a call back, which is such a shame, as like I said, I've been a fan for over 20 years.
Now that I know about the company values and ethics and purity of doTERRA oils, I want to know the same about flower remedies. If anyone from BOTCH is listening, please get in touch. I'd love to be able to feel fully invested in these essences again, but there is a lack of information and communication that's leaving me feeling a little bit confused.
So, That is my honest experiences of homeopathy, flower remedies, and essential oils. I think the main message is to stay open minded and curious about alternative health, and to be mindful of not falling into the autopilot habit of over the counter medicines and prescriptions without also exploring more natural options.
Mother Nature is filled with countless plants and flowers and trees with healing properties. It's really sad to just turn our backs on this.
Dear listener, relax your forehead. Take a nice, long, nourishing, deep breath in and let it out with a sigh. Keep breathing as I ask you some questions to reflect on your own health and well being. I'll create a PDF of these questions for you in the show notes, so for now, simply breathe and listen. How well do you listen to your physical body?
Do you understand the signals it sends you, or do you ignore them?
Are you quick to shoot the messenger by taking over the counter remedies to alleviate the symptoms, rather than seeking to understand the cause?
Do you pay attention to your emotions? Do you understand the correlation between your emotional and physical body and how your body actually becomes weaker or stronger depending on your mental state?
Are you open to exploring remedies that work in harmony with your body's natural healing abilities?
Is sleep a priority for you? How many hours do you need to operate at your very best? What about healthy eating and moving your body to keep it in optimum condition?
Are you up to date with your smear test? Are you due for a mammogram or any other kind of screening? Blood pressure check, blood samples for diabetes, cholesterol levels, body mass index, and obesity checks? Are you due for a dental checkup, or could you due with having your eyes or ears tested? What about any odd moles or lumps that need checking out?
Do you express gratitude for your health? Do you truly appreciate all that is functioning beautifully in your amazing body, or do you only notice when something's not working well?
Pause right now and feel gratitude for one part of your body that's functioning brilliantly. Say a heartfelt thanks to that body part.
Thanks for listening to the Project Me podcast. Be sure to head to the show notes and grab the free PDF of journal prompts that go along with this episode. We can all do with taking more responsibility for our own health and not simply handing it over to others. Regularly giving yourself time to look at your life and the way you're living is really important.
Do whatever helps you to get in touch with yourself. I created the Project Me Lifewheel tool to make it really easy for you to do a monthly self check in with all areas of your life. It's my free gift to you at myprojectme. com And if you want to work on your Project Me alongside me and over 120 women from all over the world, come and join my online membership club, Project We.
I'd love to be alongside you on your journey and celebrate your inner achievements and support you with your challenges. All members also get the Project Me Health Wheel and lots of other really practical tools to help you look at yourself and your life in a new light. Go to myprojectme. com forward slash Project We.
Good karma comes to those who share the Project Me podcast or leave a positive rating or review. If you have anything you'd like to share with me, you can find me on Instagram Kelly Project Me or Facebook Project Me Kelly P, or pop me an email at hello at myprojectme. com Thanks so much for listening.
Until next time, open your mind, open your heart, and stay curious. We all need some space in our lives for the magical and unknown.