Some of the worst words a mother or father ever hear are, “my tummy hurts!”. And of course, this applies to adults too. Stomach issues are the worst. Finding good, healthy options to provide relief are not easy, or are they?  So for this week’s malady of the week, read on!

One of my favorite “Ah Ha!” moments was when my son Jake was young.  He called me from school saying he had tummy troubles and just couldn’t stay.  So of course I went and picked him up, and sure enough, he was pasty white and lethargic. I took him home, put him on the couch and then rubbed his tummy.  “With what you might ask?” Well, I’m glad you asked! I rubbed it with an essential oil known as Digestzen. I thought to myself…”let’s see if this REALLY works!”  To my surprise and to Jake’s delight, in about 10 minutes the color had returned to his face. His tummy felt calm and stable, and he started smiling instead of groaning. Wish I’d had this stuff when I was little!

I often suffered from what my mom called an “excited stomach”.  In essence, whenever I would get excited to go somewhere awesome, like a school field trip, or a birthday party or whatever, I inevitably would get a nervous stomach. It would eventually calm down and I would be fine. But I do remember plenty of times of kneeling by the porcelain too.  How I wish I’d had something this effective then!

Even when my family and I went Deep Sea fishing and snorkeling, smelling this oil and rubbing it on my tummy seemed to keep the tummy turbulence away. My kids who said they didn’t need it were not so lucky.  You can lead a horse to water, but…Oh well!  We try, don’t we parents?

I also recently had ACL repair surgery. I figured they gave me anti-nausea medicine but I honestly don’t know. Here’s what I do know. I took my peppermint and ginger oil and put a few drops in my hands and rubbed them together.  Then I continued to smell them all the way into surgery.  After I woke up, I never needed the anti-nausea prescription the doctor gave me.  Maybe I would have had the same outcome without the oils.  Who knows?  All I know is, I had no nausea after surgery and that was WONDERFUL!

These days I’m a grandma and so tummy troubles come by way mostly of my grandkids or my own overeating. With my grandkids, I like to soothe their tummies by gently rubbing Digestzen or peppermint on their tummy.  They like the attention, it feels good, and it always seems to make them feel better. Even with the infants, when they get “stopped up”, sometimes a little Digestzen around the belly button is just the thing to get things moving!

If I’ve over indulged, a drop of either peppermint or Digestzen in a 1/4 cup of water and drinking it down seems to soothe and provide relief. Plus the peppermint makes my breath smell good too, so double win.

I’ve had my pregnant mommies find relief simply by smelling peppermint or ginger straight out of the bottle. One word of caution here, for my pregnant mommies please don’t use peppermint or digestzen topically or internally during your last trimester. Sometimes it can cause issues with your milk production and we wouldn’t want that.

Would you like to read more on digestive helps?  Check out my post on Improving Your Gut Health Naturally for a deeper look!

What’s your malady of the week?  Please drop me a note on any issue you would like to know more about.  If you have an issue you would like to discuss in person, we can chat. There is no obligation, just answers to the best of my ability.  Click on My Calendar if you’d like to chat! As always, be safe and stay healthy!