How a Mom used Essential Oils to Ease her Son's Cold Sores

When Melanie Blaine's son was a baby, he contracted the cold sore virus.

If you get cold sores, or someone you love does, then you know how contagious the virus is.

Most people who have the virus get it from accidentally sharing a drink or a fork. Babies and children who have it usually get it from one of their relatives who didn't even know a cold sore was on its way.

This is what happened to Melanie's son.

"My husband was kissing his tiny baby son at the beginning stages of a cold sore forming," she said.

When a cold sore is just forming you may not be aware of it, but you could already be contagious. It is really nobody's fault. That is one reason the virus spreads so easily.

Melanie had watched her husband deal with cold sores over the years, and now her son had them, too. If he didn't get enough sleep or didn't eat properly, he'd get a cold sore right under his bottom lip.

The cold sore virus is "triggered" to come out whenever the immune system takes a dive. Some people get them when they are actually sick—with a cold or the flu, for example—when the weather changes suddenly when their daily routines change, or when they are under a lot of stress and have a full schedule. Everyone is different.

Melanie said, "It was heart-wrenching watching my son go from a tiny thing that would have them occasionally to a kid, and then a big kid, now at 10 years old. He confided in me that he gets made fun of for them when they spring up. That people think he's diseased and they say mean things. My heart hurt for him."

So heartbreaking!

Fortunately, Melanie had a passion for essential oils, and she was studying at Aromahead to get her Aromatherapy Certification.

It just so happened that while she was taking the Aromatherapy Certification Program, her husband broke out in a cold sore.

Melanie had learned a lot about using essential oils therapeutically, and she created a "cold sore game plan!"

She used Tea Tree (Melaleuca alternifolia), Thyme ct. linalool (Thymus vulgaris ct. linalool), and Helichrysum (Helichrysum italicum) essential oils in a base of coconut oil. She was pleased with her results!

She was also working with a Case Study Instructor at Aromahead—Shelia.

Doing Case Studies are a fun part of Aromatherapy Certification at Aromahead! This is when students get to actively use what they are learning to create therapeutic blends that help people. They track their "clients'"success and make adjustments to the blends as needed. Students are always supported by an experienced Case Study Instructor.

• Shelia gave Melanie a tip for using essential oils for cold sores. "Use Melissa essential oil next time. It's a secret weapon for cold sores. "Sheila also guided Melanie to increase the dilution of her blend (using more drops of essential oil) to get quicker results while staying safe.

• A few weeks later, Melanie was able to put this knowledge into practice when her son got a cold sore.

• She made a stronger dilution of essential oils in coconut oil, this time adding Melissa (Melissa officinalis) to her blend, and applied it morning and night to her son's cold sore. By the next morning, Melanie could tell that the virus was dead—the cold sore "no longer oozed. It sat there, a scab of its former angry self."

• From there, Melanie switched to a different blend, using different essential oils to help the skin heal quickly. It only took about two days for the remnants of the cold sore to disappear!

"My child's relief was surely beneficial enough, but I am also incredibly thankful for the ability to assist him in his recovery. It felt good to be able to help."

I wanted to share Melanie's story with you so you could see that the benefits of in-depth essential oil education are real.

Your knowledge can have an immediate impact on your ability to help the people you care for.

It is all about having reliable information, understanding the science of essential oils, and being able to talk to experienced guides and teachers on your journey (like Shelia).

If you want to learn more about the program that gave Melanie the knowledge and personal support to help her husband and son, check it out here!