Certain essential oils have antibacterial properties that make them ideal for using as medicines for internal illnesses or infections. But we need to know how to use them.
Test First
The first and most obvious application of antibacterial essential oils is to use them topically on wounds. You don’t want to apply undiluted essential oils to your skin without testing them, as this can cause harm to your cells and can provoke irritation in some people.
Instead, mix a few drops of essential oil into warm water and use it to lightly wipe your skin. If you have no adverse reaction, you can use it, again mixed with water, to lightly wipe the wound clean. You can also use a syringe (the type without a needle!) to spray water with essential oil into a particularly messy or deep wound before adding butterfly stitches or bandages. An exception to this is tea tree oil. If you can take a couple of drops of tea tree oil on your skin without problem, sometimes you can rinse wounds with undiluted tea tree oil.
Sanitizing Clothing
Another solution is to use the oils as sanitizing agents for our clothes and property. If someone you know is ill, you have had an infection, a virus, or a parasitic infestation of your own, or your clothes have simply not been used for a while, then you can make sure everything is disinfected by mixing a 30% essential oil, 60% warm water, 10% rubbing alcohol mix and spraying everything with it. Make sure to spray clothes and bedding before washing, and to let the spray dry out before rinsing them, as you want the bacteria, parasite eggs, fungus, or virus to be dead before you wash away the essential oils. This is also great for things you can’t wash easily, like a carpet, or curtains.
Using Internally
If you purchase food grade essential oils, you can use them as medicines for internal illness or infection. A small dose of essential oil in water or tea can sometimes be the only thing that helps fight back against a viral infection. And using food grade essential oils can help prevent, eliminate, and heal from cases of food poisoning by killing the bacteria responsible. Simply drink a drink containing food grade antibacterial essential oils before or during each meal to help you recover. You can even treat your fridge and foods with a food grade essential oil spray to help naturally preserve food from bacteria which could be harmful to us.
Cautions When Using Essential Oils
Although essential oils can be amazing for us, you still need to be careful of what you do. First of all, never consume essential oils which are not food grade, even if the thing they are made of is something you normally eat. For example, laurel is a plant which has many edible species, but not all essential oils are made from the edible ones! Likewise, food grade essential cinnamon oil may be safe to eat, but if it is not food grade it may be too intense to consume, or even have inedible compounds added to make its shelf life longer.
If you want to be really safe, exclusively buy food grade essential oils.
Application Cautions
Secondly, never apply essential oils, of any variety directly, to the inside of the nose, urethra, vagina, or anus, as this can cause irritation. Essential oils tend to have a powerful drying effect, which is great for removing grease from our skin and helping wounds heal. But this same effect is disastrous if it hits a part of our body which is supposed to be always humid. If you take the moisture away from the inside of our nose, urethra, vagina, or anus, you can make the thin tissues of that area tighten and crack, causing bleeding and increased risk of infection. Please consider other treatments for injuries or infections in these areas.
Food Cautions
Thirdly, although you can use essential oils to make food safer to eat, never eat food that has obviously gone off. Applying essential oils to chicken which has been left on the counter all night will not make it edible, nor will adding essential oils to eggs which are infected with E. Coli kill every single bacterium. This is because food is very complex, and bacteria tend to inhabit it throughout its cells. Unless you dissolve the whole food into molecules and blend it with essential oils, there will always be places with bacteria which the essential oils have not touched. If the food has been handled carefully and preserved well, only the surface is at risk of bacterial infection. But as soon as it begins to smell or bloat, the infection is everywhere and the food must be thrown away.
Brand Cautions
Finally, never purchase essential oils from any brand you do not know or trust. You need to be confident that the oil is exactly what it says on the label: a pure plant extract, from that specific plant, and food grade if that is what you ordered. Do not buy obscure brands, or unbranded bottles from the internet. You never know what you could be getting in these cases. It could be useless; it could be dangerous. Stick to brands you know and trust, and always look out for certification.
