Tea tree oil

Todd Walker ~ Spend Any Amount Of Time In The Outdoors Or In Your Yard, It’s Very Likely You’ll Come In Contact With This Plant

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Intellihub  May 8 2014

It has successfully reduced men, women, and children to miserable, scratching beasts.

PoisonIvy_flowerTime in nature has a calming, rejuvenating effect on people… until they feel Nature’s revenge.

Over the years I’ve sought out home remedies to stop the painful, blistering rash caused by poison ivy. In my experience, some work, some don’t. In extreme cases, I’ve gotten steroid shots. Like the time I transferred the oil to my nether region while relieving myself in the woods – the week before getting married! An injection of steroids was my top priority. LOL!

It’s ironic that this poisonous vine is in the family of my favorite nut, the cashew. I eat a hand full daily with no reaction. What makes the ivy, oak, or sumac poisonous to humans is the dreaded oil… urushiol (you-ROO-shee-ol). All parts of the plant contain the oil which can stay active for up to five years. Once the oil makes contact with your skin – via touching the plant directly or indirect contact from clothing, shoes, or your pet – the clock starts ticking for a red, itchy, bubbly rash to occur within 12 to 72 hours.

Some people swear they are immune to this stuff. I’ve personally witness a buddy of mine hug a pine tree covered in poison ivy with no ill effects. The theory of some people being immune is suspect in my mind.

Warning: If you are one of those fortunate individuals who have rolled in this stuff and never experienced a reaction, you may be a candidate for hospitalization in the future. Stories exist of people who thought they were immune but found out the hard way they were not. The more times you come in contact with the oil, the more likely your are to come down with a rash.

Attempting to build immunity to poison ivy is not a new idea. Tales of Native Americans eating leaves in early spring to build resistance , true or not, is not something I’ve tried or recommend.

Stuff to Avoid

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The Miracle of Tea Tree Oil: 80 Amazing Uses for Survival

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Before It’s News May 21 2013

Essential oils have been used for healing and medicinal purposes for centuries and most certainly long before we had pills, capsules and big pharma to take care of our medical woes.  And while there is a place for manufactured pharmaceuticals in our survival medicine kit, there exists the possibility that none will be available or that they will be in such scarce supply that they should be reserved for only the most dire of circumstances.

For that reason, many preppers and individuals seeking self-reliance are learning to use essential oils to manage the both routine and not-so-routine maladies that occur in daily life.  There are about a dozen or so essential oils that belong in every survival kit including tea tree, peppermint, lavender, clove,rosemary and lemon among others. All of these essential oils have healing properties but today I would like to focus on just one, tea tree oil.

A Brief History Of Tea Tree Oil

Melaleuca_armillaris tea tree flowerIt is believed that the Aborigines of Australia have been using the leaves of the indigenous Malaleuca Tree (whose leaves are used to make tea tree oil) in their medications for centuries. They inhaled the oils from the crushed leaves to treat coughs and colds, sprinkled crushed leaves on their wounds and used an infusion of soaked leaves to treat sore throats or skin ailments.

Use of the oil itself, as opposed to the un-extracted plant material, did not become common practice until researcher Arthur Penfold published the first reports of its antimicrobial activity in a series of papers in the 1920s and 1930s. In evaluating the antimicrobial activity, he found that tea tree oil was 11 times more active thanphenol.

The commercial tea tree oil industry was born shortly thereafter although interest in tea tree oil ebbed  after World War II, presumably due to the development of effective antibiotics and the waning image of natural products. Interest was rekindled in the 1970s as part of the general renaissance of interest in natural products.

80 Uses Of Tea Tree Oil For Survival

For thousands of years, the derivatives of the Malaleuca Tree have been effective in treating a wide variety of ailments.  Here are 80 reasons why you should use it, too!

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