Using Essential Oils As Alternative To Antibiotics: My Recipe & Tips

Are you looking for an effective essential oils recipe for year-round use in a vaporizer or a diffuser? We have used this with success many, many times as our alternative to antibiotics, in particularly, with respiratory issues (both viral and bacterial pneumonia).

I’ve been hyper-allergic to antibiotics since my 20s and have had to rely exclusively on essential oils until I learned about homeopathy, silver, and other natural remedies in my medicine cabinet. I hope this will be of help to you if you also react to antibiotics or just want to avoid them.

(Also, in the last few years, we have discovered the power of elderberry tincture and syrup, and add it to the regimen.)

As cold temperatures and increasingly sunless days cause vitamin D levels to drop, it’s a great time to diffuse essential oils into heavily-used room spaces or to inhale them. As the trend is to build our homes more tightly for energy savings, internal air quality suffers and so does our body’s ability to heal itself.

Essential oils like these listed below which have tremendous anti-viral, antibacterial, and antiseptic properties to help disinfect and freshen stale air.

And I run my nebulizer in the bathroom or kitchen (for 12-14 hours or so) when I feel surfaces need an overall purification after flu or a round of nasty colds.

The oils in this recipe work together to combat germs in the air and on surfaces. They are gentle to the body and also delightful to the senses!

Warnings: Do be aware that some essential oils are harmful to pets. This explains. Also, be careful if you have a newborn to 8 month old – only run a nebulizer for short (10 minute) periods and not in the same room.

Respiratory inhalation or topical application of essential oils are certainly the simplest and most common means of using therapeutic-grade essential oils.

Respiratory Formula For Personal Vaporizer (or the Topical Application below)

• Lavender: 3-drops

• Lemon: 3-drops

• Rosemary: 2-drops

• Tea Tree: 2-drops

• Eucalyptus, 2-drops if there’s congestion

• Clove: 1-drop (optional) for more broad-spectrum coverage

• Cinnamon: 1-drop (optional) for more broad-spectrum coverage

• More optional: P73 wild oregano (1-drop), thyme linalool (1-drop), or Grapefruit (2 drops).

Add all these oils to a small glass bottle with a dropper top. To save time, you can make 2-3 multiples of this recipe and have enough for years of use.

Label your bottle so you will know what it is next time you need it.

You will only put 2 drops of this blend into the vaporizer each time you use. For diffusing, you would use more than a few drops.

Directions for Inhaling Essential Oils:

We were given a Steam Inhaler by my mom (pictured is our older one), and which we still use. There are now newer versions of Steam Inhalers available.

• Fill the holding reservoir with just enough water so it doesn’t overflow

• Inhalers vary, but some water is needed to act as the carrier for the oils you will add

• Add 2 drops of blended oils (as per recipe above) into the water-filled reservoir of your vaporizer

• Turn the vaporizer on

• The steam will rise delivering the oils so you can inhale them deeply into your lungs

For sore throats, flu, or sinus infections:

• Hold your mouth and nose over the face rest and take 5-10 minutes with the oils so they can perfuse your lungs, bloodstream, and cells.

• If it gets too hot or steamy, just turn it off or adjust the steam vent for a minute before resuming and continue to inhale as deeply as possible.

• It may make you cough (or feel like coughing), but that means it is doing its job and breaking up congestion. The vapor will continue to rise until it cools.

• Do this several times a day. Wipe the reservoir clean after each day’s use.

Essential oils don’t give the apparent immediate results of antibiotics, but they allow the body to heal itself and result in a strengthening of the whole system.

Topical Application of Essential Oils

I use my blend (recipe above) topically the most often. 

This blend applied topically to the skin has brought members of our family back from the abyss of flu many times through the years.

Directions:

• Dilute these same oils in 1 rounded TBSP of a carrier oil

• Apply generously with warm hands to the chest, underarms, the soft skin under the upper arm and/or to the soles of the feet

• Wear an old tee shirt or socks as the carrier oil will stain them

• Always use a carrier oil when applying topically

According to researcher Jean Valnet, M.D., an essential oil in a carrier oil that is directly applied to the skin (or breathed/diffused) can pass into the bloodstream and diffuse throughout body tissues in 20 minutes or less. 

Essential Oils Might Be the New Antibiotics

Congestion, Too?

If congestion accompanies the cold, flu, or bronchitis, add 1 drop of eucalyptus essential oil. As a little girl, my grandmother taught me to put a several drops of this wonderful oil on the collar of my pajamas. It always makes me think of her now when I am stuffy-nosed or congested.

Which Essential Oil Brands Do I Use?

Note: I have used essential oils for many, many years and am familiar with many of the companies out there. Though I feel especially good about Young Living essential oils, I’m not one to just buy exclusively from one essential oil company.  I’ve also grown to trust Mountain Rose Herbs and Plant Therapy which are pure and 3rd party tested always.  I don’t want to pay higher prices than necessary, but do NOT buy cheap imitations which can be contaminated.

My Purification Blend of Essential Oils

Also, for making a pre-mixed quantity of Purification for extended room diffusing, check out My Version of Purification Essential Oil Blend (and save $)!

“The person who takes medicine (pharmaceuticals) must recover twice, once from the disease and once from the medicine.”  -William Osler, M.D.

Several excellent resource books to help you get started with essential oils:

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