I. AM. A. SKEPTIC.

There, I said it. Let me just start by telling you WHY I'm so skeptical when it comes to natural and homeopathic remedies.  I have fibromyalgia and mixed connective tissue disease.  I was diagnosed in 2002 so I've lived with this for a lot of years.  When I first realized something was really wrong with me, it was 1998 and the doctors couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Some of my bloodwork came back abnormal, but still, doctors had nothing.  Fibromyalgia was thrown out there but no one knew much about it at that time.  BUT ... everyone thought they did! Any home remedy you can think of for inflammation was tried. Any medication you could think of to take for inflammation was given to me.  The ONLY thing that ever worked was VIOXX.  Remember that drug? Yeah, they took my miracle drug off the market because evidently you could have a heart attack from it.  So the search began for pain relief and then came to an abrupt end some years later because I just became disheartened from being a guinea pig.  I was done.  Through.  I would just "live with it".  And I have.  I hurt every single day and I just deal with it.

So, I told you all of that to tell you this.  I also have struggled (and I do mean struggled) with allergies my entire life.  I was taking (no joke, I'm not even kidding) prescription allergy pills, prescription nasal inhaler, and at least one 96 count box of sudafed per month.  Year round. I mean, I even asked the pharmacist once if I was in danger of being investigated for meth production -- that's how much sudafed I was taking. :)

Recently, I went out of town to visit a friend who mixed up some "allergy oil" for me. It was a blend of sweet almond oil,  & peppermint, lemon, and lavender essential oils. I rubbed one drop on my hands and thought, well, at least it smells good and it won't hurt to at least try it.  I had also heard that lavender will help you sleep so I went ahead and ordered the lavender and a diffuser to use by my bed at night to see if that would help me sleep.  Guess what.  It did!  I sleep like a baby now.  (Well, like a good baby, not one of those that stays up and cries all night).  I was adding 5 drops of the allergy blend and 3 or 4 drops of lavender to the diffuser and used it every night. I also noticed something else. I didn't need sudafed anymore.  I could actually breath through my nose. 

About a week after I started diffusing, I quit taking my prescription allergy medicine and lo and behold, I don't need that now either.

AND, here is a snapshot of my allergy relief. (Excuse the crappy cell phone picture)

It was an absolute joy to photograph this beautiful family!  I couldn't have asked for a more perfect session. Little man slept the entire session.  Mom & Dad are crossfitters and met through Crossfit so it was only right that we posed this little fella with his own little kettle bell. :)  

Enjoy a peek into Matthew Greyson's debut portrait session! (Sorry for the picture overload hehe)