In the spring of 2011 we launch our little online business called Chuckling Goat, selling the kefir online, mainly to gym bunnies and fitness fanatics, as the kefir is one of the top post-workout foods.
I noticed that drinking the kefir cleared Benji’s asthma and stopped his cycle of bronchial infections. It also improved his breathing, and his skin. We put his inhalers away – he didn’t need them anymore.
By 2012 our business was booming. We bought twenty more goats, and Rich installed a milking machine for my birthday gift. Better than diamonds!
Everything was sunny. But then disaster struck abruptly….
In April 2013 Rich went into the hospital for a major operation, and came out of hospital with an antibiotic-resistant superbug infection. His 10-inch surgical incision was infected with this flesh-eating bacteria MRSA, which was creating small red holes in the wound that were deeper and wider every day.
The doctor who came to our house peeled back the long bandage over Rich’s abdomen, looked at the wound and went entirely white. I literally watched the blood drain out of his face.
The doctor told us abruptly that he had no experience with anything of this magnitude. He suggested that we contact the surgeon who had originally performed Rich’s operation in the first place, packed up his black bag and ran from the house.
I felt my knees buckle beneath me as I confronted the possibility that my husband might actually die on my couch, As he had swabbed positive for MRSA, the hospital would be reluctant to re-admit him. Anyhow, he had contacted MRSA in the hospital to begin with – and since they don’t have anything to give him, surely he would be better off at home where at least he wouldn’t catch any more cross infection?
Over the next week or so, my adored husband – whom I didn’t meet until I was 41 years old – began to fade, passing in and out of consciousness. I realize that the day the galloping infection hits his vital organs, our happy ending was really and truly over.
I gritted my teeth and decided that this was not happening – not on my watch. Not if I had anything to say about it.
I frantically began to do research. I found some information suggesting that essential oils might be effective at fighting antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
“Essential oils,” I thought, excitedly. “I have loads of essential oils to use in my soap!” And indeed I did – a whole closet full. I started experimenting with combinations of essential oils, until I found a recipe that I thought might work to knock back the pathogen levels.
But….
The surgeon (whom we did contact! but who was also unable to help us…) had informed us that MRSA colonizes all over the body. Every normal skin cells is replaced with a copy of the MRSA cells. Even if I were to kill of 97% of all the MRSA cells, all the ones that I could reach – even if I were to bathe Rich in pure bleach, there would still be a few MRSA cells left behind his ears, under his fingernails – I could never kill them all. And the ones that were inevitably left behind, would simply re-populate and take over again.
So. How could I fight an enemy that I could never completely eradicate, that would simply re-grow from any tiny bit I leave over?
I couldn’t. Loss, failure, death. There was just no winning outcome from that question.
So, if I don’t like the answer, then I figured I was asking the wrong question.
I just need to ask a better question, I reasoned, desperately trying to stay calm.
I racked my brain. What was a better question?
Not – how can I fight and kill the MRSA. Nothing that aggressive is going to work. It’s that kind of thinking that got us into this antibiotic-resistant mess to begin with.
But maybe — how can the MRSA be resolved. How can it be brought into harmony?
Ah, that’s better. With that question, I can begin to see some answers.
Harmony, not death. I needed to find a truce. I needed an ally. I need a friend on the microbiological level. I need something that will bring the MRSA back under control, back into balance.
MRSA is one of those things that is present on our skins all the time, that just gets out of balance. So, how to restore balance?
Well, the one thing I knew about that would restore balance – was the kefir. I knew that inside the gut, kefir worked to repopulate the good bacteria, and bring the internal ecosystem back into balance.
What if it worked the same way on the skin?
With Rich getting weaker by the day, and without any other options, I figured I had nothing to lose.
So this is what I did – I blended up my special combination of essential oils – CG Oil, I dubbed it. It smelled nice, anyway. I figured it couldn’t harm him – and it just might help!
I put 10 drops of it into a solution of warm water, and I bathed Rich with it, using a warm flannel. This would hopefully knock the MRSA pathogen level back a bit.
And then- and this is the important bit – I coated his skin with kefir. He smelled a bit like a cheese.
When he groggily asked me what I was doing, I just said, “Don’t worry, my darling, I have it all under control.”
Which I so didn’t…
But here’s the amazing thing –
It actually worked.
Two weeks later, Rich swabbed completely clear of MRSA. Today he is happy, healthy, and back on his tractor. ]
I sent the CG Oil off to the lab to have it tested – and sure enough, it kills MRSA at a dilution of .05%. It also kills campylobacter, E coli and C difficile.
And the combination of the CG Oil and the kefir performed a two-part action on the resistant bacteria -to reduce the bad bugs, and re-populate the good bugs. That’s what worked.
And that’s the part that modern medicine has been missing, all this time. They’re big on killing off the bad bugs – but they don’t bother to re-populate the good ones!
So, I learned two important things.
- Nature has the answers to the problems that we have created with our overuse of chemicals. MRSA may be resistant to antibiotics – but essential oils are effective against it. Essential oils also have the added benefit that being made from plants, unlike bleach, you can inhale them, swallow them, and put them on your skin.
- Kefir works on skin.
