I've been oil pulling consistently for three weeks. I had started a couple months ago, but stopped because I was trying an alternate therapy and wanted to make which results were a part of which therapy. I decided I had been getting more results with oil pulling, so I returned to it three weeks ago. (On a side note, I'm going to begin supplementing with Lugol's shortly ... I've ordered some that should arrive by Monday.)

I began with Crisco's Natural Blend, which as rural as I am, was the closest I could find to the protocol. It has sunflower oil among the ingredients. Sadly, it also had canola and soy. I kept it up for three days, and then was able to locate coconut oil, so switched at that point. I then did three days just coconut, and then started including light EVOO. Then about 5 days ago, after reading how others had success with safflower, I included safflower in my routine.

I usually try to swish when I first get up in the morning when I shower ... dear hubby tends to get chatty or want a smooch when I'm oil pulling, so that's the best time for guaranteed uninterrupted time. Usually we have lunch together, but if there's a time he can't come home, I'll squeeze in another session before doing lunch. Then I try to get in a third session in the evening, and if I can get away with it, I make it a "mega" session, with several back-to-back pulls with the oil du jour. I may do the mega sessions with the same oil throughout, or I may opt fo a different oil with each 15-20 minute span. So far, I don't have a favorite. I like all three equally. The Extra-Virgin Olive-Oil gets thick and foamy for me much sooner than the other two, but otherwise all seem to do me good!

First, I'll list my health background, then I'll list how I've noticed the oil pulling helping out.

BACKGROUND
AGE: 38, female, though folks mistake me for younger.

SKIN/NAILS/HAIR: Very fair, sunburn easily, KP on arms and legs, lots of moles (especially on the back), dry dragon skin. Legs itched horribly because of the dry skin. Fingernails would split/peel. Hair is very fine, a very few silver hairs, lots come out in hair brush.

CIRCULATION: Always cold, edema when travelling (stuck in car seat or on airplane).

TEETH: As a child, my teeth developed a condition where they have a weakened enamel and they look like someone took a chisel and carved a horizontal chasm across them. My dentist when I was a teen told me it was caused by a high fever when really little, which ruined the development of my teeth. So I had veneers put on the front teeth when I was 17, to fill in the gaps, and provide a protective layer over the teeth. I've taken care of the veneers waaaay beyond their normal life span. They were only to last 10 years max, and I'm over 20 years with them now. There are a few places between the veneers and teeth that have started to decay a little. I also have a molar I'm sure has micro-fractures (pain when biting, but nada on X-rays).

I've always been self-conscious of my smile, so have been more of a Mona Lisa smiler. The primary teeth were perfect. Sadly, the secondary weren't. Those early years with the veneers were the only time in my adult life I could smile without embarrassment. Can you imagine all the years growing up with folks saying, "Smile! Why don't you smile?" And all I could think about was, "These folks really don't want to see my smile." And dental visits would just fill me with shame and dread, despite the fact I couldn't do anything about my teeth's condition.

(I paid for those veneers with babysitting money. My dentist, bless him, only charged for the materials and not his time, and actually managed to get the insurance to later pay 80%. I recently tried getting insurance to cover replace the old veneers, and they denied saying I was too young to require such extensive dental work. Duh! So was I when I was a teen!)


MUSCULO/SKELETAL/PAIN: Lots of all-over muscular pain (probably would have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, if I saw a MD for it, but I've been approaching the pain as caused by other issues). Deep, down-to-the-bone muscle pain related to barometric pressure changes. Lots of back and neck pain due to muscles that NEVER relax. Migraines and visual migraines.

SLEEP and NEUROLOGY: I've got undiagnosable neuropathy and sleep disorder. Most of the neuropathy is a pins-and-needles feeling in the face, head, hands, arms, and legs. The neurologist, on of the best in the Midwest, couldn't determine what was causing it. He was also my sleep doctor, and I've been given three sleep studies that have not been able to determine my sleep disorder. Also, blood tests reveal nada. No sleep meds or allopathic remedies have helped. l arouse from sleep 39 times in one hour (about every 1.5 minutes) for no knowable reason (no apnea, RLS, narcolepsy, etc.), and only get to sleep levels 1 and 2, and REM. Anytime I try to hit level 3, I immediately get bounced out. I get no deep delta sleep whatsoever, 0%, so I don't get the healing benefits of deep sleep. I attribute the un-relaxable back muscles to this lack of quality sleep. This has been going on for years, but started getting really bad the last 7-8 years. Because of the light sleep, I hear everything, notice every ache, and have to make frequent restroom runs (avg. 6 a night). The doc had me try meds to cut down on the restroom runs, but it doesn't work.

I've been so long-term sleep deprived that I've caught myself wishing I were dead just for the rest. Sounds bad, but I'm not really suicidal. It's just the despearation for some genuine rest! So you can imagine, how I long for a cure for my sleep problem. I feel so guilty when I have to bow out of doing things with the kids or family because I have to sleep, but it's a must just for physical survival!

OIL PULLING RESULTS
DAY 1-3: (Natural Blend) Definite energy boost and teeth whitening. Teeth felt cleaner than when I get a cleaning at the dentist. Stopped taking the meds for the night-time restroom runs.

DAY 4-10: (CO and light EVOO) I went out to garden on day 4, and got sunburned. However, it took an hour-and-a-half to burn, when normally I burn in 15-20 minutes. I also had two red patches on my right palm that alternated numb with pins-and-needles. That thumb and the ring finger occasionally started twitching. Pins-and-needles also went up that forearm a little; this went away within 2 days. Decreased appetite.

Immediately with the start of CO, my skin felt like I'd applied lotion, which I hadn't. And the scaly dragon skin on my legs was gone (lotion has never even done that)! The KP bumps were gone by day 4, though I'm still waiting for the redness from them to go away.

I did start to get a rash on my left forearm, my thigh, and feet. Oddly the rash was like what I used to get every summer, like a poison ivy rash. However, I'd never been able to determin the cause of the rash. I think the oil pulling pulled out some similar toxins. The rash hung around a few days until I broke down and took one Claritin. It was gone the next day.

Muscle pain is less, but not totally gone. The barometric pressure pain has increased, but that may more just be a result of all the summer storms that are passing through and not be a side-effect of the oil pulling.

Teeth continue to whiten. A small cavitation between a tooth and a veneer is going away! I expect to see continued improvements, and look forward to smiling again!

About day 6, I took an Epsom Salt bath and did a mega-pull (three 20-minute sessions) while soaking. I spit out in a glass, and took new swigs of the oil to continue. My skin was super, baby soft for days after.

Day 10, I started supplementing with an Omega fish oil supplement (this was a complex with 3, 6, and 9). The first night, NO RESTROOM RUNS!!! Ever since, no more than one restroom run in the middle of the night, and if I do have one it is because I was thoroughly awakened so much I couldn't fall back asleep for an hour or more. One issue of the sleep problems is nipped in the bud!

DAY 11–21: The CO and safflower just hadn't been getting thick until after 15 minutes. However, I continue to have the same benefits as the previous days. About day 14, my sister introduced me to Swedish pressure points because my back and neck had been in such pain. I can't believe how many knots I had in my back. She was shocked when she got one knot on my left shoulder to release and the muscle dropped 3 inches! She got most to release, though there's still about 4 big problem knots that are being stubborn.

Why mention the Swedish pressure points? The oil pulls for days 14 through yesterday with the CO and safflower IMMEDIATELY got thick and foamy. I think releasing the muscle knots released a lot of toxins.

Skin started getting a little dry again about day 18. However, I took another Epsom Salt bath tonight with a mega-pull using CO. It's back to the baby soft skin again. My hands look decades younger. I got a nasty looking pimple on my cheek below the cheekbone right below the eye four days ago. It never pussed up until last night, and today it was just gross. I don't recall ever having one so nasty, and haven't had one in that area since the teen years. I drained the infection tonight, smeared some CO on it while I soaked in the Epsom Salt bath, and now all swelling and infection seem to be totally gone. I may have to try CO on another wound or infection some day to see if it instantly clears up like this again.

I have not noticed hair benefits yet. They may be there, but it's hard to tell. I've too few silver hairs to tell just yet. And since my hair is long, hair loss in the brush is hard to determine, since one long hair looks like a whole bunch in the brush. Nails haven't been peeling or splitting and seem stronger.

I do think my vision is changing some, but I'm not sure if it's worse or better yet (I do expect it to get worse some at some point because of loose toxins, but also better in the long run).

I've had a few migraines over the three weeks, but if I oil pull the migraines lessen and end sooner. I've had some more pins-and-needles neuropathy, which I'm thinking is related to the oil pulling. But I think it's probably from loose toxins or from healing. The thumb has started twitching again the last couple days.

In about a week, I'm going up to KCMO to visit family, and I plan to visit a health food store to see if I can find some hemp oil. I really want to give it a try because of all the benefits folks have reported.

I'll keep you posted on any benefits from the Lugol's and hemp oil. I'm so hoping the Lugol's will help with the sleep problem (even though the doc says I have no thyroid issues). If it does, you'll probably know because I'll shout with joy so loud you'll be able to hear it coast to coast. I guarantee, I'm gonna be in tears the first day I have feeling alert and awake! Weirdly, there have been maybe a day or two over the last seven years I've felt alert, but I've never been able to distinguish what allowed for that. Maybe those days I managed to get extra Iodine in my diet or had detoxed or the right fatty acids ...

I've convinced my co-worker to give oil pulling a try this week, and she's really happy with it. She's had a broken off tooth and sometimes gets pressure at the sinus over that area and a nasty taste and pain, and is terrified of the dentist. She's tried gargling salt-water, mouth wash, etc., to try to help, but they do nothing. She's getting some relief in the pressure, and the bad taste is gone, just after three days of oil pulling! For her, if oral health is all she gets from oil pulling, she's content. I'm so hoping it'll help her in other ways. She's got a rare eye disease (as in from what her doctor can tell she's the only person with it) that I hope may get some benefit, since doctors have no idea whatsoever of how to treat it.