By Crystal Bethea
As a parent, one of the worst feelings you can have is for your child to be in pain and unable to do anything about it. As my daughter suffered from various ailments, we spent years figuring out how to help her before we finally found the solution we needed in holistic wellness. Although some people are intimidated by the idea of holistic treatments, these treatments can provide extraordinary relief for people suffering from various conditions.
Our journey to holistic wellness
Many people think of holistic care as just a mix of herbal remedies, but there is much more to it. In holistic care, therapists combine treatments and remedies with education about the body and its systems to address the patient’s overall health. Rather than treating symptoms or curing specific illnesses or conditions, holistic care uses techniques such as massage, acupuncture, salt therapy, and more to ensure overall health and relieve the body naturally.
We came to holistic wellness after some unfortunate experiences with traditional medicine. Our daughter had a negative experience with traditional medical treatments, many of which did little to help her — some, even worsening her condition. Sometimes, the progression of an illness can be rapid and devastating. It is often easier to prevent a condition from worsening than reverse its effects.
How traditional medicine failed our daughter
My daughter was diagnosed with autism. She suffered from a severe stutter that, through patience and hard work, we were able to reduce to a minor speech impediment. At the same time, she was developing eczema and lung problems that would require her to have nebulizer and steroid treatments four times a day. In turn, she started progressing backward socially, and we knew we needed to get her help. We could not sit back and accept that this was how the rest of my daughter’s life would be.
We did an enormous amount of research and tried everything we could to get our daughter healthy. We removed most of our carpet, changed the AC unit, and replaced all the air ducts, yet her lung issues persisted. It was only then we realized the number of chemicals we were exposing our daughter to and how much worse they were making her condition. Things like the plug-in air fresheners and cleaning products we used contributed to her lungs’ condition worsening.
Indeed, there are toxic ingredients in almost everything we used or ate when my daughter was at her worst. Helping her condition required us to change our lifestyle completely, but we did so gradually, one product at a time. As we replaced these products containing toxic chemicals with ones that were much healthier and more natural, we noticed that not only did our daughter’s health improve, but our own health improved alongside her own.
How holistic care helped our daughter
Our friend suggested we try essential oils with our daughter, and the results were astounding. The first time we tried essential oils was when she could sleep through the night without coughing. As I began to look into essential oils more, I realized that they are the same herbs, leaves, and roots we all know about — just in a more powerful, concentrated form. However, even though these essential oils provided her with an enormous amount of relief, they didn’t heal her completely.
We then turned to salt therapy, and while we were skeptical of what effects it would have at first, we were taken aback by its effectiveness. As soon as I saw my daughter playing in the salt, I felt a wave of relief from the stress I had been feeling for ages. After five consecutive sessions, my daughter no longer coughed, and she didn’t need another session for about five months.
Helping others through holistic care
As my daughter received the help and treatment she needed from this holistic therapy, I became passionate about sharing information and teaching about holistic care. I wanted more families and individuals to experience the same benefits these extraordinary methods of therapy can provide. Thanks to our lifestyle changes and embracing this holistic therapy, we were able to help our daughter become healthy and functioning.
Our experiences also inspired us to expand our business and fully invest ourselves in our holistic wellness spa. We believe that if we can help people achieve or maintain a better quality of life by showing and teaching them how to change their actions and lifestyle in small ways, we will have accomplished our goals. And now that we have been able to help more people, the natural extension is to grow our business even further by finding more like-minded individuals to perpetuate these goals.
In sharing our knowledge and teaching others about holistic wellness, we hope that other families will not have to face the same experience as we did with our daughter. After we healed our daughter with essential oils and salt therapy, our goal became to heal our community, and our business empowers us to do so.
About the Author: Crystal Bethea is an army veteran, licensed medical massage therapist, and experienced cosmetologist. She is the owner of C3 Wellness Spa, a holistic wellness center in Kissimmee, FL, that specializes in helping veterans with physical ailments, as well as empowering the Central Floridians to live healthy, active lives. Inspired by her family of fellow veterans, Bethea strives to evolve and serve the physical and mental needs of those in her community.
