The many wonders of Oil of Oregano

The good news is that there’s a miracle herb out there that can rid you of everything from the common cold to a staphylococcus infection.

It’s anti-viral.

Anti-bacterial.

Anti-parasitic.

Anti-fungal.

Anti-oxidant.

Anti-allergic.

Provides incredibly quick and lasting relief to people suffering from any of the above + respiratory distress.

The bad news? It’s not available in India. Not yet anyway.

The miracle herb is known as Oil of Oregano. Pizza lovers will probably jump at the word “oregano” because they’re already familiar with oregano seasoning. Hang on! Before you reach for the phone in the mistaken belief that ordering pizza with oregano seasoning will cure you of that running nose, know this… the composition of the oil produced from the wild oregano plant (grown mostly in the Mediterranean and some parts of North America) has practically nothing in common with processed herb seasoning.

Last year I had the good fortune to read several testimonies regarding this oil at a time when I had reached a nadir health-wise, and the good sense to order some from an EBay worldwide seller (I have tried only the P73 brand from North American Herbs and Spices thus far – it’s supposed to be the best). My sinusitis was reaching epic proportions and was refusing to respond to both Amox and Azithromycin. After tut-tutting over my X-ray (clearly I was one of his worst cases!) the ENT specialist I was consulting in Delhi - one of the best in his field - informed me that a sinus drain was my only hope. When I came back to Bangalore I began searching the Internet for alternative sinus cures. Oil of oregano popped up often enough for me to wonder why people are so crazy about it… why they swear by its ability to eradicate everything from warts to asthma and the flu. I hadn’t bargained for the pungent odor to hit me from the couriered package 10 ft. away (ok! ok! Maybe that’s an exaggeration… it was only 5 ft. away). I could never have imagined that a single drop of any substance in this world could have such a murderous taste… (and I’d thought garlic was bad, ha!!) Most of all, I could never have imagined that within an hour of taking this stuff my eyes would stop watering, within a day my sinuses and chest congestion would begin to clear up. Within two days I no longer had a running nose and could breathe in full gulps of air. I continued the course over ten days and two things happened. First, my infection (I don’t have a clue if it was viral, bacterial or fungal) cleared up completely and second, it’s been four months since the first drop and I haven’t experienced a single sinus attack since then!!

*CAUTION: The oil should NEVER be taken as is, because a single drop is so powerful it could burn your tongue or your insides. It must always first be mixed with extra-virgin olive oil (a carrier oil, necessary for emulsification) preferably with a dropper, or in a spoon.

**IMPORTANT: Since OoO is so potent, and practically demolishes all bacteria, fungi and viruses in its way even in dilute doses, it likely eradicates much of the healthy flora in our stomachs as well. For that reason, it’s a good idea to replenish the healthy bacteria in our stomachs by ingesting probiotics like curd around an hour or so after the dose.

My Dosage:

Day 1: 6 drops a day every 2 hours, 7 times a day

Day 2: 6 drops a day every 4 hours, 4 times a day

Days 3-5: 4 drops a day every 4 hours, 4 times a day

Days 6-10: 4 drops a day every 12 hours, twice a day

Ratio of Oregano oil to Olive oil = 1:10.

i.e. 6 drops of oregano oil in about 1 tsp. of extra virgin olive oil is a workable ratio.

I discovered that one of the most incredible things about OoO is that it destroys bacteria and viruses so completely and thoroughly that the poor dears have no chance to mutate into other, more threatening forms of themselves. This is most certainly not true with conventional antibiotics, which is why we’ve been stepping up the grades ever since penicillin was invented and now we’re in deep doo-doo because certain bacteria – superbugs – are mutated versions that can’t be eradicated even with vancomycin, which is supposedly the most powerful weapon in a doctor’s armoury.

Anyway, after witnessing my amazing results I googled Oil of Oregano for children and was a bit thrown to read that it isn’t advised for kids below the age of 5. My son has always been prone to all kinds of viral infections following which he develops terrible bronchitis. He has been to every reputable hospital in Bangalore and had every kiddy allopathic drug in the market. In December of 2006 at the age of 4 he developed respiratory distress so acute he had to be taken to Emergency and pumped with steroids. I was so disillusioned with allopathic meds that seem only to substitute one ailment for another without actually ever curing anything... I vowed to dump allopathy and went for homeopathy instead. That worked, with mixed results. This most acclaimed doctor I went to prescribed his unique formulas which seemed to work at some times but not at others. As you may be aware, homeopathy works on the principle of similum, and you either hit upon the one correct medicine or you don’t. Because homeopathy treats the symptoms and not the disease, two people afflicted with the same virus could be experiencing varying symptoms and require different homeopathic meds. Now even the God of Homeopathy, Dr. George Vithoulkas, admits to a diagnostic accuracy rate of about 80%, so regular homeopaths can’t hope to do much better. I was convinced there had to be something else out there. I looked up Indian herbs and Chinese herbs, but either due to lack of comprehensive and verifiable studies/info or availability issues, I lucked out. After I discovered Oil of Oregano and saw what it had done for me, I decided to try it on my son 3 months ago when it looked like he was about to go down with a bad virus yet again. Sigh. I know the signs so well. Running nose, climbing fever, constant sneezing. I tucked him in at night with three drops of oregano oil mixed with olive oil in the proportions mentioned above. Come morning, and I was ready for the worst. I just couldn’t believe it when I saw no signs of any sickness on him!!! The cold/flu had vanished like it never existed! I wondered if it would be equally effective in the flu season of Feb/March which is especially terrible for Northies in Bangalore. I needn’t have worried :-D … I just give him two drops of the oil in 1 tsp. of olive oil every alternate night, just before bed. He’s the only kid in his class who’s right as rain… most of the other kids have been down with the flu and I’m sure that if he hadn’t been taking OoO to boost his immunity he would’ve been first in line this year too - like every year before this.

Oil of Oregano, for me, is the Holy Grail of natural medicines. I’ve ordered a whole bunch of 1 oz. bottles of the oil with expiry dates set for 4 years hence and spared him some nail-biting visits to the doctor and whole lot of days of feeling ill and suffering miserably.

So, if this is such a wonder cure, why haven’t you heard of it before? The answer’s not so simple, and I can’t claim to be a know-it-all because only the parties involved in the politics behind the scenes know the truth. For a product to be FDA approved, it needs to go through hellishly expensive specialized clinical trials. I have posted a few links at the end of this article to some individual researchers’ clinical trials on the efficacy of OoO as a germ killer, so you can judge for yourselves. Or you can read testimonials from thousands of people at various forums and websites that simply swear by OoO and neither they nor I require a stamp of approval from the FDA to make up our minds (didn’t the FDA pass Vioxx too? What a joke… or even aspirin for that matter. Did you know that giving your kids aspirin in a fever can cause Reye ’s syndrome? It can give your kids brain and liver damage, and most of the public doesn’t even know about it! Or how about the “safe” drug Warfarin, that sends 43,000 Americans to the Emergency room with strokes and abnormal bleeding every year?) The FDA also denies that homeopathy works, despite huge quantum of evidence to the contrary.

Links for those interested in the results of lab testing / limited human testing of Oil of Oregano:

STUDIES AND TESTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9