TEA TREE OIL

I posted a link to an article about TeaTree Oil and Manuka Honey. During the interim that we were waiting for the honey dressings to arrive, I began using tea tree oil as a topical antibiotic for Kourtney's skin. The "Beef and Cheese Smell", as described by Shaelyn, was getting a bit overwhelming, especially after leaving the dressings on for more than two days. I put it in her bath last Saturday for the first time and than concocted my own mixture of vaseline and tea tree oil. I actually ended up taking off all the fancy silicone dressings on Kourtney's extremities and taking gobs of vaseline with teatree oil and putting them all over her body. This is much to Kourtney's delight as she gets very itchy. She actually purrs like a kitten when we glob and smooth it onto her skin. It always makes me feel satisfied that I can give her some relief to all her pain. The dressings didn't stick or shift underneath and with the help of the tea tree oil Kourtney's extremities are starting to look less inflamed, although she leaves an oil patch wherever she goes (hospital soaker pads help a lot). While Kourtney first had an episode with this infection I used vaseline but it didn't lift off the infection like the vaseline and tea tree oil does. She can move her arms better and she states relief from them.

The most amazing part of all of this is that usually chlorine is the number one choice in bathwater to kill off bacteria. Every summer Kourtney's skin did amazing because of all the swimming she did. This year that didn't happen, I thought it was because we changed from a chlorine pool to salt water that her skin wasn't improving. Todd got the water tested religiously and assured me that the chlorine in our pool was higher then most salt water pools. Bleach wasn't working, it was just leaving Kourtney with a red rash on her body. Nobody at Children's had any other suggestions, until I phoned Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto. They said that they used vinegar in the bath water. I started using vinegar with great results, but the sting was horrible for her. The smell of vinegar and honey gave Kourtney the sweet and sour smell. She could smell it and it was making the dressing change a lot less desirable for everyone. I had talked to one Dr. in the UK about tea tree oil and an Australian intern concurred that it was effective in treating infections. It is much more soothing for skin, it is an oil for it gives her skin moisture, plus it can be used topically, plus...you can buy it a COSTCO. (for those that don't know me I am the Costco expert).
What is amazing to me is now we find out that tea tree oil and manuka honey are very similar to each other and their sources are similar (see the links on our blog). We are trying not to use antibiotics on Kourtney as it really makes this bug worse and more resistant. Patience and rest are going to be the words. I want to outsmart this nasty bug that has invaded my little girl's body.