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Essential Oils for Blood Pulling

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Hi,

Has anyone tried any essential oils to help alleviate blood pulling to the legs?

I have heard that both Cypress oil and Camphor oil are blood vessel constrictors, so my thought was to apply some to the feet and legs to see if it helps with blood pulling.

Today I bought some Cypress oil and applied it to my legs, but have not really felt anything yet... wondering if anyone else has tried Cypress oil or any other oil for this purpose?

The reason I prefer this is because I have IBS and if I can use something topical instead of ingesting the supplement it's so much better.... Also, CBD oil has completely alleviated my headaches so I am now focusing more to other essential oils to see what else could help my other symptoms.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Blood pooling is the term that most people would recognize. If you change the thread title you might get more responses.

Using essential oils is an interesting idea. I haven't tried it.

There can be different reasons for lack of vasoconstriction. I've read that one of those reasons is a problem with the receptors of the chemicals responsible for vasoconstriction. If those receptors don't respond properly then it could be a reason why essential oils wouldn't work.

You can apply other substances transdermally by mixing them with a small amount of oil.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
There are many reasons for blood pooling, and there may or may not be easy topical treatments ... but I have not read of any that are proven to work. What does work is gravity, such as elevating the leg above the heart. Or constriction from compression bandages. If we did not have ME then exercising the lower leg ... though it is hypothetically viable, even if difficult, that anaerobic muscle training of the calf muscles might help.

I have major issues with blood pooling myself. Enough that I almost lost my left foot late last year. I wish there were easy answers, things that always worked, but its still very much the case the only way we know is if we try something.

In the meantime you can do double duty by resting .. to help with pacing, and to elevate the leg to allow more blood and fluid to return to the heart.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
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5,288
Location
Canada
What are those other substances?

I should have been more clear about what I said. I didn't mean substances that would help with vasoconstriction, I meant it's possible to take many supplements that come as powders or liquids, mix them with some oil or even water, and apply them to skin. Magnesium is one example.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
I have major issues with blood pooling myself. Enough that I almost lost my left foot late last year.

@alex3619 Would you be comfortable explaining how blood pooling almost lead to the loss of your foot? Blood pooling has been a problem for me for many years. In my case its my right foot and calf that seem to collect the most blood when I'm upright. It can lead to a feeling of my foot having been dipped in acid. I'd like to know what kind of damage can be caused in the area where blood pools.
 

alex3619

Senior Member
Messages
13,810
Location
Logan, Queensland, Australia
@alex3619 Would you be comfortable explaining how blood pooling almost lead to the loss of your foot? Blood pooling has been a problem for me for many years. In my case its my right foot and calf that seem to collect the most blood when I'm upright. It can lead to a feeling of my foot having been dipped in acid. I'd like to know what kind of damage can be caused in the area where blood pools.
I have a thread on this somewhere, but might not be on this forum. If enough blood pools in a foot you can get venous insufficiency, where there is not enough circulation to keep tissue alive. My foot went black, and large areas of skin died and became ulcers. However my left ankle was injured five years ago and I still have a titanium implant in there, so the blood supply is probably worse than normal. In addition I took metformin, a diabetes drug, and this seemed to have triggered the whole incident. It took four months for the areas of dead skin to heal, though the black foot went away almost immediately after I stopped metformin.
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
Just wanted to report back that after 2 days of using Cypress essential oil I can totally see that it has sedative effects. I usually only get about 3-4 hours of sleep every night but applying a few drops to my feet and ankles every morning results in sleeping about 6 hours per night... This was not the benefit I was shooting for when I bought this oil but it is fixing something else which is good.... It has not made any positive effects on blood pulling or vasoconstriction that I can report back at this time.
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
Messages
5,288
Location
Canada
Just wanted to report back that after 2 days of using Cypress essential oil I can totally see that it has sedative effects. I usually only get about 3-4 hours of sleep every night but applying a few drops to my feet and ankles every morning results in sleeping about 6 hours per night

That's a useful and powerful effect from a few drops. Is it straight cypress oil, or is it mixed with a carrier oil?
 

Peyt

Senior Member
Messages
678
Location
Southern California
I do want to add something on my sleep habits. I usually don't get any benefit from taking sleep medicine, on the contrary I actually get sleepy when I take something for anxiety (such as Benzo or Xanax) ... so I have a feeling this cypress oil is helping my anxiety and somehow that is contributing to better sleep... I am mentioning this because I don't want people reading this to expect cypress to be a sleep aid for all... I think it works as a sleep aid if the underlying cause of poor sleep is anxiety and rapid heart beat (like mine).
 

PatJ

Forum Support Assistant
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5,288
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Canada
so I have a feeling this cypress oil is helping my anxiety and somehow that is contributing to better sleep

Point 7 on this list of cypress oil benefits says that it's an anxiety reducer. And this site lists many essential oils that can help with sleep. Bergemot may be useful for you since it "helps to allieviate mental stress" which I assume would include anxiety.