The Aroma of Health: first experiences with aromatherapy

[Victoria]

Marion,

my home computer is driving me crazy, will have to take a break or cut down until my home computer starts behaving itself.

Marion, use very small amounts of Ylang Ylang as you would use Lavender essential oil. In fact cut the Lavender down even further, say only 4 drops of Lavender & 2 drops of Ylang Ylang in the bath at night.

But on no account, stop your prescription drugs without your Doctor's permission. It is imperative to take drugs as prescribed & not stop them suddenly (no matter how well you feel). This is really important where your heart problems are concerned.

Victoria

 

[MEG]

English Lavender/Tea Tree

How do we know we are getting English Lavender, unless we buy on-line and the country of origin is listed? Is Lavender better than Lavendula? I know they are different...I happen to have both growing in my garden. But I am not sure of the medicinal propeties of Lavendula vs Lavender.

No problem getting Tea Tree essential oil in the US. Have my husband using it for toenail fungus.

Lavender is defnitely helping with sleep...for both of us.

Going upstairs to my desktop to try to post my Lavender Loving Bear photos!

 

[MEG]

Bear likes Lavender

please click on attachment...as you can see my home is in the woods!!!

 

[Victoria]

Marion,

As to Lavender, it's all a matter of taste (or should I say smell). I don't believe English lavender is any better therapeutically than any other Lavender. Tasmanian lavender is supposedly better than Victorian Lavender (in Australia).

Lavender oil is often adultered with Lavendula. It is Lavender essential oil which you should be using (not Lavendula, in fact to my knowledge you can't buy Lavendula essential oil).

Just love the photos of your bears in the woods (& your avatar). It must be heavenly to live in such beautiful surroundings.

I am extemely envious.

Victoria

 

[MEG]

Lavendula/Lavender

I'm going to stop growing Lavendula...our local nursery carried it and I bought some by accident. I'll let the bear have the Lavendula!!!! I don't want to make a mistake and buy it...Vicky, I know I saw some when I was looking for soap making supplies on the Internet...it was inexpensive. But I don't even want it in my soap.

I want to use only pure organic Lavender essential oil for myself.

Did my bath tonight with four drops Lavender and 2 drops Ylang Ylang....

It feels so nurturing to use essential oils. I so love aromatherapy.

 

[MEG]

Aromotherapy

Thank you. I love where we live...so peaceful. Always room for visitors....

I am jealous of your patio garden...I hope we can keep talking about container gardening...especially herbs in containers. Don't you find gardening, in any form, healing?

 

[August59]

Hey Marian - I tried a PM, but I just was wandering if you had your appt with Dr. Black yet? Just curious! Sorry for the off topic!!

 

[Victoria]

Marion,

that's why the lavendula was inexpensive, it the poor man's lavender.

Victoria

PS Swap over to my gardening thread to read more about herbs in the garden.

 

[jmolina]

Hi eveyone, here is the scoop on the 4 thieves blend
As the bubonic plague decimated Europe in the year 1413, four thieves were captured and charged with robbing the dead and dying victims. When the thieves were tried, the magistrate offered leniency if they would reveal how they resisted contracting the infection as they performed their gruesome acts. They explained that they were perfumers and spice traders and told of a special concoction of aromatic herbs, including cloves and rosemary, that they rubbed on their hands, ears, and temples.
The Thieves oil blend was created based on research into the concoction used by the thieves of the 15th century. In 1997, studies conducted at Weber State University showed it to have a 99.96% success rate against airborne bacteria. The bacteria cultures were sprayed in an enclosed area, and Thieves oil blend was diffused for a given amount of time. This research conducted at Weber State University in cooperation with D. Gary Young, as well as other documented research, indicates that most viruses, fungi, and bacteria cannot live in the presence of many essential oils, especially those high in phenols, carcacrol, thymol, and terpenes.
The blend consists of: clove, lemon, cinnamon. eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. I think in equal amounts.

 

[IntuneJune]

Jmolina,

Very interesting background on the thieves blend. Is this sold anywhere today???

June

 

[jmolina]

IntuneJune, Yes, if you google four thieves blend you will get multiple sites that sell this blend.

 

[Victoria]

jmolina,

It seems there are many versions of this story.....or maybe the one that follows, is a completely different story in a different century:

"The story goes that this formula was revealed in the 17th century by four corpse-robbers caught red'handed during the time oof the great plagues of Toulouse (1628-1631). Their disregard for the contagion thoroughly astonished the judges....The archives of the Parliament of Toulouse record that: 'During the great plague, four robbers were convicted of going to the houses of plague victims, strangling them in their beds and then looting their dwelling: for this they were condemned to be burned at the stake, and in order to have the sentence mitigated they revealed thsir secret preservative: after which they were hanged:

• 3 pints of strong white wine vinegar
• a handful each of wormwood, meadowsweet, juniper berries , wild marjoram & sage
• 50 cloves
• 2 ounces of elecampane root
• 2 ounces of angelica
• 2 ounces of rosemary
• 2 ounces of horehound
• 3g of camphor

Since overdose of camphor & wormwood can cause abortions, convulsions & even death, I would be wary of using this today (without sufficient knowledge of it's preparation & use).

But it does give us cause to wonder if a recipe along these lines could be used in outbreaks of disease (after natural disasters).

*************​

Ti Tree essential oil is active against all three categories of infectious organisms, bacteria, fungi & viruses. It is a very powerful immuno-stimulant, which also suggests a use in outbreaks of disease.

Hi eveyone, here is the scoop on the 4 thieves blend
As the bubonic plague decimated Europe in the year 1413, four thieves were captured and charged with robbing the dead and dying victims. When the thieves were tried, the magistrate offered leniency if they would reveal how they resisted contracting the infection as they performed their gruesome acts. They explained that they were perfumers and spice traders and told of a special concoction of aromatic herbs, including cloves and rosemary, that they rubbed on their hands, ears, and temples.
The Thieves oil blend was created based on research into the concoction used by the thieves of the 15th century. In 1997, studies conducted at Weber State University showed it to have a 99.96% success rate against airborne bacteria. The bacteria cultures were sprayed in an enclosed area, and Thieves oil blend was diffused for a given amount of time. This research conducted at Weber State University in cooperation with D. Gary Young, as well as other documented research, indicates that most viruses, fungi, and bacteria cannot live in the presence of many essential oils, especially those high in phenols, carcacrol, thymol, and terpenes.
The blend consists of: clove, lemon, cinnamon. eucalyptus and rosemary essential oils. I think in equal amounts.

 

[Terri]

Hi All,

Thought I'd pass along an interesting story here tonight (insomnia). I had a plumber come to the door one day with a very strong "aroma". I was immediately concerned, but he quickly told me it was essential oils he was wearing, "thieves" in particular.

He then told me of of how, as a plumber, he was constantly getting sick. When he heard about thieves essential oils (not sure what the combination is), he decided to see if it might help him avoid some of his constant sickness. Lo and behold, it worked extraordinarily well for him.

I've heard other amazing stories about essential oils. But as with all good things, what works for one person may not work at all for another. In fact, my partner, who loves her essential oils, cannot tolerate lavender at all. Go figure. I love the fragrance of lavender.

Wayne

One story I have heard behind the "Thieves" blend (also can be found as "Four Robbers") is that during the black plague there was a band of robbers who wanted to take advantage of looting the sick people's homes so they concocted an essential oil blend to protect them against the plague. As the story goes, they prospered and never got sick but did get rich

 

[DysautonomiaXMRV]

I tried this once and it made me feel terrible. However I remain a fan. I am sure there are scents (chemicals) that can help many people relax and help the immune system get stronger.

If you think about it must be an individual thing. Some people claim to 'like' the smell of gasoline, and others find it makes them dizzy/faint and feel like they will pass out.

Same goes for grandma's perfume to the smell of cut grass.

I'm sure to a similar degree Aromatherapy is the same, finding something that's right for you and being sensible with the dose used.

 

[fds66]

So glad I found this thread. I've skimmed through most of it and it's very interesting.

I use lavender a lot to relax and other things too. I have tea tree oil and have used that on bites and fungal infections. I also like geranium oil too and often use a mix of lavender and geranium at night. There are some oils I don't like the smell of and that is the heavy woody ones like sandalwood so I avoid those one. I find citrusy ones like lemon are good to perk me up a bit.

I have lots of aloe vera plants growing on my kitchen window sill. Someone gave me a cutting and they have gone a bit mad. I keep having to divide them up. Great for burns or cuts and apparently it works on veruccas too according to a chiropodist that my Mum knows. I have tried it on my son's skin too - he has lots of eczema and skin rashes and it it good to take the redness out of patches sometimes. We were careful to try a small bit first in case he reacted to it.

I also have a bottle of rescue remedy that I think helps at times.

Great topic - thanks

 

[Victoria]

Aromatherapy & the use of essential oils IS definitely something to be tried & tested. When I studied aromatherapy & lymphatic drainage massage some 18 years ago, I was able to use nearly all the regular essential oils (except basil which gave me a severe allergic reaction in a massage class, although I can eat basil).

But in the last 2-3 years, with my MCS getting worse, I rarely use more than 3-4 essential oils regularly now. Pine essential oil which I loved, smells like dirty socks now . I always hated the sickly smell of Rose Geranium, although I could tolerate it in a blend for clients. I started with a few massage clients & made a few very successful creams & massage oil blends all those years ago, but the deterioration of my back condition & hip,shoulder, neck pain resulted in my having to give up this therapy as a potential career.

If you don't like the smell of an essential oil, it is a sure sign that you should not use it (even if that same oil was used on another person for the same health problem which you have).

I also had to give away all my beautiful incenses about 3 years ago. I had some lovely French cedar incense, some Japanese incense (amongst others). And while I have kept my Tibetan healing incense, I haven't been able to use it in recent years.

I used to love the smell of cedar, but in recent months I have ascertained it is an ingredient in some toiletries & men's aftershave, which makes me nauseous & in an enclosed space, even dizzy to the point of fainting. I also have trouble breathing if a male with a certain aftershave comes near me at work - this was a serious problem when one of the IT staff came to fix my computer. I had to try not to breath through my nose when he was sitting in front of my computer. Fortunately, he got married & (maybe his wife didn't like it either) I noticed he never wore that aftershave again.

I have tried to post my original article on Introduction to Aromatherapy several times over the weekend & every time it appears with the font distorted. I even tried splitting it into 4 parts & making 4 Blogs out of it & it didn't work with that either, so for the members that asked me for a copy, please PM me your personal email address & I will email it as an attachment.

This article was written about 4-5 months ago, using extracts from my lecture notes of 18 years ago. I had revised all my notes on essential oils at that time to try & ascertain whether some of the oils might be of use for some of the symptoms of ME/CFS/FM.

For those interested, the article is an overview of what Aromatherapy is, a list of some oils which might be helpful & some of the methods used in application. It is not a "How To" guide.

I am not an expert in Aromatherapy, but have used a few oils with some success over the years.