Pregnancy & Essential Oils
Aromatherapy has been used for thousands of years, the Pharaohs of Egypt were embalmed in essential oils and so through the ages the different civilisations have traded and used these oils. The largest consumers of essential oils today are the fragrance and flavoring industries with the therapeutic use rapidly growing. It’s the ways you can use aromatherapy at home that I want to outline: how, why, which and safety of essential oils.
A French perfume chemist, Dr. Rene Maurice Gattefosse, who discovered the healing properties of plant essences quite by accident, first coined the term Aromatherapy. While working in his laboratory, Gattefosse burned his hand badly. The first thing he found to put his hand in was a tub of lavender oil. He was amazed at the speed with which the burn healed. His work was taken up by Dr. Jean Valnet who used essential oils in army field hospitals during the second World War and continued from there to methodically document his case studies which are still used today for reference. Due to antibiotics becoming available in the late 40’s and early 50’s Doctors started to move away from use of essential oils in preference to antibiotic therapy, but it seems we have almost done the full circle with antibiotics. In France today, aromatic medicine is still used internally and the Doctor prescribes and dispenses the treatment.
In the late 50’s, an Australian nurse, Marguerite Maury, developed a massage technique for applying essential oils to the body to rejuvenate the skin and noticed the patients well being also improved. She worked in the U.K., which is where the sort of aromatherapy generally practiced today has its origin.
Sometimes essential oils are called volatile oils because in fact they are volatile substances; they emit an aroma when exposed to air and heat, which accelerates the evaporation of the aromatic components. Essential oils come from aromatic plants like sandalwood, ginger, and carrot to name but a few of the 250 odd plants that are used commercially for essential oil production.
How do Essential Oils Work?
Through dermal application, inhalation, oral, rectal and vaginal administration. For the purpose of home use let’s examine dermal application and inhalation. For oral, rectal or vaginal use of essential oils, you should consult a qualified aromatherapist or aromatic medicine practitioner for your personal prescription.
Essential oils are absorbed through the skin when using massage techniques, bathing or using compresses and poultices containing essential oils. They actually enter the blood stream via the fine hair follicles and sweat glands all over the body. Attached to each hair and gland is a tiny vein, which in turn leads to larger veins and eventually the heart – lung – heart and metabolized through the system.
The inhaled essential oils reach the blood stream through deep rapid breathing via the lungs. Most of us have used a couple of drops of eucalyptus oil on a tissue when we’ve had a blocked nose and noticed how quickly we are relieved of the congestion.
Why use Aromatherapy?
Most people associate an experience like a massage or a bath or an oil burner in the background as pleasurable and therapeutic: the body, mind and spirit seem to relax. Particular oils like sandalwood, lavender and patchouli relax the central nervous system. Choosing oils like bergamot, basil and lemon will liven up spirits and stimulate the body.
Essential oils dissolve in alcohol and lipids (vegetable or mineral oils and fats); they do not dissolve in water. So if you are planning to have an aromatherapy bath, buy a commercial dispersing agent to mix with your essential oils before adding to the bath.
The other reason for using essential oils is for infection control and it is in this area their efficacy is well documented.
All essential oils are anti-bacterial and some like tea tree oil are anti-viral too.
How to use essential oils safely
Always play it safe, use less rather than more drops of the oils for example:
Body massage, 20mls of almond oil: 8-10 drops of essential oil.
Bathing, run a warm bath and sit in it first to open the pores of the skin, and then add no more than 6 drops of essential oil mixed with dispersing agent.
Compress, use hot water (chronic)/ cold water (acute): For 1 liter water: 6 drops of essential oil and place compress over affected area.
Oil burner for the room, up to 6 drops of essential oils and don’t use the same oils continually.
Inhalation for sinus/colds etc, use 1 liter of hot water, not boiling as essential oils volatise too quickly, add no more than 4 drops, hold head over basin and cover with a towel and breath deeply until the steam finishes.
Safety of Essential Oils
Just about all essential oils have been tested for toxicity on animals. Rats or mice are used, as these poor creatures do not have the reflex to vomit. The accepted method for acute toxicity testing is known as the LD50 test. This involves different doses of the test substance in order to identify the dose that kills 50% of the animals. LD50 stands for lethal dose / 50% kill rate.
Acute oral and dermal toxicity are tested in this manner. For instance a 65kg adult would need to drink 975 grams of essential oil of Valerian to probably die, this is regarded as not too toxic. However, definitely toxic oil would be Boldo at 8.45grams (big teaspoonful), with these tests we assume animals and humans react similarly.
The LD50 is not the complete key to toxicity, as it does not tell us anything about carcinogenesis or risks in pregnancy. It is a rough guide to acute toxicity and is important in making decisions about the safety and otherwise of essential oils.
The most serious cases of poisoning have resulted after oral ingestion, usually by children.
Keep your essential oils out of reach of children for this reason.
An aromatherapy massage with the drop doses is unlikely to result in a poisoning and there have not been any reported cases.
Don’t use essential oils on your pets without seeking advice, as there are many recorded episodes of severe dermatitis as the result of the pet’s aromatherapy experience.
According to which books you read, the information may differ, the following are oils are suitable for use during pregnancy because of their extremely low toxicity, so anyone concerned about sensitivity could most likely use oils from the box below with reasonable confidence.
Cardamon Chamomile (German) Chamomile (Roman)
Clary sage Coriander Geranium
Ginger Lavender Neroli
Palmarosa Patchouli Petitgrain
Rose Rosewood Sandalwood
Source: Essential Oil Safety, Tisserand R. & Balsac T.
If any of the readers would like more information about essential oil therapies or have questions they would like answered, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Posted by Administrator on Jul 27 2006 at 9:08 PM