Pitfalls of Relying on Essential Oil Recipes

Hello everyone.
Many of you know I am a multi-disciplined Clinical Aromatherapist and have been for 30 years.
I know many of you here are 'home users' of Essential Oils.
You'll probably have bottles of Lavender, Tea-Tree, Eucalyptus, Rosemary, for example, stashed in your medicine cabinet.
You might love using your Lavender in a diffuser before bedtime, night after night after night to help you sleep better. What you wont know is, that over a given period of time, Lavender will start having the opposite effect and will actually start keeping you awake. You'll think the Lavender has 'stopped working'. You'd be wrong, you are now sensitised to Lavender, and for life I might add.
Staying with the Lavender and the bad sleep pattern. You might have tried using it at night, but it has made no difference at all and you decide "what a load of tosh! Essential Oils don't work!" You'd be wrong.
Lavender could be totally the wrong oil for you and the reason why you have a disrupted sleep pattern. It could be that you have used too much Lavender at night. You see, Lavender oil is an adaptogen oil. So you should have used no more than 1-2 drops maximum on your pillow at night, but maybe you were using 5-6 drops. At that dosage you are using Lavender as a stimulant not a sedative. Let's circle back to the why you have a disrupted sleep. Is it because of your job during your waking hours? Have you got emotional and/or mental crap going on during the day? Then you should have been using Lavender in say, a morning bath with that night time dosage, 5-6 drops to help keep your stress levels down during the day, thus keeping you relaxed and ready for sleep at the end of the day.
But of course, Lavender has contraindications, in other words, if you have certain underlying health issues or on certain medications/supplements, you should not be using Lavender essential oils.
Here are Lavender's contraindications: Lavender (Lavendula angustifolia): Pregnancy or if there has been a history of miscarriage or breakthrough bleeding, otherwise only after first trimester, low blood pressure, undergoing treatment for cancer, any allergies. Do not use if preparations using Iodine or Iron are being taken. English Lavender has higher Linalool content.
This morning I was having a chat with fellow Clinical Aromatherapist here in the UK: Elizabeth Ashley Starns known as The Secret Healer.
We have quite an in-depth discussion about the 'Pitfalls of Relying on Essential Oil Recipes' that the home user see on social media, just like you are doing probably. We also discuss the role and responsibilities us Aromatherapists have to the public which as you will see in the video, is something both of us feel passionate about, particularly me.
I hope you enjoy the video and learn something about how you should be using your oils at home.

Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: angelchemuel

Exciting!!

This is so interesting. I recently decided to treat all my ailments with essential oils although I'm not very knowledgeable about them. I have used oregano oil in the past and just got great relief for my dry winter skin from tea tree oil.

I look forward to watching the video!

a reply to: angelchemuel
Thank you for posting these thoughts.

Would this be an issue with handling lavender and other herbs a lot? I work in a nursery and sometimes spend hours pruning all sorts of aromatic herbs. Not a fan of lavender myself but am often immersed in it and at times don't sleep well which I'm not bothered by, just curious now if there is a connection.

a reply to: igloo
If you are feeling stimulated, particularly after you have been harvesting the Lavender, then yes, it could be a bit of an 'overdose', but it wont be in the same way as if you had used the oil. Are you pruning other herbs when you do the Lavender as well and are you pruning with bear hands?
Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: BelleEpoque

I've become a big believer in essential oils... a few ATSers have recommended certain ones over the years Ms. Jane included.

As a man, I definitely don't do aromatherapy a lot but prefer massage or tincture for chronic pain and scarring. But my sister is into it so we are always swapping out ideas and how to use them.

The only aromatherapy we use occasionally is what I call Grandmother in a bottle, which is just mostly geranium/rose oil, with a drop or two of other aromatic oils. It definitely has a calming effect and the scent reminds us of both of our grandmothers (RIP).

I use it as a massage oil mostly...

but I use black seed, eucalyptus, ginger, rosemary, oregano, coconut, clove, and cedar in some way shape, or form daily

Throw in CBD oils and they all seem to be making a difference.

Ever since I was a kid I used to get mouth ulcers occasionally, they are painful as hell sometimes, growing up I gargled with warm salty water. But now I use coconut oil mostly with a few drops of oregano and a drop of clove. It relieves the pain and seems to heal them quicker

the black seed and oregano seem to knock back my stomach ulcer too.

I got into oils because of my Meneire's disease and on one forum certain blends supposedly help it. FWIW a few times it seemed to help but later on, its effectiveness lessens. Almost like you do need to switch it up a bit.

I swear by a few massage oils and magnesium salts and a drop of DMSO for muscles, arthritis, and scar tissue.

a reply to: angelchemuel

You look much as I pictured in my mind, but I never read your posts with a British accent before-I shall do so going forward.

I don't know enough about aroma therapy-at least not as much as I'd like or should-but I have used Thieves Oil for about 20 years on my monthly shopping trips to town. It could just be the placebo effect, but I never did 'catch' any virus in town throughout all those years; it took direct exposure to someone sick dropping by my home for me to catch a cold.

originally posted by: angelchemuel
a reply to: igloo
If you are feeling stimulated, particularly after you have been harvesting the Lavender, then yes, it could be a bit of an 'overdose', but it wont be in the same way as if you had used the oil. Are you pruning other herbs when you do the Lavender as well and are you pruning with bear hands?
Rainbows
Jane

No sense of stimulation from it and yes, usually pruning along with other herbs and bare hands. I know what you mean, much less exposure than direct use of oil and it's not like putting drops on a pillow where you are exposed all night.

I became sensitive in an asthmatic way to cedar dust, thuja plicata, due to working with it over time. I can handle cedar kindling to light a fire but not breathing it. Wondered if lavender would do this with long term exposure.

Thanks for your answer, much appreciated.

I'm half way through the video and what floored me was sciatica can be rooted in the feet. I just spent a year hobbling around as my feet were so bad and off/ on I'd get sciatic pain sometime to the point I couldn't hold myself up. I went to a chiropractor and got custom made insoles for my shoes. It's helped massively but like you said, like most people, I assumed sciatica is coming from the back. You learn something new every day.

a reply to: igloo
So the thuja, oil or plant is also present in Cedarwoods and many other plants, but in particular trees. I used to have a row of them forming a hedge and I learnt very quickly to be covered up. If I didn't I would break out in hives. Thuja essential oil is actually on the Hazardous and Toxic data base, as is Oregano and clove. Both of which should be used in their tincture form, as in Oil OF cloves or Oil OF Oregano.
Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: nugget1

but I never read your posts with a British accent before-I shall do so going forward.

There are many variations of Thieves Oil, mainly because it wasn't essential oils that were used back in thise days it was the herbs.... which they filled those beak masks they wore with. The various recipes/blends for Thieves that I have seen have incredibly potent EO's in them, some of which are classified as Hazardous and Toxic. Way back when I first qualified, such oils were only available to qualified therapists who were trained in their use. But now with the internet, you can pretty much get hold of any of the hazardous and toxic oils.
Rainbows
Jane

a reply to: igloo
Thank you for taking the time to highlight that from our presentation, I'm glad and pleased you have watched it. I was a bit nervous about posting it on ATS, but in the end I hope people will learn something from it.
Rainbows
Jane