AT in Israel+AT and pregnancy

[Guest guest]

Good morning!

 

The issues in my subject line are related in a way.

 

On my Russian AT community (which by now has over 600 members) someone's

asking about EOs for morning sickness. Many good suggestions have been

made until a lady from Israel stepped in and started SCREAMING that she

is a medical doctor+naturopath+aromatherapist, and she is 500% certain

that no essential oils can ever be used throughout the 9 months of

pregnancy. She refuses to cite any scientific references but says that

EOs " penetrate " and then " things occur " . She would not elaborate on

either concept. Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me.

 

Therefore:

 

1) I would be very curious to know what Isralian aromatherapy education

and practice are generally about (feel free to reply off the list); and

 

2) I checked my Plant Aromatics. Basically, it appears that an

_extra-cautious_ mother would avoid EOs during the first trimester, and

thereafter the oils that are safe for other humans would be safe for

pregnant women. I would be careful about the dosage and frequency and

pay close attention to potentional skin reactions and allergies. Also,

during the last trimester, I would further lower the dosage and

frequency to avoid potentional liver overload and possible skin

reactions. Am I correct?

 

Thank you,

Nika

(no longer from Moscow but from Akron, OH)

[Guest guest]

On 08/05/07, Nika Franchi <nikafranchi wrote:

> On my Russian AT community (which by now has over 600 members) someone's

> asking about EOs for morning sickness. Many good suggestions have been

> made until a lady from Israel stepped in and started SCREAMING that she

> is a medical doctor+naturopath+aromatherapist, and she is 500% certain

> that no essential oils can ever be used throughout the 9 months of

> pregnancy. She refuses to cite any scientific references but says that

> EOs " penetrate " and then " things occur " . She would not elaborate on

> either concept. Sounds like a bunch of hogwash to me.

 

Hi Nika

Write back to your screamer asking if is she also 500% certain that

bath products, soap, shower gels, toothpaste, hair products, shampoo,

conditioner, hair dye, nail varnish (and remover) perfume, hand

creams, and every other fragranced personal care product you can think

of sold on the high street, should not be used?. Does her 500% also

apply to food, herbs spices, flavorings, sweets and candies?

Those extra strong mints can be devils...<grin>

 

> Therefore:

 

> 1) I would be very curious to know what Isralian aromatherapy education

> and practice are generally about (feel free to reply off the list); and

 

Not a clue on this one.

 

> 2) I checked my Plant Aromatics. Basically, it appears that an

> _extra-cautious_ mother would avoid EOs during the first trimester, and

> thereafter the oils that are safe for other humans would be safe for

> pregnant women. I would be careful about the dosage and frequency and

> pay close attention to potentional skin reactions and allergies. Also,

> during the last trimester, I would further lower the dosage and

> frequency to avoid potentional liver overload and possible skin

> reactions. Am I correct?

 

Main thing to remember is that after a miscarriage the bereaved

parents need to find a reason for their loss, which 95% of the time

they wont, but that wont stop them going over every last thing the

mother did in the week before the miscarriage. If EO's were used -

well, need I say more? However, to my knowledge (and I stand to be

corrected) there has never, ever, been a single case of topical

application of EO's - in ANY strength, including neat - causing

miscarriage or harm. Even deliberate ingestion of oils high in Apiol

(I think - my chemistry's is very rusty as I don't work now, but I'm

sure Martin will correct me on that :-)) to procure miscarriage have

never worked - other than in a couple of recorded cases where the

mother died, so technically, I suppose, it could be said to have

worked.

The reasons for using very low rates of EO's during pregnancy are

actually more to do with the fact that the skin (due to hormones)

become much more sensitive and therefore prone to allergy and

sensitisation. Also the sense of smell is heightened - to a remarkable

degree for some - and some pregnant women are affected so badly by

this that they can no longer stand their favorite perfume. This also

applies to EO's - those previously loved may become repugnant, and

others just totally overpowering unless well diluted.

As for liver damage, well in my opinion, we do far more damage to our

livers by just living in this synthetically fragranced and flavored

world than we ever could by sensible use of EO's <note the word

*sensible* there please :-).

HTH

LLx

[Guest guest]

Liz wrote:

 

Write back to your screamer asking if is she also 500% certain that bath

products, soap, shower gels, toothpaste, <snip> Does her 500% also apply

to food, herbs spices, flavorings, sweets and candies? Those extra

strong mints can be devils...<grin>

 

[Nika] My primary argument was exactly the same - that we consume a far

greater volume of EOs in our food etc. I specifically asked her about

using toothpaste and eating oranges (not to mention these nasty and

super-dangerous walks in a pine forest!). She labeled them

" irrelevant to the discussion " , continued waiving her diploma in my face

and referring to some irreversible damage to the fetus caused by " potent

things " in essential oils. I further asked her to specify which " things "

she has in mind and what irreversible damage might they do to the fetus.

No response, just continued her panicky SCREAMING. I personally believe

that [needlessly] scaring pregnant women is far more dangerous than

smelling rose EO.

 

there has never, ever, been a single case of topical application of EO's

- in ANY strength, including neat - causing miscarriage or harm.

 

[Nika] The question actually asked was " what can be /smelled/ that could

help. " Needless to say, I believe that, although some smells, as you

mentioned, might turn out to be unpleasant to a mother-to-be, EOs are

basically safe. Re reasons for low concentration I'm totally with you.

 

As for liver damage, well in my opinion, we do far more damage to our

livers by just living in this synthetically fragranced and flavored

world than we ever could by sensible use of EO's <note the word

*sensible* there please :-). HTH LLx

 

[Nika] I was under the impression that " sensible " was one of the central

concepts of AT, n'est-ce pas?