Essential oils poll

[cjzimmer1]

I voted great but I only use them for specific purposes.  I refuse to consider any product sold by MLM's.  I use Eden's Garden but would also consider Plant Therapy.  Beyond that, I'm not sure if there is any I would trust.  I'm on a Facebook group that heavily promotes safety so 90% of my use is to treat something specific and about 10% is because I just like the smell.

Lavendar is by far the best thing for burns I've ever used.

Birch works really good for sprains, pinched nerve pain but there is lots of warnings with this so we will only use it on adults who take no other medicines.

Pollen Buster (an Eden's Garden blend) is really helpful for pollen allergies.

Sooth and Smooth helps heal a lot of different skin issues.

I think these are my top 4 but we have others for different things too.  But I can go weeks or months between uses and then have periods where someone is using something everyday.

[2_girls_mommy]

On 5/7/2018 at 1:49 PM, Garga said:

I don't know anything about them either way.  I have some friends who use them, and at least one who sells them, but I just feel like I don't have the time/motivation to research anything about it right now.

 

This is how I feel. I am sure there are some great benefits. I do not have time to research it, and I am not going to believe all of the hype. I had friends that really turned me off of them 6 or 7 years ago when they were the big thing and new and they were all they talked about.  Sorry, not interested. I have my own life and my own interests. I have been learning Latin. I don't have time to become a doctor for my family at the same time. 

[2_girls_mommy]

3 hours ago, Mergath said:

Oh, and don't even get me started on that picture from a YL book floating around saying how you can treat victims of sexual abuse by putting certain EOs on the area where the abuse occurred. Just thinking about it fills me with a deep and consuming rage. 

If anyone hasn't seen that yet and would like to, I'll try to find a link.

oh my. 

[2_girls_mommy]

7 hours ago, LarlaB said:

 

I agree. It was the “frankincense cures cancer” bit that I heard from MLM people that just shut me down to listening to anything beyond.  There is truth that essentials oils are a potent and powerful complementary therapy. But the ONLY and BEST thing for EVERYTHING? No.  Anyone who claims that about anything they are selling will get an automatic rejection from me.

I voted other.  As a massage therapist I see a strong mind-body association with smell for some people and use oils for aromatherapy.

i do take oregano oil in capsule form and use tea tree oil for topical application.  Also peppermint helps with headaches and lavender for calming- not ingested however.  I’ve used all these things for years and not related to MLM hype- in spite of LOL

tea tree oil is one we use in various forms here too, bought at a health food store, not from the over hyped sellers. I do not want to get involved with them. And my one bottle, bought 5 years ago, is still going strong. I don't need more.

[rose]

I voted "from the devil". I think that most of them are just nice smelling snake oil. I wonder if I could market that... "Now selling, authentic, essential snake oil." I could offer essential boa constrictor oil, essential rattler oil, essential cobra oil. Give it a 1/2 ounce size jar with a fancy label and have Mercola endorse it and it could be a hot seller. Anyone want to join my MLM company early?

[CAJinBE]

I have two diffusers and use them often. It is much better than scented candles IMO. We use lavender or eucalyptus every night in the bedroom. My dh loves it and comments if I forget. I feel it helps us sleep. I use an immunity blend in the winter to fight off colds but I also really love the scent. I've found a roller ball with tea tree oil mixed with a carrier oil is helpful for razor burn. I do not ingest them. 

[Tanaqui]

Well, they certainly smell nice! And if you feel they help some condition or other then, as long as you're not using them instead of proper medical/psychiatric care, they're probably harmless. I think most people's "omg they cured me!" reactions can probably be chalked up to the placebo effect, though.

[mum]

We forget that with all of our high tech, modern advances, plants (from which essential oils come from) have been used for healing for centuries. And still are by some people in the West, and in many non-Western countries. I'm all for a good dose of modern medicine when it is called for, I think of reading James Herriot and the advancement in veterinary medicine with the development of antibiotic drugs. But these drugs are only part of a balanced approach to healthcare, and in the West, they are looked upon as the ONLY approach.

I think the biggest problem is that the essential oils that are available for purchase vary so wildly in their potency and purity. So you may think you tried lavender (or whatever) when in reality you may have actually had something that contained little or no real lavender. It's the same for supplements.

 

[happypamama]

I voted "other."  I think some of the oils, maybe even many of them, will be useful for certain things in the right dosages.  My daughter likes lavender to help her sleep, for instance.  If some of them make you feel calmer or more focused or whatever, great.  I'm sure some of them do indeed help with sunburn and insect repellent and germ fighting and whatnot.  If you're going to take OTC drugs, might as well try an oil instead.

 

But I don't get the claims that oils will heal some of the really big baddies.  Cancer?  Uh.  I'm skeptical, and I certainly wouldn't discount chemo in favor of oils.  I see it all the time on my preeclampsia support group -- what can I take or do to prevent it?  Oils won't lower the blood pressure that comes from preeclampsia, for instance.  

[StillStanding]

Several ladies in my homeschool community sell them. I tried them for a week because they smell good, and it was a free trial. The two drops of oil I rubbed on  my feet at night did not help me go to sleep...

[PinkyandtheBrains.]

They make the house smell nice. That is all. 

[Carrie12345]

Other.

Some smell nice.  The scent of tea tree oil makes me want to puke.  I'm usually fine with the idea of placebos, but I no longer am in these cases b/c I've seen and heard too many pushers using and advising the use of oils in dangerous ways, including avoiding real help for serious problems.  The worst is when it's with kids.

I do tend to be a little skeptical of the medical community, but my mind is pretty blown these days that there are so many people advocating against trained medical professionals while encouraging people to trust in their layperson advice.  Sure, aptitude can vary from specialist to specialist even after more than a decade of training, but this mom down the block is supposed to have the REAL answers!  Do they even hear themselves?

 

[TechWife]

I wanted to use a diffuser as an air freshener, but diffused oils are harmful to cats, so I don't. Other than as an air freshener, I don't have any interest in this phenomenon.

 

 

[samba]

Aromatherapy has been around a long time. We all generally accept that eucalyptus helps with respiratory, fennel and ginger help with digestion, lavender and frankincense can be calming, tea tree for anti-fungal, peppermint for nausea, etc. I'm not sure why there's such a heated response to essential oils. I've been using them and reaping their benefits for about 4-5 years. I have 5 diffusers, one for every bedroom and large area. I think they are great and I use them every day. I don't make a big deal out of it.

 

 

[KungFuPanda]

I don’t know why lavender gets such good press. It doesn’t even make my top twenty list of favorite smells. Jasmine kicks lavender’s butt any day of the week. 

For freshening my home, I find that simmering spices and citrus peels works the best while offendingvthe fewest number of people. The catch is my daughter doesn’t care for cardomom, so I simmer that while she’s away at school. 

[regentrude]

19 hours ago, samba said:

Aromatherapy has been around a long time. We all generally accept that eucalyptus helps with respiratory, fennel and ginger help with digestion, lavender and frankincense can be calming, tea tree for anti-fungal, peppermint for nausea, etc. I'm not sure why there's such a heated response to essential oils. 

I think the heated response is a reaction to the aggressive push by MLM sellers and their exaggerated claims about the oils' benefits.

[HS Mom in NC]

I haven't tried them and don't use them.

[Lady Florida.]

On 5/12/2018 at 7:32 PM, mum said:

We forget that with all of our high tech, modern advances, plants (from which essential oils come from) have been used for healing for centuries.

 

 

On 5/12/2018 at 10:51 PM, samba said:

Aromatherapy has been around a long time.

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's strange to find the argument from antiquity-appeal to tradition fallacy used on a classical education board?

[Forget-Me-Not]

I once belonged to a homeschooling group on Facebook where EOs were touted as a cure-all for everything. The worst was when someone posted that her 8 yo was having homicidal ideation and they had to lock the knives up at night. Someone literally said, “Have you tried essential oils?”  

I think a few of them smell nice, but never in a million years would I patronize a MLM company that sells them. 

[samba]

2 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

 

Am I the only one who thinks it's strange to find the argument from antiquity-appeal to tradition fallacy used on a classical education board?

The relevant part of my post came next. "People generally accept..." Because most people do think there is value in using plants to support health/greener living. Until you add the words "essential oils." Then it's snake oils and fallacies. 

I think extreme opinions on oils (and most other issues) are narrow minded. The opinion that oils are the answer to every problem and the opinion that they are snake oils with NO value ever both come from a place of ignorance and rejection of science-based evidence.

I don't care if people use oils or not. I do think singling out one sentence and presenting it as me pushing fallacies is rude and an inaccurate representation of what I said as a whole. 

 

[Lady Florida.]

22 minutes ago, samba said:

The relevant part of my post came next. "People generally accept..." Because most people do think there is value in using plants to support health/greener living. Until you add the words "essential oils." Then it's snake oils and fallacies. 

 

But that's another fallacy. People accept, people think...Argument from popularity. 

[Mergath]

On 5/12/2018 at 6:32 PM, mum said:

We forget that with all of our high tech, modern advances, plants (from which essential oils come from) have been used for healing for centuries. And still are by some people in the West, and in many non-Western countries. I'm all for a good dose of modern medicine when it is called for, I think of reading James Herriot and the advancement in veterinary medicine with the development of antibiotic drugs. But these drugs are only part of a balanced approach to healthcare, and in the West, they are looked upon as the ONLY approach.

I think the biggest problem is that the essential oils that are available for purchase vary so wildly in their potency and purity. So you may think you tried lavender (or whatever) when in reality you may have actually had something that contained little or no real lavender. It's the same for supplements.

 

 

So which company are you with, YL or Doterra? ?

[prairiewindmomma]

Mum's post would've been better phrased as, "The terpenes and esters found in essential oils have limited medical use but the properties of some of these medicinal plants and the concentration of these properties through the distillation of essential oil has been used for thousands of years."  Modern synthetic versions of these terpenes and esters, or the use of single chemicals from these plants form the basis of many modern medicines.

 

[Katy]

8 minutes ago, Mergath said:

 

So which company are you with, YL or Doterra? ?

 

The ironic thing is those companies don't sell anything more pure than any reputable company.  There are only something like 3 labs in the world that distill EO's.  They all sell the same thing.  Some companies might dilute them or sell older, rancid oils, but that's pretty obvious if you've ever been exposed to anything real, or even smelled the real plants. Lavender oil might be more concentrated than the plant, but the scent released from a diffuser isn't as strong or nice as the scent released when you accidentally brush a couple leaves of the plant with the weed wacker, or mow the edge of the border that started growing into your grass.

[Katy]

Claiming purity does explain why they charge 4 times as much as other reputable companies to fund their pyramid scheme though.

[TravelingChris]

On 5/8/2018 at 5:26 PM, Mergath said:

Oh, and don't even get me started on that picture from a YL book floating around saying how you can treat victims of sexual abuse by putting certain EOs on the area where the abuse occurred. Just thinking about it fills me with a deep and consuming rage. 

If anyone hasn't seen that yet and would like to, I'll try to find a link.

OMG  No I haven't heard of that.  I have a friend who sells YL but I skip those posts.  She has now bought a store that caters to her other passion, one I share and has no MLM nor medication implications, so I hope she quits the YL.

[regentrude]

2 hours ago, Lady Florida. said:

But that's another fallacy. People accept, people think...Argument from popularity. 

Popularity and antiquity aren't automatically fallacies - they can simply be expressions of the fact that something works and has long been known to do so. Herbal remedies have been used for centuries to cure certain ailments because they work; the effectiveness of certain oils for specific ailments (like peppermint oil for IBS) is backed up by serious scientific studies

"Most people have long been thinking that the earth is round" isn't a fallacy either, despite popularity/antiquity.

[Mergath]

29 minutes ago, regentrude said:

Popularity and antiquity aren't automatically fallacies - they can simply be expressions of the fact that something works and has long been known to do so. Herbal remedies have been used for centuries to cure certain ailments because they work; the effectiveness of certain oils for specific ailments (like peppermint oil for IBS) is backed up by serious scientific studies

"Most people have long been thinking that the earth is round" isn't a fallacy either, despite popularity/antiquity.

They aren't automatically fallacies, but saying that something has been around for a long time provides zero evidence for its effectiveness, either. 

[Mergath]

1 hour ago, TravelingChris said:

OMG  No I haven't heard of that.  I have a friend who sells YL but I skip those posts.  She has now bought a store that caters to her other passion, one I share and has no MLM nor medication implications, so I hope she quits the YL.

They actually sell an oil called SARA, which apparently stands for "Sexual and Ritual Abuse." Because apparently all you need after a lifetime of abuse is some oil.

I can't even with these people.

[Pippen]

I voted from the devil. You might too if you had to rewash marching band uniforms as many times as I did in order to get out the scent of the essential oils another parent was using in the home while laundering the uniforms.  It totally defeated the purpose of using free and clear laundry detergent. 

[poppy]

I voted other but wish I'd picked from the devil.

I use them in a diffuser to make my bathroom smell nice.

People who tell parents that it is an effective treatment for ASD / Anxiety / ADHD are people I have absolutely zero respect for.  None.

[Tiramisu]

I'm a healthy skeptic and lavender makes me sick and I'm not fond of diffusers. But there are EO uses that I discovered through friends and family that have worked.

Tea tree oil eliminated recurring fungal infections on my feet after dealing with them for over twenty years. (Fungus-contaminated house slippers at a friend's house in Japan. Yuck.)

One application of tea tree oil also eliminates red bumps after shaving.

I have a couple family members who react to almost any shampoo, even high priced all natural stuff without the junk. Rosemary oil is the only thing that relieves their itching.

I have chronic headaches and sometimes OTC stuff doesn't work. Rather than filling a script that my doctor gave me, on one desperate day, I tried a friend's peppermint oil along the hairline on the affected side of my head, and my headache became manageable within 15 minutes. Usually a headache would last two to three days, but it never came back after that first day. I could tell my head didn't feel right but the pain was gone.

Now, I think I want to try peppermint oil for ants, which I prefer to the smell of cinnamon. I will get it from Whole Foods or Amazon. ?

Any other things that really work?

[Bambam]

I definitely use Lavender for burns. It does help. We also have a Breathe mixture (not from MLM, from Eden's Garden) that does help with congestion. I have some generic Thieves oil that I use as a spray and to diffuse.  I'm not sure about how effective it is, but I like the smell! 

[regentrude]

46 minutes ago, Tiramisu said:

Any other things that really work?

Eucalyptus oil works great for a cold; it clears sinuses and helps with a cough.