Essential Oils

The medicinal properties of herbs have been used for centuries. The subtle, natural scents of herbs and their flowers are also known to benefit one's health.  However, distilling a perfectly lovely scent so it's five million times its naturalness is anything but natural. Like vitamin addictions, ignorant people have assumed if something is good for you, then more is better, and even more than that must be outstanding! We are a society of addicts eager to overindulge in the next best miracle cure. In fact, more will contribute to an excessive overload of foreign substances causing your body to work harder in its detoxification processes. More is NOT better! People are once again guilty of exploiting and abusing nature.

In my former life, I, too, was guilty of buying into the silliness of aromatherapy.  I used to bath in clary sage and peppermint oil, put lavender on light bulbs for air fresheners, and make candles with rosemary. I was convinced essential oils were natural so they must be good for you, and like perfume, I believed they made me beautiful and sensuous when really they just made me and everything around me stink.  I didn't start having sensitivity issues with essential oils until my body kicked into its hyper-immunity stage. In theory, my hypothalamus registers, "WARNING! WARNING!" anytime I smell anything unnatural.

Now breathing essential oils make me feel like I want to die. My lungs wheeze, my head pounds, my stomach feels like its eating itself, my skin itches so badly I want to rip it off, and my body wants to go to bed and sleep for a year. Patchouli, in particular, gives me such painful intestinal cramps I'm doubled over unable to breathe. Like perfume, maybe patchouli is made with toluene, too? I wouldn't doubt it. Who knows what gimmicks manufacturer's use to decrease production costs? Once the exploitation begins, companies do nearly anything to increase sales.

Years ago I had a friend who's daughter was diagnosed with chronic fatigue. She was a beautiful fifteen year old girl, unable to go to school because she couldn't get out of bed most days. She was deathly pale, skinny and walked like she was about to fall over and die. This was before I knew anything about chemical sensitivity or any of its co-morbid health conditions. I remember thinking, "Why doesn't she just take some vitamins or drink some coffee?" Funny how people who don't have a clue about sensitivities do not get it. I know this first hand.

Years later, after I was diagnosed with MCS, I called this friend to catch up.  I asked her about her daughter who by this time was an adult and out of the house. She was doing great, much better as a matter of fact, with only occasional, minor periods of fatigue. I shared my own health issues and forced reinvention. My friend exclaimed, "Oh, I don't know what I would do without my essential oils especially lavender!  I bath in it! I wash all our clothes and linens in it! If I don't smell it at least once a day, I get very depressed! It lifts my spirits!"

Does that sound like a drug addiction, or what? When I told her there was a good chance her essential oil fetish was the reason her daughter was disabled throughout her whole childhood, she got very quiet.  I asked, "When your daughter has these minor periods of fatigue now, are they right after she visits you?" Can you imagine being the cause of your daughter's disability?

People who don't understand about chemical sensitivity always assume MCSers can't be around flowers or food smells.  Not necessarily so. I don't have problems with any smell as long as it is real, natural, and organic.

You can read more about the dangers of essential oils HERE