Essential oils for anxiety

Lavender, clary sage, lemon, lime and white fir essential oils reduce anxiety.

Many essential oils high in linalool and beta-pinene are well known for their ability to reduce sad and anxious feelings. Lavender and Clary Sage have high amounts of linalool, while lemon, lime and white fir have high amounts of beta-pinene. Scientists in Mexico City published their findings in June 2015 that both linalool and beta-pinene affect the monoaminergic system of the brain, which includes such well-known neurotransmitters as serotonin and dopamine, and the adrenaline/noradrenaline adrenergic system. Both linalool and beta-pinene act on multiple receptors of the monoaminergic system. Because multiple receptors are targeted, the effects of linalool and beta-pinene are more potent and long lasting than molecules that target only one receptor. Linalool and beta-pinene support brain chemistry balance in these receptors, which has the effect of reducing sad feelings.

Read the entire study here.

Guzmán-Gutiérrez SL, Bonilla-Jaime H, Gómez-Cansino R, Reyes-Chilpa R. 2015. Linalool and β-pinene exert their antidepressant-like activity through the monoaminergic pathway. Life Sci. 2015;128:24-29.

Lavender essential oil is a natural antifungal

Lavender essential oil has been found to have an antifungal effect with Candida albicans in an vitro study.

Read the abstract of the scientific paper here.  

D'Auria, F.D., M. Tecca, V. Strippoli, G. Savatore, L. Battinelli and G. Mazzanti. 2005. Antifungal activity of Lavendula angustifolia essential oil against Candida albicans yeast and mycelial form. Med. Mycol. 43(5):391-396.

Chronic lower back pain and ginger essential oil

A randomized controlled study found that massage with ginger essential oil led to a significant reduction in pain and disability related to chronic lower back pain in older adults.

Read the abstract of the study here. 

Sritoomma et al. 2014. The effectiveness of Swedish massage with aromatic ginger oil in treating chronic low back pain in older adults: a randomized controlled trial. Complement. Ther. Med. 22(1):26-33.

Depression and essential oils

"My husband is off of ALL his psyche meds by using Lavender, Calming Blend, Grounding Blend and Marjoram. He put them on his feet and back of neck. Our doctor worked with us because we told him we were going to do it anyway with or without his help.  My husband has been suicidal several times while on the meds. He came off the meds using the oils and then had a rough time so doc put him back on meds just for a short time. He immediately was suicidal again. Off the meds and just on oils for over a year and no desire for self harm."

 

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any specific medical condition. Please consult with a qualified physician or health care professional concerning any condition or treatment.

Autism and essential oils

"My autistic son has made a 80% improvement in attitude, attention and sensory using Grounding Blend and Focus Blend 2-3 times a day. He went from up 5 times a night to sleeping all night with Calming Blend. He also has a passion for Wild Orange essential oil, it makes him so happy! We also use a high quality omega  3 oil supplement. Now we are working with Cilantro essential oil to cleanse him."

***

"Our cellular complex oil story... so far. My daughter is 12 1/2 and has an autism diagnosis. We home school her using the Son-Rise program. We started using a frankincense-based cellular complex mid-Feb, rolling it on her spine, diluted 1:1 with coconut oil. After a week, we started using it morning and night. The family and home team saw a noticeable improvement in her speech within a few weeks. Small things, like answering routine questions without pausing first. IE "What's your dog's name?" "Dusty" (She usually hates these sorts of ice-breaker questions from people she doesn't know.) She was using it about a month when we talked to her bio-med doctor. He was pretty excited about it, said he loves frankincense, and told us to try the softgels next time I ordered. We started taking one in the morning. By the time we had our next team meeting after that, her average interactive attention span had jumped from 21 minutes/hour (where it had been for a few months) to 31. I wondered if some of the newer team members weren't recording their times correctly, but even when I took their times out and re-tallied, it had jumped to 24 minutes per hour in 2 weeks. This past month it was even higher, and there is no denying the quicker comments and original words. Just now I tallied up the forms for our meeting tonight and it was 39 minutes/hour! Whoop!"

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any specific medical condition. Please consult with a qualified physician or health care professional concerning any condition or treatment.

Ganglion cyst and essential oils

"Since September I've had an ugly ganglion cyst on the back of my left wrist.  My friend shared her recommendation for getting rid of it by using essential oils. Two short weeks ago I started using Frankincense and Oregano oils on my cyst. Each morning I would put a drop of one of the oils on it and massaged the cyst and then repeated in the evening with the opposite oil. My cyst is completely gone! Nothing left."

 

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any specific medical condition. Please consult with a qualified physician or health care professional concerning any condition or treatment.

Essential oils alleviate menstrual pain

A randomized blind clinical trial of crossover design found that the level and duration of menstrual pain and the amount of menstrual bleeding were significantly lower in the group that was massaged with cinnamon, clove, rose and lavender essential oils in a base of almond oil (vs. the control, which was just almond oil). These results suggests that aromatherapy is effective in alleviating menstrual pain, its duration and excessive menstrual bleeding.


Marzouk et al. 2013. The effect of aromatherapy abdominal massage on alleviating menstrual pain in nursing students: a prospective randomized cross-over study. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med 2013:742421.

Read the article here.

Lavender essential oil helps with sleep and reduces anxiety

A randomized controlled study conducted with 60 patients found that inhaling 2% lavender essential oil increased quality of sleep and reduced level of anxiety in patients with coronary artery disease.

Karadag et al. (2015) concluded that lavender essential oil is non-invasive, easily applicable, cost-effective, independent nursing intervention and appropriate for cardiac patients, and suggested that it could be used in ICUs.

Read the abstract of the scientific paper here. 

Peppermint and irritable bowel syndrome

A double-blind placebo controlled studied randomized study found that a 4 week treatment with peppermint essential oil improves abdominal symptoms in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Read the scientific paper here.

Essential oil and cancer research

The following provides a summary of scientific research related essential oils and cancer. Essential oils have been shown to kill cancer cells in cultured human cells. 

(This post is still in progress because there are many more studies out there. We will be adding more studies as we have more time to compile them).

Frankincense

A scientific study published in the BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal demonstrated that Frankincense essential oil induces pancreatic cancer cell death in cultured human pancreatic cells. Read the scientific study here. 

A scientific study published in the journal of Chinese Medicine demonstrated that frankincense results in cancer cell death in cultured human bladder cancer cells via oxidative stress. Read a summary of the scientific study here and the full scientific study here.

A scientific study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine journal demonstrated that frankincense results in bladder cancer cell death in bladder transitional carcinoma J82 cells through cell cycle arrest, cell growth suppression and apoptosis. Read a summary of the scientific study here and the full scientific study here.

A scientific study published in the journal of Oncology Letters demonstrated that frankincense has anti-cancer effects on tumor cell lines. Read a summary of the scientific study here and the full paper here.


Myrrh

A scientific study published in the journal of Oncology Letters demonstrated that myrrh has anti-cancer effects on tumor cell lines. Read a summary of the scientific study here and the full paper here.


Sandalwood

A scientific study published in the journal of Chinese Medicine demonstrated that sandalwood results in cancer cell death in cultured human bladder cancer cells via DNA damage and cell cycle arrest. Read a summary of the scientific study here and the full scientific study here.


Citronella
A new study published in the journal Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics suggests that the scent of citronella can inhibit the growth of cancer cells, including cancer of the liver. Researchers from the Ruhr University Bochum, say terpenes, a main component of essential oils, can prevent or slow cancer cell growth. Link to scientific paper here. 

Reference: D. Maßberg et al. 2014. Monoterpene (-)-citronellal affects hepatocarcinoma cell signaling via an olfactory receptor. Arch. Biochem. Biophys.

Read more scientific studies about frankincense and cancer here, and essential oils and cancer here.

More reading

• Dr. Eric Z has a great article about essential oils and cancer here.
• Dr. Eric Z's DIY Essential Oil Protocol for cancer here.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any specific medical condition. Please consult with a qualified physician or health care professional concerning any condition or treatment

Reduction of pain and depression in patients with terminal cancer

Aroma hand massages with bergamot, lavender and frankincense have been shown in a scientific study to reduce pain and depression in hospice patients with terminal cancer.

Read a summary of the scientific paper here. Read the entire paper here.

Disclaimer: The information on this website is for educational purposes only and is not intended to prevent, diagnose, or treat any specific medical condition. Please consult with a qualified physician or health care professional concerning any condition or treatment.