Pregnancy and Essential Oils

[Guest guest]

hi

I am doing some research for my paper about pregnancy and essential oils.

Does anyone have any personal experience of essential oils being harmful in

pregnancy. Any information that internal use of essential oils have resulted

in abortion? And if so in what quantity is it digested that it can cause

spontaneous abortion. My main topic is in what way can it cause harm ?

thnkx

Jay

[Guest guest]

Butch,

 

Although there are many essential oils that are safe during pregnancy, what

about apiol in parsleyseed oil being abortifacient? Also sabinyl acetate in

Spanish sage and Savin? There is excellent information which explains the

differences between toxic and abortifacient oils in Robert Tisserand and Balacs " Essential Oil Safety " book.

 

Connie

 

Butch Owen <butchbsi wrote:

Hi Jay,

 

> hi

> I am doing some research for my paper about pregnancy and essential oils.

 

I wonder who would assign such a requirement .. and why? And I wonder

if the teacher who assigned it believes that you will be able to find

some valid information in that regard .. or if that teacher believes

there are problems with use of essential oils during pregnancy.

 

> Does anyone have any personal experience of essential oils being harmful

> in pregnancy.

 

Obviously .. I don't. ;-) And I doubt that anyone else will be able to

answer this in the affirmative.

 

> Any information that internal use of essential oils have resulted in

> abortion?

 

There are no essential oils that are abortifacients .. however, there is

much rumor and misinformation claiming that there are. One oil that has

gotten a lot of bad (and erroneous) press is Pennyroyal .. check this ..

http://www.aromamedical.com/articles/pennyroy.html

 

There is a possibility that a mother could poison herself via ingestion

of some EO .. but that will not have an abortive effect .. even if the

mother succeeded in killing herself a healthy fetus could survive .. of

course, depending on the stage of development.

 

> And if so in what quantity is it digested that it can cause spontaneous

> abortion.

 

Doesn't happen that way .. but if you want to learn the levels of

toxicity that can kill for this or that EO .. you need the source of

that information .. Martin Watt's Safety Manual " Plant Aromatics. "

Check it out at http://www.av-at.com/plantaromaticsavnp.html

 

> My main topic is in what way can it cause harm ?

 

Should be an easy topic to write on .. not much information to report

unless one wants to repeat the misinformation, disinformation and rumor

that too many folks in the industry are buffaloed by because of teachers

repeating such humma-humma.

 

See the next post I send on this subject.

 

> thnkx

> Jay

 

Welcome .. and y'all keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

 

 

 

 

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[Guest guest]

Butch, as always your information is greatly appreciated! Thanks for

all of the great links.

 

Tammy

[Guest guest]

Howdy Robert,

 

> Hi Butch,

>

> I don't think risks in pregnancy are really about skin reactions

 

Nor do I think that is the major risk .. it is the most common risk.

 

> but let me add that the skin reactivity of an essential oil often

> has very much more to do with its degree of oxidation that its

> purity per se, though oils that have oxidized are in a sense no

> longer " pure " .

 

Agree .. my sorta longish post could have touched on that but back when I wrote

it research on oxidation was not an issue at that time .. so glad I am you did

mention it. And that mention will bring up additional questions .. like how

can folks have a reasonable understanding of when an oil becomes oxidized ..

which obviously should be dealt with in subsequent posts. ;-)

 

> Yes, some oils are adulterated, or otherwise not of good quality,

> but that doesn't mean they are necessarily any more skin reactive.

 

True .. and in case folks read over your comment " or otherwise not of good

quality " I will point out that purity is not necessarily a sign of quality.

There are many pure but mediocre oils out and about .. and to take it further,

adulteration (or manipulation) unto itself might not always be a cause of more

potential danger. It would depend on the expertise of the one adulterating the

oil .. for example they could stretch an oil with a natural chemical component

to make it smell nicer .. but we can not positively say that this would improve

or harm the quality of the oil and we could not prove it in any case because

GC/MS will only pick up sloppy adulteration .. or manipulation.

 

I reckon I am kicking one of the Sacred Cows in this industry .. sometimes truth

is tough to handle but the fact is that many folks use expensive EO that have

been manipulated beyond the obviously unnatural act of distillation itself ..

and get good results. Could the results have been better if the oil was as it

was when it exited the still? Probably .. at least we hope so. In my years in

this industry I have watched folks praise certain companies that many of us know

have been caught with their pants down messing with oils. So .. who can say

that a Lavender that has been enhanced by adding a tad of Linalool acetate is a

useless oil?

 

> A substance is not of course " safe " or " dangerous " - it depends on

> dose, as well as other factors.

 

Generally speaking .. a matter of fact that is .. and its part of what the old

LD-50 tests were trying to show. But we can not apply that statement to all

cases .. there are some oils that are dangerous when used by anyone anytime but

we still see folks selling them.

 

Toxicity is not always based on single dosage .. you know that there can be

cumulative effects. I know that you know this .. as you know that I know some

other things that I have not covered in this or the previous post .. I am

throwing this in because we can not say all in one post and it might be of some

use to new folks. ;-)

 

> I don't agree with the notion that an ingested substance is

> necessarily more toxic than an inhaled, or dermally applied one.

> Again, it depends on dose, and how much gets into the body.

 

Whether we agree or disagree on this one would be like a dog chasing his tail

because there are not a lot of credible studies on overdosing via inhalation of

EO. Granted there are safe levels of toxic substances that can kill .. and

granted it is that aside from injection, inhalation is likely the most effective

and quickest way to get an EO into the body .. and we know little about what

happens when an EO meets up with stomach acid .. and we know (should know) that

with but a few exceptions, " unassisted " dermal absorption is but a Fig Newton of

some folk's imagination.

 

To hopefully avoid irritation important it is to properly dilute and we know

that there are some oils we should NOT use on the skin at all .. and if we have

our fingers crossed and its our lucky day .. we might even be able to avoid

sensitization today (though maybe not next month) if we properly dilute. But

also important is frequency of use .. this can creep up and bite us in the butt

when all else is done properly.

 

> The risks with essential oils in pregancy are not really about

> abortion, as you say, and the only doses of most essential

> oils/constituents that have caused abortion are fatal, or almost

> fatal doses.

 

True .. there are cases of mothers killing themselves and doctors saving the

fetus.

 

> The real risks are harder to quantify - damage to the fetus.

 

True .. probably .. logically .. but its tough to get our hands on credible data

to support this statement. If medical doctors do not prohibit pregnant ladies

from eating peppermint candy .. for example .. we should not assume then that

peppermint EO is going to be harmful if they sniff it.

 

On the other hand .. we do find doctors preaching in areas where they are

obviously not qualified .. like I recently read the famed (why I am not sure)

Dr. Oz saying that a good massage oil should contain lavender, rose or

WINTERGREEN. Such a statement is ridiculous but it does not surprise me .. I

have never been impressed with Oz.

 

One of the most important things when discussing use of EO by pregnant ladies is

the psychological .. or more so .. potential emotional impact if a natural loss

occurs .. if Mother Nature fixes a mistake due to no fault of anyone. Then it

is natural for folks to seek a reason and search for blame and that usually

results in feeling of guilt when there is no reason for same.

 

I will close by saying that ladies who have a history of miscarriages should not

listen to you or me or anyone else except their doctor and even then they might

want to avoid some of the things s/he says is harmless so as to avoid self blame

if another miscarriage should occur.

 

> Robert

 

Y'all have a good one .. and keep smiling. :-)

 

Butch ... http://www.AV-AT.com

[Guest guest]

Oy. I avoid Dr. Oz like the plague so had not come across his suggestion for

wintergreen. I even avoided a thread on a local mom's forum about him. Perhaps

I ought to go in there and let them know that his essential oil knowledge is

more lacking than mine....*sigh*

 

And I fall into that category of self-guilt. Though my brain doesn't think it

was at all related--my heart still questions in a dark corner. *wry grin*

 

Thanks for the discussions!!

Jessica, NC

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