De-lurking with a problem (long, sorry!)

[Guest guest]

Hello,

 

I've been a casual/amateur user of EOs for about 3-1/2 years.

 

Here's my concern: Once in a while, I go through spells where I get a

series of what look and feel like insect bites on various bodily

locations. They are not blotchy like the pictures of hives that you

can find on the Internet; they're small, raised bumps that itch. Now I

think this usually happens in summer, and maybe I've got a resident

mosquito in my urban apartment. I don't think I have bedbugs but who

knows.

 

The past two weeks, I've been sprouting these bumps one after another.

Two on my leg at first, then two on opposite sides of my back, two

close together on my abdomen, one on my chest near the armpit... as

the old ones fade out, the new ones pop up.

 

Yesterday at my desk, my hands were dry and I felt like smelling some

sandalwood so I put a blob of plain hand lotion in my palm and shook

out 3 drops of sandalwood (which probably was overdoing it...).

Unfortunately they landed on the skin rather than the blob but I

rubbed them together with the lotion right away.

 

About half an hour or an hour later I suddenly notice an itch on the

back of my thigh. A new bump! And then in another half hour or so I

notice an itch on my butt cheek... head for the ladies room and

discover two new little bumps about an inch apart. Now maybe they were

there earlier and just started to itch, but...

 

Could anyone please tell me if this sounds like I'm starting to have a

problem with sandalwood? or maybe with some chemical that's in a lot

of the EOs?

 

FYI, here are details of my overall use of EOs:

 

--drops of lavender, rosemary or clary sage on a small piece of cloth

to sniff at work now and then

--occasional peppermint, rosemary or frankincense in car diffuser

--lavender added to plain skin balm and rubbed on chest as sleep aid

(probably 3 nights a week)

--combinations added to liquid castile bath soap used more or less

daily (alternating with Dr. Bronner's peppermint castile);

combinations have included sandalwood, clary, geranium, bergamot,

Roman chamomile, cedarwood (possibly Texas, don't have it with me),

and occasionally vetiver

--occasional use of dilute rose absolute and more recently/more

frequently, dilute rose absolute-sandalwood combination as perfume

--also recently, bit of sandalwood added to plain liquid castile and

used as hand soap at bathroom sink

--past 6 months or so, lavender and tea tree added to an aloe/glycerin

blend with cornstarch and baking soda, used as deodorant

 

I bravely used my bath soap again today (which has a lot of sandalwood

in the blend this time) and frankly I do feel kinda prickly here and

there, but by now it could be psychosomatic because I'm nervous about

this. I'm also prone to odd sensations generally as part of my

menopausal syndrome .

 

Any comments on the safety of my uses? I would so hate to give up my

EOs. Now that I don't drink anymore, they're about the only mood

regulators I have

 

FWIW my history of cutaneous allergy is limited to hives from

strawberries as a kid, and contact dermatitis from cheap jewelry and

metal buttons (nickel I guess).

 

Thanks for reading!

 

Avalon