Aromatherapy has been a part of my life for over 20 years now, and although it has, for the most part, been an incredibly joyful and rewarding experience, during my ‘apprenticeship’ days or, better put, the early days when I didn’t really believe in the ability of essential oils to do anything much more than smell nice (or that they were potent alternative medicine tools to be used very sparingly) I did get myself into trouble more than one time. I hope, that by reading this, anyone who is inexperienced, or doubts the power of essential oils, will think twice before adopting a nonchalant attitude toward them!
My first story takes me back to a time when I was at work in my office job and happened to be suffering from menstrual cramps. I had decided, rather than reach for a pain-killer, I would get ‘all-natural-like’ and give Clary Sage a go. So, right there at my office desk, I went ahead and opened the pure, undiluted bottle of Clary Sage essential oil and poured (yes, ‘poured’) a ‘little’ into my hands. I then quickly rubbed my hands together and spread the oil over my abdomen. After that, while I was in the process of closing the bottle, I happened to spill a little more of the oil over my hands. I didn’t panic. I just didn’t like the ridiculously strong aroma which had taken over my hands, body, entire office cubicle and all other cubicles within a 50 foot range (I wasn’t popular at work that morning).
I went ahead and rubbed the excess oil off with a tissue, then carried on typing. Within about 5 minutes, however I started to feel kind of light-headed, and a little nauseous. It puzzled me greatly at first. I stopped typing, and as the smell completely engulfed me, I started thinking: “Maybe this essential oil stuff really works?”, and: “Oh no, if it does, maybe I got too much on myself?”, and “Oh no, maybe I might die?” After 5 minutes of torturing myself, I ended up calling a sweet colleague from the 39th floor (who I knew was a trained aromatherapist) and finished up in sick bay with her cleaning the excess essential oil from my hands using olive oil and tissues, assuring me I’d be fine, lecturing me on the potency of the oils, while rubbing my feet to keep me calm, and keeping a close watch while the effects of the Clary Sage ‘over-dose’ wore off! Thank goodness I had her to keep me sane that day! Within an hour or so I was feeling much better and able to carry on with work as though nothing had ever happened…
But that was my first lesson in aromatherapy safety: Understand the essential oil you are using. Always keep the orifice reducer in place! Do not use essential oils undiluted on the skin*. Never doubt the power of aromatherapy to greatly affect the body and mind! *A small number of essential oils may be used undiluted, sparingly, only if indicated by the supplier or a qualified aromatherapist.
A year or so later I learned my next lesson. I was experimenting with a bath oil recipe in my kitchen. While messing about with this oil and that, I managed to get a drop of cinnamon essential oil on my fingers. I quickly wiped it off with a tissue and continued to work, but sometime down the line I rubbed the edge of my mouth with that same hand and, ouch! That burned for quite a few minutes. The same thing happened another time with Peppermint at the corner of my eye. My second lesson: Some essential oils are very irritating. And again, understand the essential oil you are using.
Now, you would think that with my hair-raising Clary Sage experience, I would have learned about the power of essential oils by now. However, it appears I needed yet another lesson to really drum into my head once and for that essential oils are powerful! This next experience was what sealed the coffin for me when it came to ”care and respect for essential oils” and “not embarrassing yourself with aromatherapy”!:
One evening, when I was feeling all zen after meditating and being at home peacefully alone, I decided I would go one step further and do a frankincense foot rub on myself. I’d heard Frankincense was supposed to help with insomnia and I had learned at Natural Medicine College that a foot rub is one of the fastest ways to get an aromatherapy oil into the blood stream. I wanted to try for a really good night’s sleep, so I placed about 10 drops of Frankincense essential oil into a tablespoon of carrier oil. At least by then I knew that applying it undiluted would be a bad idea, right?. So I went ahead and rubbed it into my feet (according to my Naturopathy teacher, the soles of the feet allow the most efficient absorption of essential oils into the blood stream). I was feeling so nourished and loved, and excited at the prospect of a deep restful slumber. Boy, did I get more than I expected…
After I was done, I got myself all cozy in bed and waited for the deep relaxation and tranquility to take hold. What took hold was hardly relaxing, or tranquil. In fact, after about 10 minutes, I started hallucinating. Every time I closed my eyes the bed felt as though it was spinning and I kept envisioning all kinds of weird things behind my eyelids. I would sit up, eyes wide open, then lay back down and close them again. But the same thing kept happening every time I tried to relax. It got so much so, that I began to panic (my trade-mark response to many things in life). The panic then made me short of breath and before long I was into a full-blown anxiety attack. I rushed into the shower with olive oil in hand, and rubbed a whole lot of it furiously into my feet, washing it off with soap and warm water, then repeating the process over and over again, hoping it would be a miracle cure for my ‘condition’. It didn’t seem to work (or, at least, my panic attack told me I was getting worse).
So, being in a state of panic (which, in case you’ve never had a panic attack, also causes an inability to think straight and makes one rather delusional about the true danger of the situation), I found myself with no alternative but to contact the Poisons Control Center. Yes, that’s right, the Poisons Control Center. I must have figured it would be less bad than going to the ER.
I was relieved to have gotten straight through to an information officer, who allowed me to fully explain to her what I had done. After I was finished explaining the situation, there was a very long, stunned silence at the other end of the phone. Finally, she repeated slowly back to me “Frankincense oil?…on your feet? Ma’am, this is the Poisons Control Center!”.
At that moment it was as though that Poisons Control lady was standing right next to me and had slapped my face and told me to snap out of it, because lo and behold, that’s exactly what happened. Before it got ugly (and not from my end of the line) I sheepishly (and quickly) ended the phone call and went back to bed. The hallucinations continued for a little while, but I did fall asleep and, actually, I slept really well that night, considering!
Lessons learned (again): Understand the essential oil you are using. Use essential oils sparingly (sometimes 1 drop really is enough!). Never doubt the power of aromatherapy to greatly affect the body and mind!
Okay, so this concludes my little essay on essential oil safety. It is not meant to frighten anyone away from aromatherapy. On the contrary, aromatherapy is a wonderful alternative healing tool that also has extremely pleasurable sensory benefits for anyone interested in trying it, even if it is to simply fragrance a room in a non-toxic fashion.
And, although I’ve imparted my own silly humor into the equation, my aim is to raise awareness amongst readers who may not yet fully understand or believe in the power of essential oils. It is also by no means a comprehensive list of what you need to know about using them. More detailed information on the subject can be found at our website: essential oil safety.
A final note about the Poisons Control Center: They’re very busy people and I did feel like a complete idiot at the time, however I don’t want to discourage anyone from calling them if ever in any doubt about one’s health and safety.
Hmm, that reminds me of another time when I decided to call them: This one time, I was making soap in my kitchen, and I had to use this really caustic stuff called lye, and a little got on my pinky finger…and…….
