In this newsletter we will try to help you further your knowledge and use of essential oils.

Physical ailment

PMS - Premenstrual Syndrome - Physical

Premenstrual Syndrome is one of those things many women of child bearing ages can have a problem with, where complaints can be from very mild symptoms to extremely severe.

Basically it is a hormonal imbalance. Although the hormones in the body, especially those affiliated with the female reproductive cycle are constantly fluctuating throughout the month sometimes the fluctuation can be more extreme and causes some women to become anything from slightly emotional to extremely irritated.

We can have physical symptoms from weight gain and bloating, swollen and painful breasts, headaches, nausea, cramps and other aches and pains, constipation or diarrhea, acne, fatigue, changes in eating pattern (ever notice how you seem to be starving the week before your menses begin?), and sleeping disturbances. For some there is loss of libido. There can be stress, tension, anxiety, irrational thinking, anger, frustration, depression, lack of concentration and memory loss. Others cry at the turn of a hat!

If we only had one or two symptoms it wouldn't be so bad. But for many of us, we get several of these.

Now, if we could isolate ourselves we could easily slide through this, but many women have children, family, careers or other work. All vying for a piece of us! Phwew, and now we have to deal with hormones too!

And don't think it ends when you hit Premenopause or Menopause or even post menopause. Your body is still making hormones, only a little differently. And so you get a whole new set of ailments! But that is another topic for a later date.

Yes, there are several essential oils that can help. To start with when you have physical complaints you can treat them symptomatically. Deal with the headache. See our articles on Headaches. Of course for general headaches a blend of Rosemary and Peppermint mixed with a little carrier oil and massage on the temples and back of the next works miracles for many.

For swelling of the various body parts you can try to reduce your salt intake, but another little known fact is reducing or eliminating wheat, especially during this time of the month. Sorry, but in some people, wheat in any form can cause edema (swelling) of the whole body. Thus the added weight gain. For us (Al and Penny), we can always tell if we had a little too much wheat to eat. We can have a 2-5lb weight gain. Of course, eliminating it, the edema, goes away and the weight comes off, just as quickly as it came.

The essential oils of Rosemary and Geranium blended in equal portions then added to a massage oil blend that includes 10% Evening Primrose oil in either Sunflower or Sweet Almond oil. Then massage to encourage lymphatic drainage may give you the relief you need. Try to use this massage blend starting a few days before you normally start retaining fluids.

Sleeping can become disrupted or impossible. Fatigue then takes hold during the day. There are several oils to use either in a diffuser or in a warm/hot bath. Getting yourself into a bedtime routine can help your sleep too.

The following oils may be helpful to you. Choose one or two and give them a try for a couple of months to see if you get any kind of relief or response. It is recommended to start using them 2- 3 days prior to symptoms and continue until your menses have begun.

Geranium, Clary Sage, Anise, Fennel, Grapefruit, Rose otto, Cypress, Lavender and Marjoram, Jasmine, Ylang ylang, Bergamot, Nutmeg, Petitgrain, Roman Chamomile, Lemongrass, Melissa, Pine Needle, Myrrh, Tarragon, Basil and Vitex Agnus (this particular essential oil needs to be used with extreme caution as it is a very strong oil when it comes to use in hormonal problems. Please read the following information about Vitex from a previous issue by clicking here before considering using this oil for PMS).

For those of you that are not sure what to try, you might want to give our For Women's blend a try. This is great to help balance women's hormones any time of the month. We have had a few women tell us they felt it helped them. They really enjoyed the smell. For those that would like a perfume you could wear Our Strictly Feminine Perfume is our For Women's Blend mixed with Jojoba to make a wonderful perfume. The perfume can be worn on the skin or rub a little on your hands and smooth into your hair.

Emotional Concern

PMS - Pre Menstrual Syndrome - The Emotional side

The major concern that most women have is with the emotional roller coaster that PMS throws at them each month.

Some women can react emotionally with a little weeping or crying that can come out of nowhere. Others go to the extreme and can become outright aggressive and/or violent. Some will have moments that cause them to be easily irritated and will disagree just for the sake of disagreeing!! Last are those who have become listless, tired and have no 'energy' at all including the lack of libido.

Again, we can use essential oils to address each of the individual symptoms. Sometimes using just an oil or two will be all it will take to get your emotions under control.

Some of the best oils to use will be those already listed above. Some that could be used for specific emotional concerns are as follows:

Weepy/crying - Best are oils for depression including Rose, clary sage, Bergamot and Geranium, but are not limited to those.

Violent or Aggressive behavior - If this is carried to extremes medical intervention should be sought. If bodily harm to yourself or others is even in your mind. Seek professional help. Aromatherapy will not necessarily be the best course of action. You may need other medication and hormonal treatment or supplements to get things under control. Aromatherapy in this case especially will be complimentary. Oils to help may include Geranium, Nutmeg, Bergamot, and Palmarosa.

Irritability and disagreeable - Oils to help calm the nerves and to help you focus may be the direction you will need to take here. Nutmeg, Bergamot, Geranium, Clary Sage, Chamomile and rosemary.

Tired and Listless, lack of libido - Clary Sage, Bergamot, Geranium, Grapefruit, Fennel, Chamomile, Ylang ylang

It is recommended to start using them 2-3 days prior to symptoms and continue until your menses have begun.

How to use them for emotional symptoms? Simplest way is to place a few drops on a tissue and inhale. We do have a couple other suggestion and if you can may opt to use those.

One is our Personal Nasal inhaler. You simply put the essential oils on a piece of cotton (or the end of a cotton swab - break it off) and insert it in the bottle of the inhaler. You can add more essential oils as needed. The inhaler will be ready whenever you need a quick pick me up or way to get your emotions back on track.

The other is to wear one of the several styles of aromatherapy Jewelry available. You will need to reapply the essential oils on a daily basis with those methods. But it is a easy, simple and very effective way to keep your essential oils right under your nose all day!

Again, remember you will need to be consistent at using the combination of essential oils that work best for you. At first it may be a lot of trial and error and over time the oils you use may change.

Sometimes if your body is really craving a certain smell, it is possible your body has recognized that particular oil has the chemical constituents it needs to balance your system. If you all of a sudden can't stand a particular scent, then your body has received what it needs. It may then direct you to a new or other combinations.

Let your body, help to guide you and your emotions. Keep a diary as to what you have used and what responses you are getting. We can only make suggestions but since your body is unique and individual, the combinations you need can be entirely different that someone else.

You might want to visit the following pages for information about specific concerns: Headaches, Aggression, Balancing, Muscle and back pain, fatigue, Stress, alertness, anxiety, aphrodisiacs, calming, concentration, food cravings, forgetfulness, irritability, memory loss, SAD, tension, acne, Swollen legs

Please check out our Health and Beauty Index, Past Newsletters and Recipe files for more help with several symptoms you may be experiencing each month.

We do hope you can find relief using several of these suggested essential oils so life can be a little less trying!

Please let us know if you have specific recipes or essential oils you use to help as we would love to pass them on to others to give them relief too.

Health and Beauty

Neck Scrubs

Anyone at anytime get a little extra buildup of excessive dead skin cells around the neck.

When I was a kid growing up, it was a common advertisement to hear - "Ring a Round the Collar, Ring around the collar". Of course, it was geared to men wearing those 'white collared' stiffly pressed shirts. And trying to remove the stains from the clothing. But then again, where did the stains come from? You got it the dead skins sloughing off your skin around the neck.

This simple scrub can be used by both men, women, children and anyone that has a neck!!

Take one tablespoon oatmeal (quick cooking is best or you should run the other kinds through a blender) and add 1-2 teaspoons Jojoba. Mix and stir together until you get sort of a paste. Use this to rub onto your neck. Using an upward stroke. Be sure to protect your clothing or wear an old tee shirt while 'scrubbing' or scrub your neck while in the shower. This is a very gentle way to rid your skin of dead cells.

So, if your neck looks grubby after your tan has worn off, and you're tired of always wearing turtle necks. Maybe it's time for a good neck scrubbing. After rinsing this scrub off, be sure to apply a light moisturizer or other lotion.

To your neck scrub you can add a drop or two of essential oil of your choice. The skin of the neck though may respond best to the following: rose, palmarosa, geranium, clary-sage, petitgrain, lemon, lemongrass, Carrotseed, or orange.

The above essential oils can be added to your regular night cleansing cream (remember you can use any lotion as a cleansing cream or our Sorbolene Cream is also great from cleansing - just dilute with a little distilled water).

Just wipe off the excess creams or lotions after a few minutes.

Around the House and Garden

Molds and Mildews

We just had a customer ask about a “funky” aroma in their basement of a 90 year old house. While emailing back and forth, the conclusion was there is still mold and mildew there. Now how to get rid of it?

While being a custodian for over 25 years and working with molds and mildews, some of the answers are easy but we also have a saying once you have mold, you always have mold. There is no known way of killing the fungus completely due to the fact that molds produce airborne spores (seeds). What you will do is try to figure what caused the mold/mildew, then try to get rid of the mold/mildew and then try to keep the situation from happening again.

There are a couple of ways that an ordinary person can try to take care of mold/mildew. If it is your shower or bath and you have those dark spots (which happens on grout a lot), you can spray bleach on the spot and brush it off, let it dry and then put a sealer on (all grout should have a sealer put on before you take a shower or bath). If the spot does not go away then you will have to take out all the old grout and put in new and don’t forget to seal it.

If you have a larger area, and it is in the sheetrock or behind wall coverings, the best thing to do is take the wall covering off, take the sheetrock down and install new waterproofing sheetrock. So basically it is a remodel job.

If it is in your basement, you will have to dry out the area (either a humidifier to take the water out of the air or even a fan will help dry it out). If the walls have mold/mildew on them, you may have to get a professional in to clean the walls and then seal them. The other situation is if you have moisture coming in the walls then you need to either dig out around the basement, reseal the outside walls and you may have to put in drainage tile to keep the water away from the walls.

Remember too, that just painting the walls will not do anything - latex pain 'breathes' so do not use in a damp area.

Another thing in a basement to check out is the air system, if you have an older furnace and you get a “funky” aroma when the fan turns on, then I would check the filter, make sure it is clean and then you may have to get a professional in to clean the duct work.

If you have mold/mildew in your carpet, the best thing is to rip it up and throw it away. Then clean the sub-flooring well, seal it and then you can put new carpeting/flooring in. One reason there could be mold in carpets is when a carpet is cleaned, there is still water in the carpet and it doesn’t dry quick enough. One thing most people don’t understand is that it only takes 24 – 48 hours for mold/mildew to start growing!!

Now if you want to use essential oils to help with mold/mildew you can use any of the fungal oils.

These are tea tree, dill, geranium, lemongrass, rosemary, thyme (linalool), cedarwood (atlas), Cajeput, eucalyptus, marjoram and myrrh.

These oils have been tested and researched by the USDA Forestry Department - http://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/24458 with some really good results.

One recipe you may want to try this for mild mildew is –
2 teaspoons tea tree oil
2 cups water
Combine in a spray bottle, shake to blend, and spray on problem areas. Do not rinse.

This may help keep things “under control” after the major cleaning has been done.

Where I last worked, we had what is known as a “sick building” where people were getting sick but not much was found. There was some mold found in the air system and the way they got rid of it was to hire professionals to take the mold out and use the chemicals to clean the walls, but they finally had to take out all the interior walls, ceilings and air vents and replace with new. So a whole new building was built but only the outside walls were not touched!!

One thing to remember is that you can get really sick from molds and mildew, so take precaution if you are going to do the work yourself. A respirator, gloves, eye protection and more should be used at all times.

Other essential oils known to have antifungal properties besides those listed above include: rosewood, German chamomile, lemon, mandarin, any of the Eucalyptus, fennel, Helichrysum, cajuput, peppermint, spikenard, basil, geranium, pine needle, patchouli, Ravensara, clary sage, clove bud, basil, and oregano.

Some of these may be more effective than others depending on where and how you are able to apply them. Whether or not these will work on the type of mold or mildew you have present will be up to you to decide. Some smell rather pleasant, others may not be enjoyed.

Recipes to try

BIRCH HILL HAPPENINGS NEWS

Hello Everyone,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

We had a wonderful time with our family. Our Sons, their wives and our granddaughters were here at different times between Christmas and New Years and we even visited them during that time.

We had a great Holiday Sale and hope that many of you were able to take advantage of this sale. Our next big sale is several months away.

We will be having some discounts and sale pricing on some of our diffusers and oils.

Of course, our "Special Deals" notices will start up again shortly (you have to sign up for them by updating your interest catagories. Please see our page about "Special Deals" by Clicking here for more details and to sign up).

Also, there are a few items that will be discounted as they are being discontinued (manufacturer is discontinuing so our supply has ended.)

There are a few imperfect items or as we say 'Scratch and dent items'. Still very usable but not in 'perfect' condition that will also be available.

Now on to the other news. We do have several new essential oils and a blend this month.

First we are going to start out with "The Sandalwood Dilema".

Talking with our suppliers we found out that Sandalwood Essential oil pricing has gone up considerable. And one of our supplies of the Australian Sandalwood - Santulum spicatum is no longer available at this time and is not known when it will be again.

So, they have reminded us about some of the other 'sandalwoods' that many of you may not have known existed.

They smell similar to Sandalwood - Santalum album and have similar properties. Many of them can be substituted in your blends and other applications. You may even prefer them over Santalum album.

We now have available the following Sandalwoods.

Amyris aka WI Sandalwood, Amyris balsamifera from Haiti, distilled from the wood. To us this has a little bit more of woody/ earthy smell, and sandalwood smell in the background.

Muhuhu aka African Sandalwood, Erachyleana huthinsii from Kenya, distilled from the wood. This has more of a woody smell, and reminds us of a cross between a rich cedarwood and sandalwood.

We would recommend you buy a sample size of each to see what you think and if they will work for you in your blends.

Sandalwood, India, Santalum album - This is actual Sandalwood. The one that most people think of when they think of sandalwood. It is expensive so please be aware of this. We have tried to keep the pricing as low as possible to make it affordable for those that want the 'real' thing.

Some oils we are looking into and hope to have available soon will be a Sandalwood Blend. That should be able to be used in most recipes. It is made with pure therapeutic essential oils and should be more affordable.

Also we are awaiting our delivery of Cumin. Several of you have asked for this oil and we decided to carry it since it has many therapeutic uses. We will try to give you a head's up when it arrives.

Brain Energy - Our latest blend duplication of the 'MLM' companies - Brain Power. We have already had rave reviews about this one from our local massage therapists.

Borage Oil, Virgin (18-20+% GLA) and Evening Primrose Oil, Virgin (10%+ GLA) are available again. These are higher grade/quality than what we have carried before as they are both Virgin and cold pressed. We had to discontinue them for a short time as we ran out of refrigeration space. We now have a new refrigerator just for them!

Remember for both these oils, although they are great for skin care you only need to add about 10% to your massage or bath blend to provide nourishment needed at one application.

Last month we introduced the following, just incase you missed last issue because of all the Holiday doings, we have it listed here again.
One is White Camphor essential oil and the other is a carrier oil Tamanu oil.

Both these products have been requested by several of you and so as perusal, we have decided to carry them.

We have a new very special Aromatherapy kit available. We call it the Aromatherapists' Dream.

   Check out our NEWEST KIT!    

The Ultimate in Aromatherapy
The Aromatherapist's Dream Kit!

This special kit has 72 different essential oils and blends,
assorted carrier oils and unscented base products, decoders, mini charts,
empty bottles, diffusers and a couple of storage cases.
A great savings over individual prices.
For Complete details CLICK HERE.

It is packed with just about everything you could ever want or need as you begin your journey into the world of aromatherapy. Please if you will, check it out. It has 72 oils, carrier oils, blends, bottles, diffusers and more! CLICK HERE for details.

Now for a "Little Bug in your Ear" to remind you that Valentine's day isn't too far away. If you want to give or send someone a little something that is an Aromatherapy Type gift (See our gift ideas page) you'll want to order it soon.

Or of course you can make "hints" to your beloved that you would like something too.

If you are having us send the "valentine" for you and would like us to include a Special Valentine type card, please leet us know either in the order or by an e-mail or phone call. We are more than happy to try to make the special occasion, even more special.

As always, if we can help you with any aromatherapy question please send us an E-mail at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com and we'll get back to you as soon as we can.

‘til next month,

Yours in Aromatherapy,
Alan and Penny
E-mail us at bhhinfo@birchhillhappenings.com