Birch Hill Happenings Aromatherapy, LLC Newsletter Vol 97

2006

In this issue:
PHYSICAL
EMOTIONAL
BEAUTY
HOUSE & GARDEN
RECIPES to Try

Physical Ailment

PMS - Premenstrual Syndrome - Physical

by Penny Keay

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 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, Marjoram, Jasmine, Ylang Ylang, Bergamot, Nutmeg, Petitgrain, Roman Chamomile, Lemongrass, Melissa, Pine needle, Myrrh, Tarragon, and Basil.

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 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.

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Emotional Concern

PMS - Pre Menstrual Syndrome - The Emotional side

by Penny Keay

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, Roman Chamomile and Rosemary.

Tired and Listless, lack of libido

- Clary Sage, Bergamot, Geranium, Grapefruit, Fennel, Roman Chamomile, Ylang Ylang

It is suggested 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 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 Personal 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.

Please use the Search Box to look for specific symptoms or ailments you have during this time or any time of the 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.

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Health and Beauty

Neck Scrubs

by Penny Keay

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 Otto, 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.

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Around the House and Garden

Molds and Mildews

by Alan Keay

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 globulus, Marjoram and Myrrh.

These oils have been tested and researched by the USDA Forestry Department - https://www.treesearch.fs.fed.us/pubs/24458 Click Here 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, Cajeput, Peppermint, Spikenard, Basil, Geranium, Pine needle, Patchouli, Ravensara, Clary Sage, Clove bud, 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.

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Recipes to try

PMS Bath - Please do not Disturb!

Lavender - 15 drops
Geranium - 9 drops
Grapefruit 9 drops
Clary Sage - 6 drops
Rose Otto - 2 drops

Mix all oils together in an amber bottle. Use 10 drops in your bath water.

Be sure to Add 1-2 cups Epsom salts to the water while tub is filling. Epsom salts help to reduce swelling, bloating and other aches and pains. Soak for 20 - 30 minutes if possible. UNDISTURBED!!

Keep the door closed to the bathroom to help the oils stay in the room.

Make the water as hot or as warm as you desire.

Happy Bath Blend 2

Ylang Ylang - 5 drops
Sandalwood - 5 drops
Grapefruit - 5 drops
Peppermint - 1 drop

Mix all oils together in an amber bottle. Add several drops to your bath.

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Nightly Neck Oil for a Smooth neck

Petitgrain - 6 drops
Orange - 3 drops
Carrotseed - 10 drops
Palmarosa - 10 drops
Lemon - 3 drops
Blend these well then add to
Jojoba oil - 4 teaspoon
Avocado oil or Grapeseed oil - 2 teaspoons.

Blend all well. Then apply a few drops to your finger tips and apply to your neck, using upward strokes. Remove excess with a soft tissue after a few minutes.