Battle Fatigue, Shell Shock, PTSD-- Can Essential Oils Help in the Healing Process?

Lest We Forget

Even in countries like Canada with only a glancing involvement in wars, each of us knows someone in our family or friend circle who has been to war.  Many of us know people who have returned from combat situations with the devastation of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)* or during the World Wars, what was called battle fatigue, combat neurosis or shell shock.  Do the peace-promoting qualities of essential oils have a place in the healing protocol of individuals returned from wars with PTSD?

A U.S. Long-Range Patrol Team Leader in Vietnam, 1968

 By Icemanwcs - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28230832

Not everyone who serves in combat experiences PTSD.  Those who do, generally begin to have their flashbacks about three months after the traumatizing event, although they may not re-experience the trauma for several years.

The victim of PTSD generally tries to avoid anything that reminds them of the traumatic event, and avoids talking about it.  My husband grew up in a family where the parents spoke very little about their lives and relationships during World War II in Europe.  Recognizing the horrors that they probably experienced-- both as a soldier and a civilian-- it is easy to understand how they were both attempting to keep a re-play of the traumas at bay.

Intrusive thoughts, nightmares, dissociative behaviours, and 'flashbacks' create a position of over-vigilance that can very quickly become sleepless exhaustion.  Everything presents as 'danger' or menace to the tortured individual.

Typically, anxiety, depression and suicidal ideation become the norm.  Fairly frequently, co-morbid substance abuse is a way of coping.  Alcohol, pain killers, and other drugs are used together to try to get the optimal blurr on the behaviours associated with the PTSD.

Go To Watch Party for People Struggling with PTSD

THE PTSD BRAIN

Locales in the brain dealing with stress and post trauma stress.  Image from Wikipedia.

Adrenalin, the kick-in-the-rear hormone to stimulate a flight to somewhere safe, generally floods the brain and body at the time of trauma.  This flight-or-fight pattern will tend to be repeated during stressful episodes, even after there is no danger of a re-traumatizing event.

The biochemical make-up of the brain and body undergo changes with PTSD.

The amygdala (shown as a little flame in the diagram above) functions around emotions, memories and hormonal release.  The amygdala apparently takes a "memory trace," or a small part of a memory, and consolidates it-- makes it a long-term memory, and in the case of PTSD, a recurring memory during flashbacks, intrusive thoughts and the like.  So, if during the traumatic experience, the individual saw something like his buddy wiped out by a bomb explosion, the many sensory aspects of those few seconds or minutes might store as separately and repeatedly significant little memories-- the smell of burning flesh, the body parts flying in the air, the screams and groans of death and mortar exploding,  his own shameful inability to do anything to save his friend, and his body's shameful incontinence as a primal expression of fear and a "lightening of the load" so that he can run faster.  All of these emotions and perceptions will be fused as a consolidated memory of the trauma events, along with a powerful dump of adrenaline.  After the event, maybe years down the line, some small "memory trace" will trigger a PTSD event.

The intrusive symptoms, numbing, and arousal symptoms are the three major areas of presentation with PTSD.  Attempting to cope 'normally' is frustrating and often results in a depression-like state of flattened affect, sleeping disturbance or sleeping too much, memory glitches, inability to concentrate, and suicide ideation.  Anxiety and guilt are amped up for survivors.  Without helpful intervention, many survivors give up and attempt suicide.  For a clear understanding of war-related PTSD and what can be done to help, see the Ted Talk "The Psychology of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder". (6 minutes)

PTSD is hell for the survivor and for their families.  Watch the PTSD 101 TedTalks (below) to get a good understanding of how war stress affects the brain, the body, and your family.  There is at least one video there for everyone.

If you prefer to read rather than watch a video, read about complete what 'war stress' entails and how to treat it with healthy ways, take a look at this .PDF document from the US Veterans Affairs.

HELPFUL INTERVENTIONS WITH ESSENTI

Spot-Cleaning Your Carpet with Essential Oils

We are in the process of doing some refreshments in our livingroom, and the last of the jobs includes cleaning our very old berber carpet.  I really wanted to replace it with hardwood or engineered laminate (or whatever it is branded as) but, well, no budget for that yet.

So, we will be cleaning it.  But this time we will clean it with a "non-toxic" shampoo (warning: avoid the 'greenwashing' and make sure the carpet shampoo has the Carpet and Rug Institute Seal of Approval, a sort of umbrella certificate that involves approval as a choice by the EPA, Ecologo or Envirodesic. Many non-toxic shampoos include enzymes to break down the dirt and bacteria.

But in the meantime, one can make up a spot cleaner that should do a pretty good job on removing stains before doing the actual shampoo.

White Vinegar is a gentle cleaner that generally gets most stains.  I use the strong, cleaning variety of white vinegar that you can find in hardware stores (maybe your supermarket).  It has a little more oomph in the form of acid.  You won't want to cook with it.  If you want to purchase it through Amazon, you can find a number of choices HERE  

Salt helps to souse out the dirt.

Essential Oils will provide a scent and some germ-eradicating that helps offset the stale or nasty smells associated with some stains.  CAUTION: Dogs and cats are generally quite reactionary to essential oils and some oils are TOXIC to them.  The original recipe from the site's recipe above, listed Lavender Essential Oil but I found that some other sites list Lavender as toxic to pets.  I suggest that you do your research and perhaps see what scent your dog or cat reacts less to that is NOT on the list to avoid below:




To use the spot cleaner:

1. Thoroughly vacuum the area to be spot-cleaned
2. Combine warm water and vinegar in a large spray bottle
3. Add in salt and essential oils.  Shake well.
4. Spray onto various stains.  Shake between sprays
5. Let dry completely
6. Vacuum
7. Repeat if needed
8. Shampoo

*Recipe found at DIY Natural

*Image from Pixabay 

Make Your Own Lavender Oil....

Making my own Lavender Oil: I did this many years ago, and plan to do it again this Spring!  I grow a few woody drifts of lavender in my front yard and am planning to finally get around to planting them in the backyard this year.

There is still snow in patches, but I am so looking forward to seeing my lavender in bud.  I want you to have this recipe so you can try it too... maybe you even live somewhere (England?) where the lavender is budding out already? Lucky you!  Get out your gardening shears and be prepared to have fun and fragrance!

Supplies Needed: 

:Sprigs of Fresh Lavender (or you may purchase dried lavender) 

:Mason Jar with Lid 

:Oil- I choose pure castor oil (you can use other oils such as apricot oil, almond oil, even grape seed cooking oil) 

Directions:

:Fill the mason jar with sprigs-- fill it with as many as you can stuff in (you could strip off the buds and put them in without the stems-- whatever works for you) 

:Cover the lavender buds with oil and soak somewhere in natural light, such as in your East view window 

:Let the brew sit for several days, maybe weeks. 

: Strain the oil through a fine sieve and pour into one or more dark amber or green glass bottles. 

: Keep somewhere cool (not too warm). 

:You can amp up the effect by adding a few (+5) drops of your store-bought lavender essential oil to the bottle. 

: Enjoy as a body oil or in a bath salt recipe such as this one for relaxing before a good sleep.

Essential Oils for Kidney Stones

This post appeared originally in December 2007 and is the most frequently viewed post in this blog.
------------------------

Flowers and branches of the Boswellia sacra tree

This post's excellent suggestions originated in a post by Jessica Wild, the author and moderator of the Wild Harvest Yahoo! group(no longer active) in response to a group member's question about her husband either flushing a kidney stone or relieving the pain associated with it.


Jessica suggests a combination of 10 drops of pure Frankincense and 10 drops of pure Lemon essential oil in a capsule, taken every four hours.


The beautiful aromatic essential oil of Frankincense is obtained by distilling the bark of the Frankincense tree that grows in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and China. You will likely be familiar with the reference to Frankincense from the gifts that the Magi brought to the Christ Child, immortalized in the Christmas carol "We Three Kings" (as an aside, there is nothing in the Bible to indicate how many kings, or wise men, actually visited the Christ Child in his birth cave/stable). Along with Myrrh and Gold, it was considered a very precious commodity of the time... in fact, an essential part of any wealthy family's 'medicine cabinet', if you will pardon the pun.
Frankincense was used as a cleanser and a balm for wounds, to quell fevers, fight coughs and colds, soothe bronchitis, clear laryngitis, calm the stressed, and embalm the dead. Frankincense was a birth-to-death agent.

Pure, unadulterated Frankincense essential oil still works. It makes perfect sense as a purifying, calming additive in a capsule to help with kidney stones.

Pure Lemon Essential Oil is high in antioxidants, provides a wonderful emotional lift, and appears to boost the immune system in doing its job. It is tonic, astringent and antiseptic. A great deal has been recorded about the ability of lemon juice to dissolve gallstones, so commonsense would indicate that pure lemon essential oil would also be useful in dealing with kidney stones.

Eden's Garden "Frankincense"

On the tenth day of Christmas
My Aromatherapist gave to me
Frankincense and Lemon for the stones in my kidney...
9 drops Marjoram to deal with insomineeeee (a)
An 8-Lemon Drop Co-oo-ookie
Fragrance so Seventh Heaven-ly!
Six drops of Geranium,
Five ---- Drops--- of ----- Myrrh
Four big drops of Thieves blend
Three Raindrop treatments...
Two Eucalyptus Globulus
and
A bottle of pure Ro-s-e-mary....

**I am not a medical person (doctor, nurse, dentist, etc.) but make any references to the healing capabilities of essential oils on the basis of testimonials from real live people who have experienced or observed first-hand results.

Gardening With Essential Oils

Essential Oils are invaluable in the garden to protect plants against munching insects and to protect and treat the gardener against insect bites and sunburn and the like.

Because essential oils are natural molecules originating from plants, they are not going to disrupt or poison the environment.  The goal in gardening with essential oils is not to massively attack and eradicate anything perceived as "the enemy."

 The creative use of essential oils in your garden will enhance the growth and fragrance of your flowers and the great flavour of your edibles while encouraging pollinators to keep coming into your garden to do their essential work.  Here are some tips for inviting in what you want and repelling what you don't want (non-violent pest control) in your garden:

Bambi Hates Rosemary

Deer can wreak havoc in gardens, stomping on plants and eating decorative ornamentals and veggies.  It turns out that deer have an aversion to certain strong-smelling herbs like rosemary, yarrow and lavender.  Commercial repellents generally contain a synthesized version of this and sometimes include coyote urine as their chief deterrent (ewww).   You can grow rosemary, yarrow and/or lavender around the perimeter of your yard/garden, or you can boil up 6 sprigs of Rosemary in 8 cups of water with 2 teaspoons of Tabasco Sauce (or a teaspoon of cayenne with a shot of vinegar).  Spray on the plants and around the perimeter of the garden/yard.  (Yes, it is ultimately the release of the natural essential oils in the rosemary that repel the deer-- it may also repel other animals such as bunnies, cats and raccoons, not sure).

Repel Ants

\Ants "milking" Aphids

The greatest harm that ants do in my yard is to 'raise herds' of aphids, which they like to 'milk' the honeydew from for their own (and their queen's?) tasty little libations.  Growing common tansy, mint and pennyroyal plants around your affected garden plants (roses? fig tree?) or door to your home will repel them.  You can put 3 neat drops of essential oils of Spearmint and Peppermint on cottonballs and place beside your doors.  You can spray their nests and along shelves with the essential oils (diluted 8 drops of E.O in 1 gallon of water).  Garlic oil and citronella are also helpful.
The SOLO Handheld Expert's Sprayer
Easy to use. Spray bushes,flowers etc

  (Sweet Little) Aphids

Getting rid of ants as much as possible (see above) will probably cut back on your aphid problem, since ants are the cowboys of the insect world and aphids are their beef herds.  Other than that, just interspersing your aphid-vulnerable plants with nasturtiums, spearment, stinging nettle, garlic, potatoes, parsley, basil and horseradish will keep their numbers down.  Also, making a tea with any or all of the above (boiling the above together or putting plant matter in a pail and adding water that you will use in a few days) will make an effective spray.  Nasturtium is a good bet!  Essential oils like Spearmint, Peppermint, Cedarwood, and Hyssop work well.  For a spray, combine 4-8 drops of the Essential Oil with 1 gallon of water.

Black Fly Shoofly!

Annoying little suckers... they bite as well as being annoying in that buggy way they have.  Plant Stinging Nettle (don't laugh-- I have this planted in several places), Basil and Lavender.  Put some Lavender Essential Oil on when you are out where there are black flies.  Tangetes, Tansy or Lavender Oil can be sprayed to shoo them away!  4-8 drops of the essential oil in 1 gallon of water does the trick as a spray.  Strips of muslin hung as in a clothesline or like a line of pennants from the used car lot, and sprayed with, or soaked in, the various essential oils (4-8 drops in 1 gallon of water), should deter the flies from frequenting places in or near the cottage where people are gathered or individuals are trying to read a good summer's book.

Cut Out the Cutworms!

Where I was when I heard that John Kennedy had been assassinated-- and the first time I saw a large cutworm-- both imprinted on my mind with equal gravity.  Oakleaf and Oak Bark (as in a wood chip walkway, say, as a garden mulch) keeps away the cutworm population.  Try putting 3 drops, neat, of either Thyme or Sage Essential oil on a cotton ball and placing where you suspect the cutworms are gathering.  Spray the base of nearby plants in an area affected by cutworms with 4-8 drops of Thyme or Sage in a gallon of water.

Beating Cancer with the Help of Essential Oils...

Steve Fillmore beat cancer twice, with the help of Essential Oils

In the hope-inspiring video, Steve Fillmore, a 42 year-old flight attendant from Minneapolis, Minnesota tells Drew Canole how he combined chemo, great nutrition, and holistic methods to overcome testicular cancer.  He mentions that he used a combination of Frankincense Essential Oil and Turmeric to daily massage the areas where lymph nodes reside.*

CAUTIONS: SOME OILS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS 


Esteemed aromatherapist, author, and researcher Valerie Worwood cautions against using essential oils that are not organically-grown.  The chemical residues (fungicides, pesticides, herbicides) used in planting are also present during extraction and in the resulting oils.  Clinical aromatherapists are very careful about the oils they use therapeutically.

Aromatherapists also want to know what country their oils come from, and even what part of that country.  Worwood says that lavender is frequently grown in China and shipped to France from where it is "re-exported" as French.  French lavender used to be grown free of any chemicals under the clear blue skies of the Alps-- that is still the preferred place of growth, but, as everywhere else, massive freeways and industrialization exude their fumes and toxins over whatever fields they have growing near them... and there are a lot more fields of lavender growing this way than there were in the recent past. (The Fragrant Mind, p. 66-67)

Worwood also suggests that it is important to use an organic carrier oil and not to ingest essential oils without consulting someone who is in a position to recommend that to you based on their medical experience and training.

I would like to suggest that when dealing with cancer or other serious illnesses, that it is very important to consult with an actual working, well-trained aromatherapist, and not necessarily your friend who has an MLM investment and a few courses offered by the company that he/she distributes for.  As hopeful as the above video sounds, please do not do as he did without checking with a person with the aromatherapeutic, medical, nutritional background to assist.  *No information in this blog is meant to diagnose or suggest treatment.

Worwood has an extensive referral section in the back of her book.

The book

The Healing Intelligence of Essential Oils: The Science of Advanced Aromatherapy

is highly reviewed by customers  and strikes me that it might be a good resource for people doing healing research.  Information you find in this book or others can be taken to your chosen health professional for consultation.

All the best!  Fragrant Blessings, Cynthia

        Click above or HERE to learn more

Essential Oils and Dental Pre- and Post-Op Care

So, today I went to the dentist and had two molars extracted.  I was a panicky mess when I arrived (I'm working on that, and yes, Frankincense, Lavender, Marjoram, and Geranium Essential Oils have all had a role in keeping me calm and/or balanced-- but the dental clinic is "scent/fragrance-free" so I went in unarmed).

Fortunately the dentist was a lovely guy who gave me permission to put up my finger for a break at any time, and the Assistant, Chynna (pronounced "China"-- isn't that beautiful?)   was sweet, chatty and proficient in her job. The teeth came out with relative ease, and NO PAIN.  I was given a sheet of instructions about post-op care (eg., don't eat anything on that side for a week; take ibuprofen every 6-8 hours for pain; ice the swelling).

After the icing, I made a compress of Roman Chamomile (a few drops in a square of gauze) and held it there for a while.  When my husband came home he was amazed at how the swelling had gone down.  I found this suggestion at https://www.aromaceuticals.com/blog/easing-dental-pain

I had a big green smoothie for lunch (apple, mango, mixed baby greens, chia seed for protein and water).  I did take one of the ibuprophen.  Amazingly, everything in my mouth is calm.

(I must also mention that my dear husband prayed for me before and during my appointment. I do  believe these essential oils are a gift from God-- and the great dentist and his team are a gift as well!)