Very interesting article from the most recent issue of the New Yorker focusing on the 2 largest essential oil businesses, their marketing scheme, founders, etc.
I have a few extended family members who are heavily into this stuff. I don’t deny that aromatherapy has a useful role - tea tree for skincare and acne for example, or lavender for relaxation/sleep. I do think some homeopathic and herbal medicines can be useful but I don’t buy into the essential oils as a cure-all. I think it is a bit of snake oil and dangerous when other forms of medicine are cast aside completely.
What are your opinions on essential oils? If you are a user of essential oils have you read the article? Thoughts?
My mom is bigger in essential oils. No, she doesn’t believe they can cure things but she does think it’s helped her considerably. Never enough to stop taking her “real” meds though.
She gave me a diffuser and oils for Christmas. I believe in it far less than she does but the scents are nice and it doesn’t hurt. She really believes that they might help me, so I humor her and use it.
With that said, I’m really at the point that I want to punch some people in the face who try to push essential oils and related products on me (I won’t, I’m a pacifist). I am an outspoken advocate for my disease because it’s little understood and quite often rather misunderstood.
I know people mean well, but what pushes it too far for me is when they tell me things along the lines of “the doctors are just trying to poison you so that you’ll be sick for life,” or “reject those medicines, they’re not doing anything! Take lavender oil instead,” or anything else along those lines. It infuriates me because these people are going to kill (not that they haven’t already) people by telling them to stop taking the medicines that are keeping them alive.
When you’re really sick, you often become desperate and will try anything. This goes doubly true for when you’re sick and doctors can’t really pinpoint what it is, what’s going to happen, and when there are no proven cures (for example: many major autoimmune and other rare diseases.)
I thought of you, @romanigypsyeyes, when I read this bit from the article where they talked about the companies’ starts and headquarters in Utah:
“More recently, parents have begun refusing in large numbers to vaccinate their children; in Utah County, the hub of the state’s alternative-health industry, forty-three per cent of kindergartners have not received their full suite of vaccinations.”
@doschicos I dug into Young’s history a little bit. I despise “people” like him.
Sure enough, I found it. He claims a 90% cure rate for lupus. Or, at least he did when he was working in Mexico and peddling a deadly “cure” for cancer that is illegal in the US. (Can’t link to the site because it’s a blog.)
I am not a big user of essential oils but I do have a few that I like. My son who is 13 has anxiety. He has missed school and has difficulty sleeping because of his anxiety. He has seen the Doctor to rule out other causes of his upset stomach.
What worked the best for him? Essential oils! We diffuse lavender and peace and calming at bedtime. He has a blend that he rolls on his wrists before school and has a diffuser necklace. He also has anxiety about long car rides and we have a blend for that too. He no longer needs to use the oils on a regular basis but will ask for them when he needs them. We have also worked on coping strategies for his anxiety and he is doing much better!
Now do they really make a difference or is it a placebo effect? My husband says placebo. I say I don’t care, as long as he is doing well.
I like essential oils but feel they are something largely that makes you feel better, like chicken soup. Nothing wrong with that but I hate those multi-level marketing schemes. Needing to sell a whole bunch of essential oils is creating this lie that we need to use them all the time to be healthy.
Agreed. I think they can have their place, but it is a lot less than some proclaim them to have. The cultishness of the oily community, at least partially driven by a quest for more $$$, bothers me.
Thanks dos. I read the article- I poked around because I want to see if anyone had definitively debunked his “I cured my paralysis with lemon water” claim
Also, he should have spent time in prison for killing his daughter.
This is an example of my warning to my kids, when they were younger, to check, “Who’s driving the Mercedes.” That is, who’s getting rich off you, in various ways.
If someone tries something, likes it, ok. But even the thousands rushung to purchase a miracle for a tryout are sending their dollars.
No, not much fun being a skeptic. But some of these guys snd gals are making a fortune. Think of all the wrinkle magic creams, diet claims, and more.
Oh. I guess I don’t know if this counts as an essential oil or not but I do use white flower oil on my joints. It basically acts like icy hot but doesn’t smell as bad. I like it.
I’ve used the DoTerra Past tense roll on oil for neck pain and been quite happy. I was working on a very physical project out of town and kept using the icy blue stuff to no avail, I Amazoned the Past Tense and it really works on my neck. But it’s not a cure, it’s just a nice spicy blend that helps it feel better for a few hours & that’s all I ask.
So, there are likely some uses, but nothing is a miracle cure.
OK, I’m not into essential oils at all, but right now I have a heavy chest cold (cough, bronchial congestion) and reading this thread made me remember that I had small bottle of eucalyptus oil in a kitchen cabinet. So thank you guys for reminding me of that.
I have a small jar of peppermint oil I bought from a store to cause the chipmunks and feral cats go elsewhere. It worked for a bit. They didnt like the smell.
