Essential Oils: A Poor Choice for Asthma (and a few other things)Alright. Those of you who know me personally or follow my blog are aware that I don’t shy away from controversial topics, and that I don’t have a problem speaking my mind. I try to do it in a respectful, informative, and somewhat humorous way. But I saw something this morning that needs to be addressed, and it’s not funny at all. That’s mine, and I think it’s pretty hilarious.)As I was eating breakfast this morning, I saw a link about essential oils posted on a fellow pediatrician/blogger’s Facebook page, where he made some important observations about the author’s claims regarding medical uses of essential oils. Recently I was intrigued by a message thread that has been sprouting like a weed on the Hair: Alternative Health Board about the use of rosemary for hair, scalp and. Smelly essential oils at work or what to do when employees’ medical needs conflict. 278 thoughts on “ Essential Oils: A Poor Choice for Asthma (and a few other things) ”. Essential oils have enhanced lives for thousands of years, offering a variety of benefits from cosmetic and dietary purposes to spiritual and religious use. I agree with him completely, but I think the point needs to be driven home a little harder. The article he linked to is called Essential Oils Alternative for Pediatrician’s Top 1. Prescribed Drugs. It’s a bit unclear, but the article appears to have been written by one of two people: Xavier Lannes, the CEO of The Essential Tools, LLC (the website where it was posted). Based on his Linked. In profile, Mr. Lannes has a strong interest in skateboarding, some business experience, and no medical training whatsoever. But I’m sure he’s just as knowledgeable about children’s health as your pediatrician. Or Julie Behling- Hovdal, a Gold Member at Young Living Essential Oils, with a BS in Biological Sciences and a couple MA degrees in unrelated fields. She also blogs at essentialsurvival. For those of you unfamiliar with reflexology, it’s a form of alternative medicine that involves manipulating certain areas on the hands, feet, or ears in a fruitless attempt to influence other organs.) Again, no medical training. Did I mention that she sells essential oils? Before I go any further (and before you starting typing in the comments box), I do realize that this is not representative of all those who sell or use essential oils. I feel like the majority of parents (and certainly the corporations that are smart enough to be concerned about legal liability) are more cautious than Mr. Lannes or Ms. Behling- Hovdal. But this post has 1. Facebook shares already, and has evidently been posted on numerous other sites as well, so somebody’s believing it. I’ll write about the potential merits and limited evidence for essential oils in a later post. For now, I want to address one thing: the use of essential oils in place of proven treatments for serious medical conditions. So what are pediatricians’ top 1. I’m not sure where the author found the data, and I haven’t verified it for myself, but the list seems pretty close: amoxicillin, azithromycin, amoxicillin/clavulanate (Augmentin), montelukast (Singulair), cefdinir (Omnicef), albuterol, Concerta, Adderall XR, oseltamivir (Tamiflu), and prednisolone (Orapred). Four of these medications (amoxicillin, azithromycin, amoxicillin/clavulanate, and cefdinir) are antibiotics used to treat bacterial infections like ear infections, pneumonia, and urinary tract infections (among many others). Are they overprescribed? Undoubtedly. Are they sometimes necessary? Description Authentic All-Natural Aromatherapy Diffuser Oil. Starchaser handcrafted all-natural therapeutic and subtle aromatherapy diffuser oils are made from 100%. Not according to the author, who suggests that essential oils like lemon, peppermint, or frankincense might do the trick. But the author probably doesn’t know much about lung abscesses after pneumonia or permanent kidney damage from an untreated UTI. The author has probably never watched patients die from sepsis. Some bacterial infections (like strep throat or most ear infections) will resolve on their own, but others need treatment with antibiotics to prevent life- threatening complications. If you don’t trust your doctor to decide when antibiotics are necessary, you need to find a new doctor. Sometimes, lemon oil won’t do the trick. Two of the medicines on the list (Concerta and Adderall XR) are stimulant medications used to treat ADHD. When most people hear “ADHD,” they think about a little kid that has bad grades and won’t sit still in class. That’s part of it. But ADHD can be far more serious. Children (and adults) with untreated ADHD are more likely to have automobile accidents, get speeding tickets, abuse drugs, have unplanned pregnancies, get divorced, be fired from a job, suffer accidental injuries, and go to jail. ADHD is undeniably overdiagnosed, and the medications we use for it are frequently abused. But it can be a very real problem with very bad consequences, and I haven’t seen a study that showed rubbing lavender oil on someone’s feet to be an effective treatment. I’m going to skip over Tamiflu, which is a medicine used to treat influenza (the flu). It’s not very effective, and it has some pretty awful side effects, especially in kids. In many cases (in otherwise healthy people), we’d be better off without it. And. Let me tell you a story about asthma. I had a 7- year- old patient in medical school that I met in the pediatric ICU during a severe asthma attack. He had gone to spend the night at his grandmother’s house while his parents were out of town. Within an hour of being in her house, he started coughing uncontrollably and having trouble breathing. By the time EMS arrived, he was gray and barely breathing. Fortunately, they were able to keep him alive on the way to the hospital, and with some pretty intense treatment, he was back to his baseline two days later. Before we sent him home, we talked extensively to his grandmother about possible triggers–dust, pets, smoke, all that stuff. The dog went to stay with a relative, we gave the kid an allergy cover for his pillow, and the grandmother spent several hours cleaning the house before we sent him home that afternoon. When I went in to work the next morning, he was back. EMS had picked him up overnight, almost dead. The grandmother couldn’t figure out what had happened, but it soon became clear: as part of her cleaning efforts, she had sprayed some Febreze on his bed. The minute he climbed into the sheets, his airways clamped down and he couldn’t breathe. For many children, asthma is mild. It may act up only at certain times of the year, and sometimes the symptoms aren’t that bad. But it’s not at all uncommon to admit them to the hospital. And asthma kills over 3,0. Americans every year. Different people have different sets of triggers. Sometimes asthma is set off by viral infections, pollen, exposure to animals, or exercise. Asthma can also be triggered by “volatile organic compounds,” one example of which would be essential oils. Advising parents to treat asthma by diffusing essential oils is dangerous and irresponsible, and it demonstrates a tremendous lack of understanding about the disease. Look, there’s a reason that doctors go to medical school, and it’s not so “Big Pharma” can set up direct deposit to our checking accounts. It’s because there’s a lot to understand about how the body works–from a cellular level, all the way to how the organs function together. Doctors learn about how medicines are absorbed and metabolized, and about how they do what they do (including the bad stuff). We learn how to decide which patients need treatment, and which treatment would be best. And–not insignificantly–we learn how to design, perform, read, and interpret scientific studies that tell us if our treatments are safe and effective. Lannes nor Ms. Behling- Hovdal went to medical school, and their understanding of these concepts is obviously lacking. What they are doing by promoting unproven treatments for serious medical conditions amounts to practicing medicine without a license, which is illegal as well as dangerous. Of course, they throw in the obligatory disclaimer at the bottom of the article: “Those statement . The Essential Oils are not officially intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.” Not officially. But after reading the article, I’m not sure how else to interpret their advice to replace “Pediatricians’ top 1. Again, I realize that one person’s opinions don’t reflect those of everyone who uses essential oils. Hopefully, even those of you that use oils can agree that there are some cases where they’re not the best choice. I’m not saying that all essential oils are dangerous, or that they don’t have any benefits (I’ll address this later). What I am saying is that we don’t yet have enough information to know what conditions they might treat (especially in children), and that they do have risks associated with them. I have no problem with people using essential oils to “calm your mind, body, and spirit after a hard day’s work” or to “open and release emotional blocks leading to a sense of balance and well- being.” I don’t even have a problem with using them cautiously (and with your doctor’s knowledge) for minor symptoms that don’t require medical treatment. But if you’re using them instead of asthma medicines, as this article recommends, you may not like the outcome. We don’t use a lot of frankincense in the ICU. I just refreshed the page, and the Facebook shares are up to 1. As a physician, it scares me. Not because I feel threatened, or because “Big Pharma” won’t make as much money. But because there are people out there treating serious conditions that they know nothing about with treatments that have no data to show that they are safe or effective–because our children’s health is at risk.
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