LESSON ONE ESSENTIAL OILS Megan Donahue Unit 5 Kaplan University

Complimentary and Alternative Medicine 101 What is Complimentary and Alternative Medicine? What do you think it is? Who do you think practices it? Why would someone want this type of medicine? Hello class! I am aware that most of you are here in order to learn what complimentary and alternative medicine is and the it’s uses. These three lessons will help to teach you what it is, who practices, what types of practices there are and how it deals with healing not just the physical body, but the mind and spirit as well. To get us started, I want us to share what we know or have heard and then we will learn…

CAM 101 CAM is a term used for medical products and practices that are not used in a typical hospital or outpatient care setting (www.medlineplus, 2014). Standard care is given by doctors, physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals in a hospital or doctor’s office.

CAM 101 Complementary Medicine is when two different forms of practices are used to aide in healing. Acupuncture is used in treating side effects of cancer (www.medlineplus, 2014). Alternative Medicine is used instead of standard medicine. Chiropractors would use manipulation in order to treat pain in the lower back rather than a standard doctor writing a prescription for pain or surgery.

Practitioners National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). “complimentary health approaches” Two subgroups Natural Products Mind and Body Practices For the field of CAM, this website is filled with lots of resources. They use the term…when talking about products and practices and they fall into two subgroups…I will be covering three, Essential Oils, Reiki and Acupuncture. Do you feel anything or think of anything when you look at this picture of the rocks?

Natural Products Natural Products Herbs (botanicals), vitamins, minerals and probiotics. Widely available Sold as supplements Not regulated by the FDA Most of us know about herbs, vitamins, minerals and probiotics. I am going to share information about essential oils. They are included in this Natural Products subgroup because herbs and flowers are what the oils are normally made from. There are oils made from other things like lemon, cinnamon, and cloves just to name a few. I will gave a friend as a guest next week. She is a chiropractor, Reiki Master and a distributor for an essential oil company. She is coming as a guest to speak in regards to the oils and reiki.

QUOTE What are your thoughts on this because it will probably go into legislation during our lifetime to change it? Do you feel this is right?

Essential Oils History (www.essentialoils.co.za, 2014) The Mesopotamians had distillation pots in order to extract oils from herbs; these pots were found at Tepe Gawra dating back to around 3,500 BC. The Egyptians used aromatherapy and aromatic herbs in their religion, makeup and for medicinal reasons and *** China and India both used herbs and aromatic plants where were used in medicine, especially in Ayuvedic medicine. The first people known to have a tool for distillation were the…***and don’t forget the embalming process. Ayuvedic medicine is still practiced today.

Essential Oils Greeks (www.essentialoils.co.za, 2014) Arabian Empire Hippocrates (c.460-377 BC) First well known physician Treated patients holistically and with aromatherapy massage Arabian Empire The perfect distillation process is being credited to Aviccena, a Persian physician (980-1,037 AD). The Dark Ages During this period, people used the oils to keep their body odor at bay because the church saw bathing as sinful Can you see through history the part that essential oils has played? There was not “scientific evidence” but people continued to use it in order to clean, heal, and feel good.

Essential Oils The Dark Ages The Renaissance Most of the oils had anti-bacterial and anti-pesticide properties During this time in history, there wasn’t much use of the oils in a holistic or medicinal sense…UNTIL The Renaissance Paracelsus looked at folk medicine and all the information that came with it. Good thing because he was able to cure leprosy! Could you imagine not having to bath for long periods of time? Even today, a lot of the oils I use have anti-bacterial and even anti-histamine properties. We know that now due to technology and science.

Essential Oils Flower Therapy (www.bachcentre.com, n.d.) Dr. Edward Bach 38 remedies connected to a particular characteristic or emotional state Aromatherapy (most modern) Term given by Rene Maurice Gattefosse in 1937 French chemist and perfumer Lavender Oil Eased pain and healed hand without infection and scar Check out this site, at home, to see the remedies. Some of the characteristics are “mental torture behind a cheerful face”, do you know anyone who is suffering like that? How about “fear of unknown thing”? How about someone who doesn’t trust their own decisions? There are plants, flowers, and tress which have essential oils that may help those issues. Something to look into, right? … At first Rene wasn’t interested in the medicinal properties of the plants until he burned his hand in the lab. This past weekend, I got my finger stuck in a door and it THROBBED! I put some lavender oil on it and I couldn’t believe how fast the throbbing stopped. It was still sore and hurting but the throbbing went away and I didn’t have a black finger nail where the blood should have clotted. I happened to have the oil out because I had a migraine headache and I thought it was from allergies and lavender oil is an anti-histamine.

Essential Oils Aromatherapy (modern) continued… Dr. Jean Valet Treated injured soldiers with essential oils Marguerite Maury (1950’s) Vegetable carrier oil, helped to dilute essential oils First person to “individually prescribed” combinations of oils to help a particular person’s needs Late 1970 and early 1980’s Alternative and holistic health systems Because of the experience, Rene found that small amounts of the oils changes the bodies chemistry. So because of his experiments… Can you think of ways to use essential oils in today’s society?

USES Air fresher Bathing Compresses Foot and Hand baths Hair Care Jacuzzis Massage Saunas Showers I use a particular companies essential oils. Once I was introduced to them, I fell in love with the quality of the product. Yes, I did try others but I could tell the difference. I recommend that you try a few different brands in order to see or find the one you like. My guest will bring samples for you to try smell or even put on. She wears a particular scent called Valor and every time we are around people, they ask her what perfume she is wearing!

USES Sitz Bath Skin Care Steam inhalations Vaporization 6 minute video: Steam Inhalation Using Essential Oils http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgoAsr0d2w Aromatherapy Oasis, 2012 For the following slide, please keep in mind that when advising someone to use essential oils for medicinal purposes, you must advise them to see or tell their medical doctor.

TREATMENT Acne Addictions Bronchitis Cold sores Fever Influenza Pneumonia Varicose veins NO CERTIFICATION OR LICENCE REQUIRED The following are treatments used WITH alternative treatments and the essential oils. There are no clinical trials or results available because it is hard to track and trace from beginning to end. That doesn’t mean for most people that it isn’t effective. There are a whole lot of things listed on www.essentialoils.co.za that can be treated with essential oils but I have listed a few I think are good to know. You may pick one treatment from here or go to the website to find one. Next week, we will start class by sharing what illness, disease, pain or issue you have picked and what essential oils can be used to treat the health issue. This will also be a graded paper. SO make sure it is referenced, double spaced, and typed. One or two pages are fine with a cover sheet.

Assignment Pick a health issue Find the essential oils used in treatment Write a one or two page essay Cover page and reference page Graded Due: Wednesday before class If you have any questions, please email me. We will be covering Reiki on Wednesday at 700. A practice in the second Subgroup, Mind and Body.

REFRENCES: www.medlineplus. (2014). Complementary and Alternative Medicine. Retrieved from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/complementaryandalternativemedicine.html www.nccam.nih.gov. (2014). What is CAM? Retrieved from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/whatiscam www.essentialoils.co.za (2014). The history of essential oils and aromatherapy. Retrieved from http://www.essentialoils.co.za/history-essential-oils.htm www.backcentre.com. (n.d.). Guide to Remedies Rawforbeauty.com. (2013). Image of Lavender Oil. Aromatherapy Oasis. (2012). Steam Inhalation Using Essential Oils. Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZgoAsr0d2w