How To Use Essential Oils During Pregnancy

Those who have used essential oils before becoming pregnant will probably want to use them during their pregnancy. Some people will want to try them for the first time while expecting. However, it's important to know how to use essential oils safely during pregnancy.

There are many essential oils and blends of oils that just aren't safe to use during pregnancy. Some herbs that are used in cooking should be avoided in their essential oils forms during all nine months of pregnancy. These include basil, bay leaves, sage, thyme, and oregano. Others are clove, marjoram, and wintergreen. Some of the essential oils are safe for use after the first trimester. There are remedies for many of the discomforts of pregnancy. For example, women often have morning sickness that lasts beyond the first trimester. If so, they can breathe in oil of peppermint, spearmint, or lemon.

It is easy to end up feeling tense and full of muscle pain when you are pregnant. If this happens, a massage could be just the thing you need. With the essential oils of lavender and chamomile mixed with vegetable oil, your partner can help ease away that tension.

Commonly, women suffer from swollen ankles and feet during pregnancy. If lavender, cypress, and juniper oils are mixed with vegetable oil, they can used for massage oil. This blend of essential oils can cause the swelling to decrease.

Pregnant women also have muscle cramps in their legs at times. For this, massage oil can be made from the essential oils of lavender and chamomile, just as for any muscle pain. However, with this pain and any pain of the feet and legs, it is important to be careful when doing the massage. Activating pressure points in these areas can induce labor.

Carrying around all that extra weight can make a woman feel quite fatigued. She may have given up coffee and caffeinated soft drinks for the health of her baby. To energize herself, she can mix essential oils of lavender, grapefruit, and orange with vegetable oil. This can be inhaled or rubbed on the solar plexus. Skin eruptions are common during pregnancies. They are uncomfortable and distressing to many women. Several different conditions can be helped by putting a mixture of essential oils and vegetable oil on the affected areas.

The essential oils you should use for dry skin are geranium, lavender, and rose. For inflamed skin, use chamomile. For itchy skin, use a combination of chamomile and lavender. These remedies should soothe the skin and make it smoother. There's just no getting around stretch marks. If you are getting them, though, you might like to have a way to soothe them and keep them from itching. Just put lavender, geranium, and rosewood essential oils in your vegetable oil for massaging.

Do your homework if you are pregnant and wanting to use essential oils to relieve some of the discomforts associated with pregnancy. After the first trimester, there are certain essential oils that are safe to use. If in doubt, consult an expert. It's important to take the safety of you and your baby into account.

Green Tea May Fight Uterine Fibroids

Thursday February 11, 2010

New research shows that an extract of green tea may help treat uterine fibroids, noncancerous growths thought to occur in as many as three out of four women in their lifetime. Although uterine fibroids aren't associated with an increased risk of cancer, they may lead to heavy menstrual bleeding, prolonged menstrual periods, pelvic pain, constipation, and several other symptoms.

The study involved 20 mice, each of which was injected with fibroid cells. Ten of the mice were given plain water, while the other ten were given water mixed with epigallocatechin gallate (or EGCG, a compound found in green tea). By the end of the eight-week study, treatment with EGCG appeared to have dramatically reduced the volume and weight of the fibroid growths.

Rich in antioxidants, green tea has been found to help protect against a number of other women's health problems (including breast cancer) and cervical dysplasia) in previously published studies.

Home » Alternative Medicine News Acupuncture Effective for Patients With Chronic Illnesses

Young patients with chronic illnesses find relief in acupuncture, doctors at Rush University Medical Center believe.

They are offering pediatric patients diagnosed with chronic illnesses acupuncture therapy to help ease the pain and negative side effects like nausea, fatigue, and vomiting caused by chronic health conditions and intensive treatments.

The effort is part of a study to analyze and document how acupuncture might help in reducing pain in children and increase quality of life.

"Treating children with acupuncture is a new frontier," said Dr. Paul Kent, pediatric hematology and oncology expert, Rush Children's Hospital. "We are looking to see if there is an effective pain management therapy we can offer that does not have the serious side effects that can be caused by narcotics and other serious pain medications."

"Acupuncture could be a potential solution to this dilemma of controlling pain in pediatric patients," said Angela Johnson, Chinese medicine practitioner at Rush.

Acupuncture is the use of tiny, hair-thin needles which are gently inserted along various parts of the body. The therapy is based on the premise that patterns of energy flowing through the body are essential for health. This energy, called Qi, flows along certain pathways. It is believed that placing the tiny needles at points along the pathways reduce pain and improve the healing process.

Source-ANI
SRM

Blueberry Juice May Boost Brain Health

Wednesday February 10, 2010

Drinking blueberry juice may help keep your brain sharp as you age, a new study finds. According to the study's authors, this is the first human-based evidence to show that blueberry can enhance memory.

For the study, a group of older adults with early signs of memory decline drank two to two-and-a-half cups of blueberry juice daily for two months. Meanwhile, a control group drank a beverage that did not contain blueberry juice. At the end of the two months, those who'd consumed the blueberry juice showed significant improvement on learning and memory tests. These findings suggest that blueberry juice may help slow up age-related loss of structure or function of nerve cells, according to the report.

Blueberries contain compounds that offer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits, which could contribute to blueberry juice's effects on brain health. In past studies, natural substances such as resveratrol and ginkgo biloba have also been found to shield the brain from aging-related damage.

Commercial Methods Of Making Essential Oils

When you buy essential oils, it is important that you find out how the ones you are purchasing were made. This could have a bearing on their therapeutic values. If you are knowledgeable about essential oils, a part of the information you should have is methods of making them.

Most essential oils are made through some form of distillation. Stills are used for steam distillation. Large amounts of plant material are used to make very small amounts of essential oils. The plant material is put into a chamber of the still. Then, steam is generated in a separate part of the still and is pressurized and put into the plant chamber. The steam has to be hot enough to bring out the essential oils, but not too hot. If it is, the plant material can be burned beyond any practical use.

Droplets of the essential oils released from the plant matter, along with the steam, go next into the condensation chamber of the still. When the steam cools, it turns into water. The essential oils are skimmed off the top. Another way manufacturers make essential oils is through cold pressing. This is done most when fruit peels are the basis of the essential oils. The peels are put through a device with spikes that penetrate the peel.

Then the essential oils are released from the juice of the whole fruit. This is done by means of a centrifuge. The whole process is also called scarification. The final product is essential oils of fruits.

Some essential oils are made through solvent extraction. For example, alcohol may be applied to the plant matter. Oils are released into the alcohol. When the alcohol evaporates, the essential oils are left.

However, sometimes other, less innocuous substances are used as the solvent. The solvent may not completely dissolve and this may corrupt the purity of the essential oils. Some plants won't give up their essential oils without a solvent, but alcohol should always be used in aromatherapy essential oils.

Enfleurage also uses alcohol at the end of the method. First, though, petals of flowers with very little oils are placed on trays of some sort of fat. After the fat absorbs their oils, they are replaced by more petals. The alcohol is used in the end to separate the fat from the essential oils. Carbon dioxide extraction is fast becoming one of the preferred methods of making essential oils in a commercial setting. This method produces essential oils of high quality and purity. It also makes it possible to get essential oils from plants that were hard to extract from before.

Carbon dioxide extraction involves putting carbon dioxide under extremely high pressure in a stainless steel tank with the botanicals. The CO2 turns into a liquid and extracts the essential oils. Then it turns back into gas and leaves no residue.

This method of extraction leads to purer essential oils and higher yields. Other methods are less expensive but still effective. To determine the quality of the product you are buying, it is necessary to know how it was made.

Essential Oils Guide

Essential oils are the buzzword now in the world of health. People are overwhelmed by its benefits and so moving more and more towards this ancient natural therapy with multi-healing capabilities. However, before trying this therapy it is recommended that you go through an authentic essential oils guide for holistic information. Host of such guides are available on the Internet. You need to choose the right guide that provides basic to advance level knowledge on various aspects of essential oils. It is better to get such guides from the website of experienced professionals dealing with essential oils. This ensures that the information is reliable.

Essential oils guides normally contain overview of such oils. When you choose the guide look for some information, which you will need. First and foremost the guide should brief you on what are essential oils and their medicinal values in treating various medical conditions. If you are looking for a starters guide then the guide should inform about how this therapy works in our physiological system. Make sure that the information is elaborate and holistic so that there's no room for doubts. If the guide is of good quality then might well find some effective tips to use essential tips.

Another great information chunk that you would find in essential oils guide is about the dosage. Like all other medicines, the dosage of essential oils vary with the intensity of the symptoms, your age along with your general health conditions. If you are considering this therapy for other people in your family, then you need to be cautious. The best way would be to get an overall health screening done to find out if there are any critical health problems that need urgent medical attention. Also learn about the oils that can be harmful if used in overdose.

As a buyer of such oils, essential oils guide will helpful you in more than one ways. You can learn the basics of how to go about selecting the right oil. The information in the guide can be particularly helpful while you attempt to assess the purity and the quality of the oils before purchasing. Once you are thorough with one such guide, you are empowered and all set to choose, buy and apply the right essential to treat some of your chronic health problems like headache, hair loss etc. Doesn't that sound too positive to fall in love with life again?

Slow Breathing May Help Ease Pain

Tuesday February 9, 2010

Slowing down your breathing may help lessen pain, according to a new report. The study included 27 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a condition marked by widespread pain in the muscles, tendons, ligaments, fatigue, and multiple tender points on the body.

For the study, researchers conducted an experiment in which participants were subjected to moderately painful heat pulses on their palms. The heat pulses were applied while participants were breathing at normal rates, and then when they reduced their breathing rates by 50 percent.

Analyzing the participants' ratings of pain intensity and unpleasantness, researchers found that fibromyalgia patients prone to experiencing positive emotions reported less pain while breathing slowly. Fibromyalgia patients prone to negativity, sadness, and/or depression, however, didn't appear to benefit from slow breathing.

Past research suggests that the connection between pain and emotion may be particularly powerful for people with fibromyalgia.