Essential Oils - Inhaling

[yerrag]

I've dabbled in a few essential oils for the past year. Until lately, my use of these essential oils has been limited to breathing water mist that's infused with them. When I sleep, I would breathe them in. While it feels good, I have this feeling that I'm not really deriving much benefit from using them, but this is mainly based on my feeling. Yet I always have this feeling that a lot of the essential oil goes to waste. Most of the mist from the diffuser doesn't go directly to me, but is spread around the room. So, maybe why I don't get these benefits, other than the feel good effect, is that the method of delivery is simply ineffective.

Last October, I went on a farm tour in Taiwan for 4 days. I went to a quasi-farm that makes essential oils ( I call it quasi as most of the essential oils they sell are imported from elsewhere). They showed me to use the essential oils by rubbing them with both my palms, and cupping my palm over my nose, and breathing them slowly. I already knew from reading about essential oils that a good, if not the best, way to use essential oils is through breathing them in, as this is a good way of getting these oils into the bloodstream. So, ever since that time, I've started using essential oils this way (with a few exceptions, like oregano, which needs to be diluted in a carrier to dilute them, as they burn the skin and the mucosa when undiluted). But it wasn't until yesterday that I began to think of not doing it half-heartedly, but with a belief that it could be a significant part of my healing process.

I came across an review on supplements and meds that could work on destroying biofilms based on a periodontal bacteria, p. gingivalis, and having learned last year that my hypertension is likely to have its roots in periodontal bacteria in my vascular system, I took a great interest in this article. I am trying out all the meds and supplements I can get my hands on now:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5405727/pdf/zjom-9-1300366.pdf

I've been trying many of them, and my approach has been as methodical as throwing the kitchen sink at them, Not quite really, as I have to research each substance to be sure I know how it helps in terms of its mechanism of action, before I use it. It's too early to tell whether I'm improving, as it's been only about two weeks, and I'm giving it time for the effects to kick in.

Back to the essential oils: Of all the essential oils recommended, I've only managed to find one, which is cilantro essential oil. The rest of the oils are just so hard to find, such as shiitake essential oil. But I've got some other oils already that are anti-microbial just the same, so I'll just make do with them: eucalyptus, tea tree, cassia cinnamon, ylang-ylang, and a blend called Warrior, an immune defense blend (consisting of oregano, frankincense, clove bud, lemon, cinnamon bark, eucalyptus, and rosemary) from HopewellOils.com

Starting today, I'm going to do 2 rounds of inhaling of these oils - one in the morning, and the other before I turn in at night. I'm keeping tabs on my blood pressure, my heart rate, my blood glucose, and my temperature each day, and see how these stats improve. I'll also make note of slight changes in the slight arthritic pains in my hip and my knee, the lushness of my hair, my energy fluctuations during the day, and the quality of my erections.

And as the hard-to-find oils become available, I'll incorporate them into my daily essential oil breathing routine.

It had to take a trip to Taiwan to open my eyes to this way of using essential oils. It makes sense to me, but I wonder why this isn't as popular as the diffuser method. After all, isn't this more bang for the buck? Granted, it's more time consuming as you have to be cupping your palms around your nose and breathing in the essential oils.

Lastly, I read on another thread that there's concern on essential oils (EO) being estrogenic. I'm not going to question that claim; I'm accepting that as a warning to not overdo this, and to be on guard against the side effects. And I have pregnenolone and progesterone on hand to balance things, just in case. At the same time, though, I feel that this is a case of trading one devil for another, and I may just be choosing the lesser devil. An ongoing bacterial infection, low-grade in my case, is stressful. It may be estrogenic already in its effects. So the risk in using EO is balanced by the estrogen-lowering effect of lowering bacterial infection thru its use.

Please share comments and advise in case I have missed something. Thanks.

 

[yerrag]

I didn't mention that I prefer breathing in the essential oils than just applying topically. I have the feeling the essence gets into the blood more effectively through the lungs than through the skin, although when breathing in the oil, I also need to apply it to my palms.

I also didn't like to take the oils orally, as only a fraction of the oil gets to the blood as it get glucoronidated by the liver.

And my use of essential oils isn't directed at the gut, but at the blood vessels.

 

[Jennifer]

Everyone reacts differently but I personally have never found the essential oils or herbs I've used to be estrogenic, and I've used quite a few. I've been getting frequent blood tests for a decade now—as frequent as monthly—and while taking Dr. Morse's herbal formulas and using EOs, not only did my estrogen and prolactin levels not rise (they stayed low per usual), my progesterone levels were the highest they have ever been.

In the past, to help open up my sinuses when I had a cold, I would bag breathe with a bag infused with peppermint oil, but I found the harsher EOs such as oregano and Thieves burned my eyes when inhaled—my doctor used Thieves during cold and flu season and my eyes would water the entire visit—so I mixed them in coconut oil and applied it to the bottoms of my feet. It seemed to work well, but maybe inhaling them is more effective if tolerated.

 

[Christoph]

I inhale essential oils daily using a nebulizer AKA cool mist inhaler. The EOs go straight into the lungs and are readily absorbed. I breath through the nebulizer mask twice daily for 10 minutes each time. The lungs are very adept at absorbing whatever they breath in. Compared with the misters, it’s way more effective.

 

[yerrag]

Everyone reacts differently but I personally have never found the essential oils or herbs I've used to be estrogenic, and I've used quite a few. I've been getting frequent blood tests for a decade now—as frequent as monthly—and while taking Dr. Morse's herbal formulas and using EOs, not only did my estrogen and prolactin levels not rise (they stayed low per usual), my progesterone levels were the highest they have ever been.

In the past, to help open up my sinuses when I had a cold, I would bag breathe with a bag infused with peppermint oil, but I found the harsher EOs such as oregano and Thieves burned my eyes when inhaled—my doctor used Thieves during cold and flu season and my eyes would water the entire visit—so I mixed them in coconut oil and applied it to the bottoms of my feet. It seemed to work well, but maybe inhaling them is more effective if tolerated.

Good to hear from you and to know you have good experiences with EOs Jennifer. Thanks for sharing!

I inhale essential oils daily using a nebulizer AKA cool mist inhaler. The EOs go straight into the lungs and are readily absorbed. I breath through the nebulizer mask twice daily for 10 minutes each time. The lungs are very adept at absorbing whatever they breath in. Compared with the misters, it’s way more effective.

I haven't thought about using nebulizers for this. In fact, they didn't know they could be used this way. I had a negative view of them after getting used to seeing my mom (who's already passed) being given salbutamol continuously by her doctor, even when she has no COPD nor asthma. The salbutamol is serotogenic.

I should try this, and perhaps even use carbogen with it. This way, it could improve the delivery of the essence along with the increased oxygenation.

I wonder if this could also be a way to immunize from viruses, as long as we have antiviral concoctions available.

 

[Christoph]

Good to hear from you and to know you have good experiences with EOs Jennifer. Thanks for sharing!



I haven't thought about using nebulizers for this. In fact, they didn't know they could be used this way. I had a negative view of them after getting used to seeing my mom (who's already passed) being given salbutamol continuously by her doctor, even when she has no COPD nor asthma. The salbutamol is serotogenic.

I should try this, and perhaps even use carbogen with it. This way, it could improve the delivery of the essence along with the increased oxygenation.

I wonder if this could also be a way to immunize from viruses, as long as we have antiviral concoctions available.

I've had lots of success with the cool nebulizer. I use the face mask because I was mainly focused on my sinuses. There is also a mouth piece which provides more direct access to the lungs. I previously had, I guess, mild COPD/asthma. Never thought I had breathing issues until I did a pulmonary cleaning with the nebulizer. Right now, I'm kind of in a rut using peppermint EO. It clears up my lungs and warms up my hands and feet, but I'm looking to branch out into other ingredients. If you have any recommendations, please let us know.

(By the way, I've never smoked. My avatar is just a lark.)

 

[Inaut]

Interested I am in this. What oils would you nebulize? I think orange oil/lemon oil would be one of the safer oils to do....Thoughts

 

[Christoph]

Interested I am in this. What oils would you nebulize? I think orange oil/lemon oil would be one of the safer oils to do....Thoughts

I agree that lemon and sweet orange EOs are very safe. You can also put lavender in the same category.

My anecdotal observations are as follows: (1) Eucalyptus EO clears up the sinuses and lungs but cools me down, saving it for summer. (2) Peppermint EO is more effective than eucalyptus EO and warms up my hands and feet and is good before bed. (3) Clove bud EO, thyme EO, and cinnamon EO are potent, effective and more toxic than the others. I'm experimenting and collecting data. I'm going to try out some of the more exotic EOs that @yerrag mentioned (if I can find them).

 

[Inaut]

I’d like to try out clove oil nebulized but as you said, it can be toxic so I’ll try 1 drop every couple of days.

Did lemon oil this afternoon. About 6 drops in 7ml of distilled water. Cool as a cucumber

 

[Inaut]

Since we are on the discussion of nebulizing EOs, I think this would serve some function when treating respiratory viruses aka corona virus should it ever come to be a real deal. I’m a denier for now...

 

[RealNeat]

Since we are on the discussion of nebulizing EOs, I think this would serve some function when treating respiratory viruses aka corona virus should it ever come to be a real deal. I’m a denier for now...

I was thinking this same thing. I was on the boat of nebulizing colloidal silver as it bypasses the stomach acid hence not becoming silver chloride and remaining more active but this article (and some of Rays *unverified* comments with Lita Lee, besides in Particles in Context) made me cautious about that idea.

Inhalation of Silver Nanomaterials—Seeing the Risks

Granted I haven't realistically understood the doses that were used in these conclusions.

Regardless, essential oils seem more biologically compatible and using scents that were used by people of the past like frankincense seems safe/plausible. I view it kind of like PUFA, the easier it is for a plant to emit its volatile compounds/ oils the more safe it COULD be to inhale/eat. For example take an orange or lemon, all you need to do it give it a firm squeeze and your hand smells for hours and an oily residue appears. Same cannot be said for certain other essential oils, like cinnamon bark, or in the case of PUFA all the soy, corn and safflower.

 

[RealNeat]

These seem like a good precautionary measure for compromised mucus membranes on public transportation. Olbas Inhaler | Olbas Herbal Remedies

 

[yerrag]

I've had lots of success with the cool nebulizer. I use the face mask because I was mainly focused on my sinuses. There is also a mouth piece which provides more direct access to the lungs. I previously had, I guess, mild COPD/asthma. Never thought I had breathing issues until I did a pulmonary cleaning with the nebulizer. Right now, I'm kind of in a rut using peppermint EO. It clears up my lungs and warms up my hands and feet, but I'm looking to branch out into other ingredients. If you have any recommendations, please let us know.

(By the way, I've never smoked. My avatar is just a lark.)

This may be worth a try: Hopewell Essential Oil - Breathe Easy Gentle Essential Oil Blend for Sinus and Respiratory Support.

I'm going to try out some of the more exotic EOs that @yerrag mentioned (if I can find them)

If you do find them, let me know. Are you referring to the oils that are mentioned in the link I shared? I have the impression those oils are strongly anti-fungal, given they come from grasses that grow in high humidity or wet areas, and should be able to withstand the moldy environment. Since they are so difficult to source out, I'm now just going to look for more common essential oils that may be a stand-in for their anti-fungal properties.

 

[Christoph]

I’d like to try out clove oil nebulized but as you said, it can be toxic so I’ll try 1 drop every couple of days.

Did lemon oil this afternoon. About 6 drops in 7ml of distilled water. Cool as a cucumber

IMO, the toxicity is where the therapeutic effect comes from. Take as much as you can while treating conditions and then either reduce or stop when you go too far. The key is to experiment enough to know your limits. The entire point of EOs is to concentrate the defensive biochemicals created these plants. They are better antimicrobials than any antibiotic or anti fungal from big pharmaceutical. My experience with big pharmaceutical anti fungals is that they are ineffective.

 

[RealNeat]

Personally I have gotten good results fro these oils formulated by a ND MD I used to work for, Dr. Adiel Tel Oren. They are called Bioactive Plant Fractions, kind of the like the standardized versions of supplements but in the EO world.

"Because they contain special blends of the pure active molecules that give essential oils their beneficial characteristics, Bioactive Plant Fraction™ products are far more potent and therapeutically reliable than whole essential oils - a small amount goes a long way, as intended by Nature and proven by science! Unlike essential oils, they do not inundate the lungs with potentially-rancid, oily matter. As singular molecular entities, these active plant components are undiluted by essential oils and unrepressed by the many inhibitors contained within essential oil extracts. Such inhibitors enable the plant to suppress its innate active components until they are really needed - during an injurious event, when microbial overgrowth becomes a threat. It is desirable to avoid these inhibitors in therapeutic formulations as they reduce the effectiveness and benefits of the active compounds. Additionally, essential oils vary in activity, purity, and content from batch to batch and from one manufacturer to another, resulting in therapeutic unpredictability - whereas bioactive plant molecules are single chemical entities with consistent identity and performance." - Dr. T

Products

Dynamic Essentials AS-NEEDED BPF® H-EASE

http://www.ecopolitan.com/The-Pathogenicity-of-Resistant-Bacterial-Colonies-Viruses-and-Molds

 

[yerrag]

I've had lots of success with the cool nebulizer. I use the face mask because I was mainly focused on my sinuses. There is also a mouth piece which provides more direct access to the lungs.

I've been looking at some essential oil nebulizers but I can't find one with a mask. Could you show me what it is you're using? Thanks.

Personally I have gotten good results fro these oils formulated by a ND MD I used to work for, Dr. Adiel Tel Oren. They are called Bioactive Plant Fractions, kind of the like the standardized versions of supplements but in the EO world.

"Because they contain special blends of the pure active molecules that give essential oils their beneficial characteristics, Bioactive Plant Fraction™ products are far more potent and therapeutically reliable than whole essential oils - a small amount goes a long way, as intended by Nature and proven by science! Unlike essential oils, they do not inundate the lungs with potentially-rancid, oily matter. As singular molecular entities, these active plant components are undiluted by essential oils and unrepressed by the many inhibitors contained within essential oil extracts. Such inhibitors enable the plant to suppress its innate active components until they are really needed - during an injurious event, when microbial overgrowth becomes a threat. It is desirable to avoid these inhibitors in therapeutic formulations as they reduce the effectiveness and benefits of the active compounds. Additionally, essential oils vary in activity, purity, and content from batch to batch and from one manufacturer to another, resulting in therapeutic unpredictability - whereas bioactive plant molecules are single chemical entities with consistent identity and performance." - Dr. T

Products

Dynamic Essentials AS-NEEDED BPF® H-EASE

http://www.ecopolitan.com/The-Pathogenicity-of-Resistant-Bacterial-Colonies-Viruses-and-Molds

Interesting. I'd like to order the de-sress blend but there's no way to order on the site. Maybe I should email or call.

 

[Christoph]

I've been looking at some essential oil nebulizers but I can't find one with a mask. Could you show me what it is you're using? Thanks.


Interesting. I'd like to order the de-sress blend but there's no way to order on the site. Maybe I should email or call.

I bought it on Amazon US: Personal Cool Mist Steam Inhaler... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074R6B943?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I put in 15ml of distilled water with a few drops of the oil for a session. If your primary concern is your lungs, don’t use the face mask, use the mouth piece.

 

[yerrag]

I bought it on Amazon US: Personal Cool Mist Steam Inhaler... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074R6B943?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I put in 15ml of distilled water with a few drops of the oil for a session. If your primary concern is your lungs, don’t use the face mask, use the mouth piece.

I bought it on Amazon US: Personal Cool Mist Steam Inhaler... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B074R6B943?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

I put in 15ml of distilled water with a few drops of the oil for a session. If your primary concern is your lungs, don’t use the face mask, use the mouth piece.

It says page can't be found. I typed in Personal Cool Mist Steam Inhaler, but a lot of products came out. Could you please resend? Thanks.

 

[yerrag]

@Christoph will this be suitable:

Fantasy Amuse E Life - FANTASY ORIGINAL Latest Models Mini Compact Portable Ultrasonic Coughing Phlegm Mesh Nebulizer Machine for Kids & Adult Handheld nebulizer used at home on business or travel(NOT rechargeable)(Battery not included) | Lazada PH

 

[SQu]

I'm very interested in EOs, currently for endotoxin (therefore digestion) . I'm concerned about the estrogen issue and it would be good to put our heads together to get clarity on a safe list, but going by symptoms, my experiences with oregano and orange oil suggest they're not affecting me that way. Orange totally sorted sinus by the way, and I had a great sense of well being. I'm ordering organic next time. I'll take orally because of the gut benefits but may try nebulizing too.

Re lavender, I think it was on One Radio Network 20/1/2020, Peat said it is endocrine disrupting even in small quantities and can cause hermaphroditism. Shocking for an oil often described as very safe. I used it for years and did not know this so maybe even while pregnant. I also love peppermint for cooling effects in lip balm and skin sprays but pretty sure they're known to be estrogenic.