How would you treat a new client using aromatherapy and massage?

Question

The client uses oils at home but they tend to be irritating to her skin. She may also be pregnant.

Answer 1

Never, EVER use any essential oils (EO) on pregnant women, not even the so-called "safe" ones like lavender etc. and warn your client against their use at home and until the child is 6 or 7 years old.

Sorry, but that's the way it is.

The long-term effects of EO's has not yet been fully researched. EO's  are extremely powerful and act on the hormone system and the nerve system. Some are clearly neurotoxic and abortive, but even the "safe" ones can have long-term adverse effects on the baby.

What is difficult to understand for most people is that when a person develops MS or another neurological disease at the age of 20 or 30, no one thinks of asking if the mother used EO's during the pregnancy or around the baby/child. No one would ever think of linking the two - and yet ... new research is pointing that way, therefore we must exercise all caution until we are sure.

Keep off EO around children (not even burned in a room in the same house) until the age of 6 or 7 when the hormone and nerve systems are better developed and can no longer be damaged.

EO's are very powerful. Cats are very sensitive to them and can die of exposure to some EO's.

EO's in the same room as homeopathic remedies contaminate them and destroy their effect. They are so volatile that they penetrate inside the tube of homeopathics and you might as well throw away the contaminated remedies as they become unsafe.

It's good that this particular client developed a skin irritation to EO's. She may well be saving her baby from neurological damage before it's even born.

You will become one of the best-liked and most successful aromatherapists if you warn pregnant women and women with babies and young children and are able to explain the dangers to them.

Wishing you and your clients all the best!

Answer 2

lisa's right. The first thing they teach any student of alternative medicine is never touch a pregnant woman, 'just in case'. I'd say the safest one is lemon, but everyone reacts differently.  I'd use just the base oil for massage. too risky, especially in the first trimester