essential oils killing super bugs?

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have any of you had patients claiming that the use of essential oils can kill and protect against "super bugs?" i have no doubt that essential oils can be helpful to health, and i wouldn't even be surprised if they can heal some things. but, the term "super bugs" went way too far for me. maybe they don't exactly know what they mean by the term? my understanding was that we were talking about things like mrsa, klebsiella, etc.

here's an blurb from the company that sells the oils:

when the great flu epidemic of 1918 was in full swing, gauze masks were worn over the face in attempts to keep from inhaling the lethal virus. it didn't work ...

the virus was many times smaller than the openings in the gauze. many volunteers who wore those masks lost their lives, thinking they were safe, in removing the dead from homes and city morgues. they simply inhaled the virus right through their masks.

today, we know that by diffusing a micro-fine, vaporized mist of therapeutic-grade essential oils into an enclosed atmosphere, potentially life-threatening viruses and bacteria are rendered harmless.

with the threat of super bugs growing ever more resistant to vaccines and antibiotics, diffusing essential oils makes more and more sense. it simply is the ultimate home health care defense against life-threatening organisms.

while diffusing essential oils will not stop a person from being infected outside of the home, it does create an infectious free zone of air within the home you can use to protect your loved ones. breathing air diffused with essential oils attacks any virus or bacteria lining the respiratory tract which may have been inhaled outside of the infectious free zone. it also keeps the infection from spreading to other family members.

it may be years before every household routinely diffuses to keep the air purified and free of infectious organisms, but these devises are available today.

sorry no quote, i don't want it popping up on searches. it won't take you long to figure out where it's from. ;)

i pretty much love bleach. there's little else i trust. i sure as heck am not going to launch some eucalyptus into the air and hope for the best.

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How would an oil attach a virus or a bacteria? Why would it be better at doing that than your own immune system?

If you can't find any supporting evidence that doesn't come from a company trying to sell you something ... well ... you know the rest.

Stick with bleach. It's the best stuff ever.

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so all superbugs get killed my any essential oil.........

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA what a bunch of crap!

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Ok, yes, and no. This article is a little far fetched, and yes, it is a sales pitch. That being said, I think that we are not utilizing some of the natural remedies that are available to us as much as we should be. I think we are too quick to jump on the "pill" cure for everything. And there are oils that do treat some conditions without the side effects we get from manufactured medicines. But again, this claim is really stretching it!:rolleyes:

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Specializes in None yet.

There are some practical applications of aroma therapy. When my first daughter had thrush I used tea tree oil and coconut oil and it was gone in three days. I have used Thyme oil in infected cuts and they've healed as quickly as they would with triple antibiotic ointment. When I got a root canal last spring I used Clove oil instead of filling the prescriptions I got for Vicoden. True, not all essential oils that can treat everything but there are some essential oils that can treat some things. I agree that the claims of the article are absured however I don't think that all natural treatments are quackery, after all asprin is a synthetic form of the salicylic acid from birch bark that was used as a treatment tea for head pains.

No I'm not yet a nurse and I'm not afraid of allopathic medicine. I have studied natural modalities of healing and can not come up with enough evidence that they all work to devote my life to alternative medicines so I hope to help people in need of care by becoming a nurse. So please don't flame me.

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Specializes in Professional Development Specialist.

I have seen a holistic nurse heal a stage 4 ulcer with essential oils. It was a last ditch effort that save the patients limb. It was pretty amazing. But that was a one time thing, never duplicated and certainly not a credible scientific study. I'd be willing to try something new if it can't hurt, but not in place of proven science.

I'd still stick with the bleach. If it sounds to good to be true....

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I understand

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Homeopathic remedies can be very useful and work well, I'm sure. Personally I'm not chucking it all and becoming totally organic with teas and oils, but I don't discount it totally, either. However, a lot of the information out there is downright misleading and WRONG, and it smacks of snake oil sales to me. Certain oils 'cure' cancer???? Cure a disease like HIV? Yeahhhhh.....right. I don't buy those kinds of claims at all.

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I didn't go look it up or anything so if I'm off base, just ignore me, but when someone talks about diffusing oils the first thing on my mind are those awful perfume things in stores now with the sticks in the pools of pretty colored oil that reek of something flowery? As a nurse and a migraine sufferer all I can thing when someone says they want to put that in my environment to protect me is "I don't think so. And while I'm at...so wash off the perfume you're wearing too much of and change your smoke-stinking clothes."

These people don't have a sense of smell.

(tiny rant but I HATE smelly things I can't get rid of)

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Specializes in Holistic and Aesthetic Medicine.

Essential Oils exist in the plant, in part, to fight bacteria and fungi. There is extensive in vitro evidence, disc diffusion studies, etc..., that show which EOs are effective against which organisms. Clinical Aromatherapy in Nursing has tables that show how EOs stack up against specific organisms. Comparative studies have also been done with some antibiotics and antifungals (nystatin at least).

Because of their widespread use in perfumery, research has been required by the government on EOs. We know the LD50 for all of them. We know the constituent chemistry. For many of them, we have in vivo studies.

Use of EOs is not homeopathy, the use of dilute amount of a substance to stimulate a response from the body.

There are some very good programs on aromatherapy that are designed for nurses.

http://www.aroma-rn.com/

http://www.rjbuckle.com/

http://www.amazon.com/Clinical-Aromatherapy-Nursing-Jane-Buckle/dp/0340631775

http://www.amazon.com/Aromatherapy-Health-Professionals-Price/dp/0443101345/ref=pd_sim_b_2

http://www.amazon.com/Medical-Aromatherapy-Healing-Essential-Oils/dp/1883319692/ref=pd_sim_b_3

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Because of their widespread use in perfumery, research has been required by the government on EOs. We know the LD50 for all of them. We know the constituent chemistry. For many of them, we have in vivo studies.

You've got me curious sethmctenn. I didn't realize there had been in vivo work done on EO's ... care to share ?

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You've got me curious sethmctenn. I didn't realize there had been in vivo work done on EO's ... care to share ?

I was curious, too. A quick google search results in many articles.

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