A word of caution: the information given here is not intended as medical advice. We do not advise you to follow any of these "treatments" yourself. We advise you to obtain a full medical diagnosis and discuss your treatment plan with your doctor. If you choose to use aromatherapy as part of your treatment, please seek out the help of a trained aromatherapist first.

Case Study - Eczema

By: John Day

Rodney came to me with a tight neck and shoulders, and a "twisted" pelvis "because of his short leg". The words in inverted commas were those of a chiropractor.

Therapeutic massage corrected the misaligned pelvis, and showed that his left leg was shorter because the pelvis was twisted, not the other way around. He also had a problem with his right shoulder, which didn't respond as well to the massage, and needed further treatment. As he is a friend, and a pensioner with little funds to throw around, I gave him a small bottle of the massage oil I had used, and told him to rub that into the shoulder a couple of times a week.

But that's got nothing to do with the real story. Rodney had awful hands. Eczema had made a dreadful mess of them, and he mentioned that the doctors had given him cortisone ointments and other drugs from time to time with almost no effect whatever (except the whole gamut of side effects of these things), and he was at his wits' end as to what to do. I told him that this was beyond my training, but that the oil I had given him might soothe the itching a bit, and he went home clutching the bottle.

I didn't hear from Rodney for close to six months, but then he turned up and asked me for another bottle of oil - not for his shoulder, that was OK, but for his hands. It seems that he had been diligently oiling his hands with my massage oil, and they had been getting better! He claimed that the oil had a better healing effect on his hands than any of the drugs or ointments he had previously been taking. It hadn't eradicated the eczema, but I saw that there was nowhere near the amount of cracking and peeling I had witnessed before, and he was adamant that his hands were far more flexible since using it.

I gave him a new bottle of that mix, and he tripped off into the sunset clutching it!

Details:- male, 45yrs, asthmatic treatment, but no other drugs. Whole foods eater, omnivorous, but very low quantity of red meat. Grows much of his own food and herbs.

Oil:- base of cold-pressed organically grown sunflower oil - 100ml

Essential oils:- Lavandula angustifolia 40 drops

Rosemarinus officinalis 20 drops

Juniperus communis 20 drops

You work it out- (-:

John Day lives in Macclesfield, South Australia. He has a multitude of interests and activities - he practices aromatherapy and massage therapy, and is a staff writer for Warm Earth magazine. You can read more about John's life and beautiful location at: The Farmacy (sorry, link broken).

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