Friends of ours related some experiences they had with essential oils (often known as aromatherapy), and suggested that these may be of help to Beth.

To be honest I have always been skeptical of aromatherapy, however, one cannot deny that smells and airborne chemicals do play a role in many physical and physiological  effects.  After hearing some accounts of where oils have been helpful, and considering again that this was a natural oil and of no harm to Beth, we decided that it would be worth looking into.  If nothing else it would leave the house smelling better, and it may even have positive effects upon us as well as Beth.

We signed up with a company called Young Living upon recommendation from friends, who appear to have a high quality product.  It is distributed on a network marketing basis - so that when we sign up we nominate who enrolled us and then our friends also get some benefits from our purchases as well.  Both our friends and ourselves have not signed up to use this product as an income generating tool, but we simply want see whether it can be of benefit to Bethany.  If you feel like trying essential oils yourself, after reading below, you can find details on how to join up and get the best prices from Young Living, and if you nominate us as your enroller/sponsor, Beth will get some benefits  from the company with no impact to you.

The key "science" to this therapy (in application for Beth) is that essential oils can cross the blood-brain barrier.  In fact, if you ingest high doses of essential oil, or utilise certain oils, it has been known to CAUSE seizures, so you do need to be careful with which ones you use and obviously how they are used.  But this does point to the fact that essential oils DO have the ability to impact on brain activity.

We were interested by anecdotal evidence that certain oils may be able to reduce seizure activity; an account of a dog that had seizures had some peppermint essential oil put on its back and it then stopped having them  Now we know that it is very unlikely that any essential oil can change the structure of the brain to any degree, but it may be able to provide some relief to the seizure itself.  Of side effect could be calming or anti-viral, anti-bacterial and other qualities of the oil which may also provide a lesser benefit.

Essential oils can be used in cooking, ingested (taken orally in small doses), applied topically to the skin, or difussed into the air and inhaled, and then a bunch of variations in technique and location vary these.  We have purchased an ultrasonic diffuser, and also a vegetable oil blend to dilute the concentrated essential oil with to then apply topically (with massage) to Beth.

The oils that have come to our attention as having specific effects on the brain, and that may assist with seizures are:
            - Peppermint
            - Sandalwood
            - Frankincense
            - Helichrysum
            - Ylang Ylang

Young living has a couple of "blends" which are noted as possibly beneficial as well:
            - Valor - a blend Spruce (Picea mariana), rosewood (Aniba rosaeodra), blue
              tansy (Tanacetum annuum), and frankincense (Boswellia cartero) in a base
             of almond oil.
            - Peace and Calming - a blend of Tangerine (Citrus nobilis), orange (Citrus
             aurantium), ylang ylang (Cananga odorata), patchouli (Pogostemon cablin)
             and blue tansy (Tanacetum annuum).
            - Joy - a blend of Bergamot (Citrus bergamia), ylang ylang (Cananga odorata),
             geranium (Pelargonium graveolens), rosewood (Aniba rosaeodora), lemon
             (Citrus limon), mandarin (Citrus reticulata), jasmine (Jasminum officinale),
             Roman chamomile (Chamaemelum nobile), palmarosa (Cymbopogon
             martinii), and rose (Rosa damascena).

Apparently they should have an effect pretty quickly if they are going to have any effect at all (days/weeks rather than months).  We've only just got started on these but this is the plan for Beth:

- Peppermint has a caution about being used with young children (under 18 months), hence we shall be avoiding topical use. 

Step 1: 

Diffuse 3 drops of peppermint for upto 30 mins twice daily in a well ventilated room.

Step 2:

Dilute two drops of Valor with 8 drops of carrier (vegetable) oil and massage into Beth's feet twice daily.
Note any results after five days; if no change, increase to three times a day, wait a further five days;  if no change, increase the concentration of the oils a little - 4-5 drops of peppermint diffused; 3-4 drops of valor massaged into feet.

 

We will repeat the above varying the essential oil in use with the other ones listed above.  Check back here for the results over the coming months.