Instalaciones nucleares y radiactivas del ciclo del

These describe the physiological functions and indications of the oil when used with a form of administration that is able to deliver the oil in liquid form to the body’s internal environment. The preparation forms suggested to engage physiological absorption of an essential oil – diffusion by nebulizer, gel cap, suppository, pessary and liniment – are not exclusive. High dilutions given in a whole-body massage, for instance, are likely to cause a certain amount of internal absorption – in addition to the well-known psychological effect produced through inhalation. This furtive absorption can occur especially in those body areas away from the large muscles where the tissues are thin and the circulation lies close to the surface, such as the cubital and popliteal creases.

T h e E s s e n t i a l O i l P r o f i l e

1 1 5

This physiological information presented is the combined experience of French practitioners from the 1950s onward, and increasingly in Europe and the US, through to the present day. It is to some extent influenced and modified by the author’s own experiene as a medical herbalist, as well as by parallel essential oil research worldwide that continues on an ongoing basis.

From the therapeutic perspective, it is important to know the tropism and fundamental clinical indication for each oil before exploring the details of its many actions and indications. Once we understand its broad clinical themes, its many details become clearer and more accessible.

Tropism

Like any plant remedy, an essential oil possesses a tropism or specific affinity for certain body tissues, organs and even general body areas. This holds true regardless of the particular administration form used. There is speculation that essential oils contain guiding molecules in their chemical composition that act as keys to locks in particular tissues. The main body systems affected by the oil are listed here.

Essential functional and diagnostic indication

This summarizes the oil’s essential indication in terms of the diagnostics and therapeutics of functional medicine. The template system used here is the Six Conditions of pathology and diagnosis. This particular model of functional diagnosis integrates and updates the diagnostic paradigms used in traditional Greek, Chinese and Ayurvedic medicine. This topic is discussed in detail in Volume 2.

The oil’s physiological functions and indications themselves are listed from the most systemic and general to the most local and specific. In general therefore, larger, systemic functions involving endocrine balance, CNS functions and arterial circulation are listed first. They tend to be the clinically more important functions as well, because their systemic effect usually underpins all others and truly characterizes that oil. Occasionally a more local action on a body system will be listed first if it happens to be of greater clinical importance.

In many cases, an oil’s many functions and uses will usefully break down into two or three major ‘theme’ functions. Clary sage, for instance, is best understood as having both restorative and relaxant functions in general. Most of Clary sage’s many clinical actions can be seen to belong to either a restorative or a relaxant category. Organizing the many actions of an oil around its dominant theme function will clarify both its essential therapeutic nature and the nature of its minor or lesser-known actions. From a practical perspective, the approach of going from the general to the particular of an oil will also make its clinical usage clearer and easier to remember.

Antimicrobial actions

For ease of reference and because a few essential oils excel at treating various kinds of infection, a separate antimicrobial (anti-infective) section is presented for most oils. It should be noted that the information on an oil’s various antipathogenic actions is entirely based on research, i.e. it is evidence-based. Its indications, however, are for the most part based on accumulated clinical experience. This is the exact point where scientific reasearch meets clinical practice. The development of the aromatogram, or disc diffusion test, pioneered by Dr. Maurice Girault in 1969, has been instrumental in charting the antimicrobial properties of essential oils using actual patient fluid samples (including sputum, saliva, urine, blood and vaginal discharge).

Palmarosa oil, for example, is a strong antifungal, antibacterial and antiviral, and therefore can be useful for an exceptionally wide range of infections. Note, however, that most antimicrobial oils will reduce a particular infection not by inhibiting microbes on contact alone; they also cause some organ or tissue stimulation that mechanically helps remove pathogens and their toxins from the body. Their anti-infective function therefore usually consists of a twofold action:

1. Direct inhibition of microbial function and proliferation on contact

2. Assistance of the host’s tissue terrain in coping with non-commensal microbes and their toxic by-products

In addition, research has shown that many essential oils exert a direct stimulant action on immune functions (e.g. Tea tree, Thyme ct. linalool and ct. thymol, Saro and Ravintsara).

The antimicrobial action can largely be determined in vitro through lab research, where the aromatogram is the most commonly used method. The action on the tissue terrain or ground, however, can only be ascertained in physiological terms by repeated trial and observation of treatment results in the clinic.

A good example of this twin antimicrobial and tissue terrain action at work is Spearmint oil. While it is a moderate bacterial inhibitor when compared to Palmarosa, Niaouli or Tea tree, it nevertheless effectively treats respiratory and urinary infections because of its excellent expectorant and diuretic actions.

It is for this reason that infectious conditions are often listed in both the main section and the specific antimicrobial section, as they can respond to both types of actions.

Despite their superficial drug-like action with respect to pathogens, we should never fall into the trap of viewing essential oils as simple drug substitutes. Essential oils are specialized botanical extracts after all and, like all botanical remedies, are complex and usually work in complex comprehensive ways to successfully treat infectious conditions. This is often seen in the chemical composition of an oil, where several types of constituents will often work in synergy to achieve a particular antimicrobial effect. In Tea tree oil, for instance, the dominant antimicrobial monoterpene alcohols

T h e E s s e n t i a l O i l P r o f i l e

1 1 7

(notably terpinen-4-ol) are backed up by monoterpenes and 1,8 cineole, both of which have shown to promote the access and penetration of monoterpenols to the cell membranes at the site of infection (Harris 2008).

Equally important, essential oils on the whole work in cooperation with the individual’s vital functions and energy, whereas synthetic drugs work by overriding them. This is another enormous difference between them. Experientially this accounts for the relatively few side effects resulting from the appropriate clinical use of essential oils as compared to the use of synthetic medications. Looking at the action of strong antibacterial oils on the gut in comparison to antibiotics, for instance, it is known that oils do minimal damage to the commensal gut microflora, which is not the case with antibiotics. Cinnamon oil, for instance, is currently thought to selectively inhibit gut pathogens only (whether from dysbiosis or infection), while high-phenol oils, e.g. Clove, Oregano, Thyme ct. thymol, are considered to negatively impact the eubiotic microflora (Harris 2008). Again, the action of anti-inflammatory oils such as German camomile, Blue tansy and Frankincense, is completely free of any adverse effects, in contrast to NSAIDS in common use.

In short, the Antimicrobial section is simply provided as a convenience to quickly reference infectious conditions, with no further implications of any kind intended.

The physiological and pharmacological aspects of using essential oils in general are discussed separately in Volume 2.