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Aromatherapy and Essential Oils (PDQ®)
Patient Version
Health Professional Version
Last Modified:
05/23/2008
Overview
Questions and Answers About Aromatherapy
Changes to This Summary (05/23/2008)
General CAM Information
Evaluation of CAM Approaches
Questions to Ask Your Health Care Provider About CAM
To Learn More About CAM
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Overview
Aromatherapy
is the use of
essential oils
from plants to support and balance the mind, body, and spirit (see
Question 1
).
Patients with
cancer
use aromatherapy mainly to improve their
quality of life
(see
Question 1
).
Essential oils like
Roman chamomile
,
geranium
,
lavender
, and
cedarwood
are the basic materials of aromatherapy (see
Question 1
).
Interest in aromatherapy grew in the late 20th century as a form of
complementary medicine
(see
Question 2
).
Aromatherapy may work by sending chemical messages to the part of the brain that affects moods and emotions (see
Question 3
).
Essential oils are most often used by
inhaling
them or by applying them to the skin (see
Question 4
).
Laboratory studies
and
animal studies
have shown that certain essential oils have
antibacterial
, calming, or energizing effects (see
Question 5
).
Aromatherapy research with cancer patients has studied its effects on
symptoms
,
anxiety
, and stress (see
Question 6
).
Safety testing on essential oils has found very few bad
side effects
.
Lavender
and
tea tree
oils have been found to have some
hormone
-like effects. (See
Question 7
.)
Aromatherapy products do not need approval by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
because no specific medical claims are made (see
Question 8
).
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