Clusterheadaches.com Message Board


    
      
        Clusterheadaches.com Message Board
        (http://www.clusterheadaches.com/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi)
      

        New Message Board Archives >> Medications, Treatments, Therapies 2004 >> Aroma Therapy
        
(Message started by: fivesubs on Dec 14^th, 2003, 7:58pm)

Title: Aroma Therapy
Post by fivesubs on Dec 14^th, 2003, 7:58pm

My name is Ron, and I have been suffering steadily from CH's for the past 10 years. I had my first cluster in 1981. Since then they have been hiding, that is until I had a bout with chronic sinusitis in 1994. I have been on all the medicines of the time and ended up with Imitrex injections, the drug of choice! One rainy March day I went to a home show here in CT and was given teh experience of aroma therapy from a company out of California. This woman claimed that if I sat calmly and inhaled the essence of Rosemary my headaches would dissipate as quickly as they arrived. So for $16.00 I decided to give it a try. I am here to tell you that I have NOT had to give myself a shot of Imiterx in the past 8 months! Since March I have had aopproximately 50 clusters using on the Rosemary to abort them. The treatment takes approximately 15 minutes to start taking affect but it works. My Neurologists is absolutely astonished that it really works. He was the one who suggested that I try to find another treatment. He is not at all supportive of the drug manufactures charging such outlandisgh prices for the meds that we absolutely can not live without. My question for you is have you considered it?

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by floridian on Dec 14^th, 2003, 10:09pm

Hmmm, rosemary seems to have some notable antioxidant, anti-inflammitory and analgesic effects. It also stimulates nerve growth (not likely to play a role in aborting a CH). Interesting. When you say the essence, is this the pure essential oil? I think that some of the aromatherapy compounds are 100% essential oils, while others are very diluted (1/100,000 essential oil), which is less likely to have any effect.

Quote:

Indian J Exp Biol. 1999 Feb;37(2):124-30. Related Articles, Links

Pharmacology of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Linn.) and its therapeutic potentials.

al-Sereiti MR, Abu-Amer KM, Sen P.

Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Fateh University of Medical Sciences, Tripoli, Libya.

The use of plants is as old as the mankind. Natural products are cheap and claimed to be safe. They are also suitable raw material for production of new synthetic agents. Rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis Linn.) is a common household plant grown in many parts of the world. It is used for flavouring food, a beverage drink, as well as in cosmetics; in folk.medicine it is used as an antispasmodic in renal colic and dysmenorrhoea, in relieving respiratory disorders and to stimulate growth of hair. Extract of rosemary relaxes smooth muscles of trachea and intestine, and has choleretic, hepatoprotective and antitumerogenic activity. The most important constituents of rosemary are caffeic acid and its derivatives such as rosmarinic acid. These compounds have antioxidant effect. The phenolic compound, rosmarinic acid, obtains one of its phenolic rings from phenylalanine via caffeic acid and the other from tyrosine via dihydroxyphenyl-lactic acid. Relatively large-scale production of rosmarinic acid can be obtained from the cell culture of Coleus blumei Benth when supplied exogenously with phenylalanine and tyrosine. Rosmarinic acid is well absorbed from gastrointestinal tract and from the skin. It increases the production of prostaglandin E2 and reduces the production of leukotriene B4 in human polymorphonuclear leucocytes, and inhibits the complement system. It is concluded that rosemary and its constituents especially caffeic acid derivatives such as rosmarinic acid have a therapeutic potential in treatment or prevention of bronchial asthma, spasmogenic disorders, peptic ulcer, inflammatory diseases, hepatotoxicity, atherosclerosis, ischaemic heart disease, cataract, cancer and poor sperm motility.

Quote:

Biol Pharm Bull. 2003 Nov;26(11):1620-2. Related Articles, Links

Carnosic acid, a component of rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.), promotes synthesis of nerve growth factor in T98G human glioblastoma cells.

Kosaka K, Yokoi T.

Beauty Care Products Division, Health Care Business Group, Nagase & Co., Ltd., Nihonbashi-Kobunacho, Tokyo, Japan. kunio.kosaka@nagase.co.jp

Nerve growth factor (NGF) is a factor vital for the growth and functional maintenance of nerve tissue. The authors found that a rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis L.) extract enhanced the production of NGF in T98G human glioblastoma cells. Furthermore, the results indicated that carnosic acid and carnosol, which are major components of the rosemary extract, were able to promote markedly enhanced synthesis of NGF.

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by notseinfeld on Dec 14^th, 2003, 10:50pm

Good Homework Floridian.

Heya Ron, how bouts lettin us know 'exactly' how to reproduce your magical mixture?

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by forgetfulnot on Dec 14^th, 2003, 11:18pm

Hey Subs, you wouldn't happen to have any of this magical herb oil for sale would ya? 1 cluster bout in 1981, been hiding since then, thats called an ice-cream headache. Snort all the herbs you want, doubt you will find any buyers on this planet. 2 posts, hidden email, geese will the creeps never stop.

Lee

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by BlueMeanie on Dec 15^th, 2003, 2:58am

I tried Aromas years ago. Ended up triggering my clusters not helping them. Glad it works for you, but I can't even take one sniff of some of those aromas. It's as bad as drinking a beer for me.

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by ave on Dec 15^th, 2003, 4:37am

Agree, Blue Meanie... Strong scents, essential oils, musk (so most perfumes) could set me of before I discovered shrooms.

They still take my breath away. There is a shop on a mall that sells aromatherapy stuff. They always have their doors open. If I have to pass them it is half choking
and most of the time they give me an (ordinary) headache.

But of course that would have been the wrong aromatherapy, yes?

(Btw, my email is hidden too, and if I came here as a newbie, knowing what I now know, I would keep it hidden too!
I had 2000 spams on december 5th! Nearly all about medication and all in English. This is the only english language board I am on. The connection is easy to make. I have just changed my electronic addy...

So I won't take a hidden email-addy as a proof of the snake-oil seller.)

As a text critic, however, I'd say this post comes precariously close to the worthless ads in so called health magazines.

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by BlueMeanie on Dec 15^th, 2003, 10:27am

I found out after the first few days here about the e-mail scam. That's why no-one post e-mails. I had 50 scams the first week.

Everyone wants to sell something !!!

I can't believe there are that many magic cures, but yet we still have Clusterheadaches.com. Seems like we wouldn't need this site huh.

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by fivesubs on Dec 18^th, 2003, 6:55pm

I did not place a post on this website to try to sell anything. I only intended to share my experience with what seems to work for me. If attacking everything that is posted as being another "snake oil" then I'm sorry I logged on. Did I mis-understand the intent of the website? I thought it was a place where those of us who do suffer from these demon headaches can find support and share experiences with fellow sufferes.

Don't look for any more postings from and I'm sorry to have wasted anyone time

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by violet on Dec 30^th, 2003, 12:22am

Most aromas or fragrances are huge triggers for me, even all natural, pure oils. Instant pain.
Vi

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by t_h_b on Dec 30^th, 2003, 7:12am

A lot of scents are triggers for me: some kinds of incense, most perfumes or colognes, burning food, maybe even mown grass. Most of the scents that are triggers for me bothered me even before I had CH.

Lavender and peppermint oil seem to have a slight relaxing effect on me. I have used them during CH to help me relax a little.

The body absorbs molecules through the mucous membranes in the nose--for example, intranasal Imitrex. If something has a strong odor, you're absorbing molecules. I'm not a big believer in "alternative" or "complementary" therapies, but aroma therapy has a physical/scientific basis.

On the other hand, I don't think you really absorb huge quantities of molecules from the air because there aren't many in the air to begin with. Anything absorbed this way has to be very potent to have an effect.

This is all my opinion/belief.

Title: Re: Aroma Therapy
Post by jmorgan52 on Jan 4^th, 2004, 3:47am

Welcome to the board 5subs.

stick around and and ignore the flaming. We have all had plenty of it. Hope the rosemary keeps working, but please answer the question Floridian asked about details of exactly what you are using and then let everyone make their own informed decisions.

Keep posting
John