Aromatherapy and Fibromyalgia

My work with fibromyal­gia began more than 4 years ago at a request from the local Fibromyal­gia Group of the Rheumatic Asso­ci­a­tion. Ini­tially, the aim was to find some way to ease the pain and to help with the sleep­ing prob­lems expe­ri­enced by those who suf­fer from FM. The first stage in pro­gramme was to cre­ate a self-help blend of essen­tial oils. For this, case his­to­ries were taken from 20 FM suf­fer­ers. Infor­ma­tion on their past and cur­rent state of health and med­ica­tions was col­lected and then a blend of essen­tial and base oils was for­mu­lated the (sub­se­quently called Fibromix) and the group then tested its efficacy.

Half the group served as con­trols and the other half used the blend. Next, the con­trol group used the blend and the orig­i­nal test group served as the con­trol. Two of the sub­jects did not com­plete their part of the test, but suf­fi­cient pos­i­tive infor­ma­tion was gained to encour­age mak­ing another shorter, sim­pler trial. In this sec­ond trial, seven FM suf­fer­ers took part in a 3-week test. Each of them recorded on a numer­i­cal scale their level of pain for one week with­out using the blend and then con­tin­ued the same style of record­ing whilst using the oil blend for 2 weeks. The result showed low­ered pain expe­ri­ence in all but one of the test subjects.

Fol­low­ing this suc­cess, aro­mather­a­pists here in Fin­land began to treat FM suf­fer­ers with aro­mather­apy mas­sage. This arti­cle reports on these treat­ments (case stud­ies) and shows effi­cacy of aro­mather­apy as a pos­si­ble treat­ment for FM.

The treat­ment offered by allo­pathic med­i­cine to those with FM aims to improve the qual­ity of life by reduc­ing pain and improv­ing sleep. Com­bin­ing the avail­able infor­ma­tion on FM and its treat­ments with my knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence of essen­tial oils, the aim was to give the same relief as allo­pathic med­i­cine offers by using essen­tial oils and aro­mather­apy massage. The results of the treat­ments were very positive.

Essential oils that help with fibromyalgia pain are lavender, peppermint, sandalwood, ginger, nutmeg and eucalyptus.

Kathleen Flanagan, CEO and Founder of Awakening Spirit, Aromatherapist, Sound Therapist, Esthetician and Author.