Healing Modalities
  

Healing with Essential Oils

Exploring uses for birds
I had a nice surprise and would like to do some investigation. I need
your input. I'm in the process of exploring the use of essential oils
for birds, but as we all know, the aromatic oils are dangerous to bird's
respiratory systems. Candles, air fresheners, carpet cleaners, etc have
all been implicated in bird deaths.

A couple of days ago I came down with a really bad cold. These things
really linger with me, lasting a good three weeks. At the same time, I
ran out of soda and had nothing to drink but tea or water...neither of
which appealed to me.

A friend of mine told me that a couple drops of peppermint essential oil
in a bottle of water would be very refreshing, so I tried it. WOW! Those
tiny couple of drops were way too strong and the essential peppermint
oil burned where it touched my lips. I diluted that bottle of water with
another bottle of water, mixed the two and had two bottles of way too
strongly flavored peppermint water. By the time I was done with my
dilutions, I had six bottles of peppermint water in my fridge that were
mild enough to drink.

Since I had nothing else I wanted to drink and I was very thirsty, I
started drinking peppermint water. Within two days, my cold was gone.
Today you can hear a bit of stuffiness in my voice, but all the
coughing, sneezing, runny nose, sinus headaches, and feeling awful all
over is gone.

Yesterday I received a couple of aromatherapy books that I had ordered
from ecampus bookstores. I had thought that peppermint was for digestive
disorders, but the books say that peppermint is also good as an
expectorant and an antispasmodic (coughing) and for respiratory
ailments.

I'm not going to put two and two together and come up with five. I don't
want to say that the peppermint water shortened the duration of my cold.
It very well could have been a very short-run virus. However, the
thought is in the back of my mind that another cold will encourage the
use of peppermint water...to see what happens.

Has anyone on the list used peppermint water successfully for
respiratory system problems?

For our birds, I would urge caution. As I surely found it necessary to
dilute and dilute for myself, the proper dilution for a bird would
probably be more extreme...or would it? If the taste is palatable to me
would it be safe for a bird at that dilution, taking into consideration
that each of us will consume the amount appropriate to our sizes?

For humans, peppermint oil is also used for inhalation treatments in
steam. Do NOT use it this way for a bird. Any treatment that requires
that a bird inhale vapors should be done under strict and knowledgeable
supervision only. I know that some antibiotics are administered via
nebulizers. This is quite different from aromatic oils.

The difference is that antibiotics affect the bacteria in the lungs
without affecting lung tissue. Aromatic oils affect the lung tissue as
well.

When I think of using essential oils with birds, the applications I
think will work are: diluting appropriate oils to be taken internally
and diluting appropriate oils to be massaged into the feet...absorbed
through the skin. At this point I don't know how dilute the oils must be
nor which ones are toxic to birds.

If anyone has information about which oils are safe and useful to birds
and at what dilutions, please share with the list. or with me. 

Thanks, gloria

Young Living essential oils  is highly respected by the energy worker
community, and they often are used before treatment and for maintenance,
etc.  These oils are extremely pure.  They can even be used for people with
allergies, as you can put one drop on a piece of cotton and put the cotton
in a sealed plastic bag for those very sensitive, and it still works.  I
would think that this would be the way to go for our birds, but someone at
Young's might have another idea.

Most energy healers that I know prefer Young's over Bach.  There are a
couple of other really good essential oil companies out there, but they
require energy testing to select the oils, and many bird owners might find
that too vague or daunting.

Alice

The book I mentioned is a Reference Guide for Essential Oils, compiled by
Pat Leatham and Connie Higley, can be bought through Young's or through
Abundant Health in Kansas: .

According to multiple books on essential oils, they help promote emotional,
physical and spiritual healing; have a bio-electrical frequency that is
several times greater than the frequency of herbs, foods, etc. and quickly
raise the frequency of the body, restoring it to its normal healthy level.
Have been shown to destroy  tested bacteria and viruses; may detoxify the
cells and blood in the body, etc. etc.  They are capable of penetrating
cell walls, and can affect every cell of the body within 20 minutes, and
are then metabolized. (the above information was abstracted from the
reference guide above to save me time).

Some of the books in the bibliography:  Fischer-Rizzi, Suzanne, Complete
Aromatherapy Handbook.   Lawless, Julia, The Encyclopaedia of Essential Oils.  Selby, Anna, Aromatherapy.  Tisserand, Robert, Aromatherapy: to Heal and Tend the Body.  Valnet, Jean, The Practice of Aromatherapy: a Classic Compendium of Plant Medicines and their Healing Properties.  Young, D. Gary, Aromatherapy: The Essential Beginning.

I have two birds, an Eclectus and a cockatiel, both pretty healthy little
critters.  I personally use several oils a day on myself, and neither of my
birds have ever had a reaction to being handled  by me after my personal
application of the oils.   For this reason, I would not hesitate to put a
few drops of a suitable oil on a piece of cotton in their cage if it seemed
called for.  This discussion of  the oils will prompt me to communicate
with the Young association and ask about any testing they have done with
pets.  I do put a drop of Bach remedy rescue in my birds' water before
trips to the vet or if any other upsetting event is going on, so I am
probably erring on the cautious side about using other oils.
Alice