It has taken me a while to write this blog post, only because I was hopeful I could highlight an increase in my platelet count. But, as far as I can see, there has been no increase. Nevertheless, what I can say is that my quality of life has improved after using essential oils. I know many of you must be thinking, oh here we go (another hippy trying to flog off her oils) – but I am not here to try to sell you something. Nor am I paid to advertise essential oils. I am purely giving my honest feedback in relation to my personal experience.
It all started a few months ago. When a friend of mine suggested I use essential oils to help with my condition. She started using them to help herself with sleep and had, had a great experience. Hence the suggestion. Isn’t it funny how we try products and if they are great we share them or suggest them to others.
After experiencing some unpleasant aftermaths of traditional treatment methods, I thought to myself what the heck; at least essential oils are not like the traditional treatment methods where you pretty much are poising your body in order to suppress your immune system.
That is where my essential oil journey began. After some research, my friend and I had found a few oils where other ITP patients had recommended. Some unfortunately are not available in Australia therefore we had to improvise (eg. Look for other oils with the same purpose). I will be honest I have not really done a deep dive into essential oils. There is so much to learn about them and I honestly feel like I would need a degree in order to really understand each oil and their purpose.
Nonetheless, after some playing around I have found a couple of essential oils that have assisted me with my quality of life, in particular helping me with the fatigue I was experiencing with my ITP condition. As many ITP patients will tell you, one of the hardest experiences with ITP (well apart from having near death experiences, or the traditional treatment methods after effects, or the mental health one faces when their body feels like it is broken ) is the fatigue that comes with this condition. My Doctor use to tell me that the fatigue was in fact related to my ITP and that generally I would experience fatigue because my body was working overtime to generate more platelets to compensate for the fact that my immune system is eliminating my platelets. That made sense to me.
So, what are my go to essential oils;
Eco Essential Oil Dreams Aroma – this essential oil is a mix of Lavender, Lavandin, Geranium and Ylang Ylang Oil. This blend is created to encourage a good night’s sleep.
Eco Essentials Sleep Aroma – This essential oil is a mix of Mandarin, Lavdandin, Frankincense, Lavender, Ylang Ylang and Roman Chamomile. This blend is created to help one relax and unwind.
I blend almost every night with my mini diffuser that sits next to my bed. I just put a few drops of each with some water and keep it running through the night whilst I sleep. Like, I said previous these essentials oils have not shown any effect on my platelet count, however, I have certainly noticed it has helped me with the fatigue I was experiencing.
Before proceeding with your journey with essentials oils, please be sure to do your research. I make note that one of the oils I use includes frankincense, which has emmenagogue, which is an ingredient that has blood-thinning effects. Obviously, when you have a condition where your blood already struggles to clot itself, it is important to try to limit any products (and trust me there are many products) that can have a blood-thinning effects.
Also if you are overwhelmed with doing research on essentials oils. There are qualified people out there that can assist you.
Although I havent had any luck so far with essential oils increasing my platelets. I believe there is something in this and maybe I just havent got the blend right.