The chances are that at some time in your life, you’ll have had a medicine that contained eucalyptus oil in it. Most of the time, it’s very obvious that it’s in the medicine or treatment that you’re taking.
The taste and smell are quite distinctive – but have you ever wondered what it was about the humble Australian gum tree that makes it such a medical necessity? Eucalyptus oils can either be rubbed onto any part of the body that might need it or taken internally – usually as an ingredient in a pill or inhaled through vapor form or by putting a few drops of oil on a cloth for inhalation.
The way you use it all depends on the particular problems you’re having. For example, eucalyptus oil can help with migraine, fevers, and malaria. It can help with asthma, throat infections, coughs, catarrhal and sinusitis conditions.
It also helps soothe inflammation, eases mucus, and clears the head of stuffiness, colds and hay fever. Externally, it can be used for blisters, burns, cuts, wounds, herpes, insect bites and skin infections. It can help your immune system and has helped in cases of chicken pox, measles, flu and colds.
So, why are eucalyptus oils so potent when it comes to healing? When used medicinally, the oils have a minimum of 70% of the active therapeutic agent cineole. Originally called eucalyptol, it was changed to cineole when it was discovered that it also occurred naturally in mugwort, bay leaves, wormwood, sage, sweet basil, rosemary and other aromatic plant foliage.
Cineole has been shown to reduce inflammation and pain and it’s claimed that it can kill leukemic cells. Another of the therapeutic properties that eucalyptus oil is said to have is its analgesic quality.
It’s also anti-bacterial, anti-rheumatic, anti-neuralgic, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antispasmodic, antiviral, astringent, a decongestant, a deodorant, depurative, diuretic, expectorant, and a stimulant – meaning it has a large scope therapeutically.
Of course it isn’t all about the healing properties. If you don’t like the smell or taste of eucalyptus oil, you aren’t going to use the products. However, all of the products have to be blended in some way because of the properties contained in eucalyptus oil. Although they are nontoxic in their undiluted state, they can cause irritation if they come into contact with the skin.
Also, there have been reports of side effects from eucalyptus oil when it has been put in the mouth (in an undiluted state and not part of any approved medicine), so be sure to keep any oils you have out of the reach of young children.
If handled in a responsible way, eucalyptus oils can make a huge difference to some of the ailments you have at the moment, so give the products a try and see what they can do for you.