Oils during IVF process ??

[?Megen?]

Hi all,

Wanted to pick the brains of all you Aromatherapists please. As a Reflexologist i have no idea about essential oils, buthave beenasked a question by one of my clients today regarding oils during massage.

My clientis undergoing her fourth IVF course at present and is seeing a massage therapist to help with relaxation. She is worried about the use of oils in the massage ...... the therapist has been using Ylang Ylang and Sandlewood. Would either of these oils be contra~indicated during the downregulation process ??

Iseem to thinkthat Ylang Ylang can have an effect on the hormonal system, but wasn't entirely sure, and from what my client said the therapist didn't seem too sure either. I advised her perhaps it would be a good idea just to use a base oil ???

Your thoughts please .....

meridianmoon xx

 

[roaming]

Depending on the quality of the oils, both Sandalwood and Ylang Ylang should be safe in pregnancy, and without having taken a complete history, and so not being able to comment fully, would on the surface seem to be good choices of oils to use.
Sandalwood is both very spiritual, and very good for DNA repair, so could be a very good choice for someone receiving IVF. Ylang Ylang is good for blood pressure and balancing male & female energies. Again it is a good relaxing oil, and if your client resonates with these oils, i.e. enjoys the aroma, this would again suggest a beneficial choice of oils.

From thearomatherapists perspective,and by way of precaution, ifmassaging this client with oils without an aromatherapy background, then good practice would dictate the therapisthave anadequate inurance policy.

So to summarize, these two oils should besafe for this client.

 

[Munduhiric]

Hi maceuk,

Thanks for your reply !! My question is really more to do with the oils possibly interfering with the down regulating first stage of IVF. (Sorry if i didn't make that clear !!) During this stage the body is basicallyencouraged into a state of premature menopause. Would these oils work against the drugs ??

meridianmoon xx

 

[Danika]

More often than not the drugs used are:
Clomid (Clomifene), Puregon (Gonaderelin), Burserelin.
and occasionally Medroxyprogesterone.

Neither Sandalwood nor Ylang Ylang should effect these drugs - as you rightly say, these drugs are all hormones.

Having said this I am unaware of any randomised controlled studies looking specifically at the effect of oils on hormones.

(Nb: even the one study looking at the adverse effect of oils in pregnancy is highly dubious when critically appraised, and overly quoted.)

If you are interested in specific studies, then the National Library for Health in Complementary and Alternative Medicine (online) [link=http://www.nelm.nhs.uk/Search/Category.aspx?id=215]http://www.nelm.nhs.uk/Search/Category.aspx?id=215[/link]has cochrane appraised trials, mostly with comments aboutoor quality, Not sufficinet client numbers, Further studies required before any conclusions can be drawn.

 

[Oliver]

Good questions...
Firstly I am amazed that there is an AT still using Sandalwood.
The tree is an endangered species. It's alternative, grown in Austrailia, is causing drought and endangering the local population. The only sustainable ethical crop is grown in Vanuatu. There was only 6th of the world's demand ethically or unethically produced last year and none the year before. This issnapped up by the multi million £ perfume industry. This puts the price out of reach of sole traders!
You are quite right regarding Ylang Ylang but there are many grades produced. I wonder what grade this AT is using (II) is usual.
Finally, as no scientific research properly exists as to the effect on a foetus, oils are best left out until the final moments of labour and birth.

 

[liya79]

To be safe, I would encourage this client to request that her AT works at 1% blend only if she is concerned. I would work at this percentage for any client of mine trying to conceive, whether naturally or via IVF, during pregnancy and whilst breastfeeding.

I would also question whether I wanted a therapist treating me who had no idea whether the oils are contra-indicated according to my state at the time of treatment!