Aromatherapy as complementary therapy

Last week, I bumped into Doryce Sher again.  She was a pharmacist and is now an aromatherapist and is the founder of the very impressive Aromatic Apothecary based in Cape Town.  Many years ago, I went to one of her lectures.  She was speaking to a medical audience, most of whom were dubious about the relevance of aromatherapy. (At the time, I was organising the lectures and there were several doctors who were quite vocal in their objections).  I rarely remember the opening line of lectures but I recall hers:  "I can't cure your patients but I can make them feel better".

Smell is a very basic sense.  It takes us back in time and place.  Smells that remind me that I am living in Cape Town include the smell of kelp and the brewery: the aroma of cow parsley takes me back to England.

Chemotherapy changes the sense of smell.  Many women complain that their food tastes peculiar.  Others associate the smell of the chemotherapy unit with feeling unwell.  Hospital wards have varying smells: some more pleasant than others.  Using oils to change the smell in the unit doesn't always work. What is soothing to one patient is intrusive to another.

Aromatherapy has been used in many different ways to relieve the unpleasantness associated with treatment.  The applications include inhalers, gels or creams.  I know of several women who have found using them has made their experience more tolerable.  In one study done looking at the benefit of aromastix for chemotherapy patients over 70% of patients felt they benefitted in some way.

Have you used aromatherapy to make you or another person feel better?  Did it work?  Please share your experience.  Should you wish for more information, please feel free to ask Doryce for her information sheets.