Diffusing the Pain: Fibromyalgia
There is nothing like an illness hitting a family member or someone close to you for focusing your mind on something you covered generally in training.
For me it was fibromyalgia. It is heart-wrenching to see such a talented young female relative, with a young family, being struck by pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, cognitive dysfunction, etc. There are of course more symptoms associated with this syndrome such as muscle spasms, dizziness, cold and heat intolerance and restless leg syndrome.
For a sufferer it must be difficult to hear the experts say “…there is no cure” and “it is not fully understood”. What has been fortunate is that our family consists of three ITEC qualified massage therapists, a clinical aromatherapist and a personal trainer. Why is this fortunate, I hear you say? Well, it’s fortunate because there are therapeutic treatments that can be helpful in reducing the various symptoms impacting a person’s life. Massage is one of those therapies. As a result, the young woman affected has been able to have regular massage therapy, using essential oils.
Therapeutic Collaboration
As the massage therapist, treating this young woman, bought her essential oils from me, I was able to get an idea of the oil choices she was making to treat the relative.
Then one day, instead of just buying the oils, we started collaborating on the blend being used. Initially, she sought collaboration so as to be able to access to my collection of oils (over 100 including premium oils).
My personal experience of massage up to that point was to have a sports massage, as part of a retreat or for stress management. Watching the ongoing treatment of fibromyalgia, through massage was an eye-opener for me. Massage for this young woman wasn’t a “nice to have, luxury” it was essential in management of pain, over the long term.
So it was as a result of this experience that I came to prefer a specific blend as a “starter blend” for fibromyalgia. I will share the ingredients of this blend with you below. That said if a massage therapist says that the main concern was muscular aches and pains, then the starter blend, in that case, would likely include an oil such as black pepper. Take a look at the blend and tell me what you think?
My Starter Blend for Fibromyalgia
My starter blend consists of Marjoram, Roman Chamomile, Mandarin and Rose (damascene or Maroc). It contains oils to address muscular pain, fatigue and provide an emotional boost.
Mandarin – A citrus oil to provide positive energy
Marjoram – This is included to work as a muscle relaxant as well as providing emotional support.
Roman Chamomile – This is a wonderful multi-purpose oil, providing stress relief and its ability to calm muscle spasms. The flavonoids are important for their anti-inflammatory effects.
Rose – Has the highest vibration of any essential oil and is balancing to spiritual and emotional energy.
Up to that point, the therapist had come to me to buy her oils to make up her blend. She now has access to my collection of oils (over 100) to create a blend for her client rather than being limited to her smaller oil collection.
So whilst I have some very generic massage oils and message bases, my collection of oils is available to any massage therapist to allow them to be to customize their treatment to the client’s need.
Are you a massage therapist, what would your starter blend for fibromyalgia consist of?
