Pain is a condition that may be experienced occasionally but must be endured and overcome by using the right remedy.
There are different reasons why we experience pain. It could be due to an infection, inflammation, or a wound. You can feel it while you are alone and doing your daily routines or while doing an activity with someone else. You may experience pain for some reason or have caused some pain to someone. But regardless of who is in pain or who caused the pain, caring for someone we love will help the healing and treatment of pain.
Though we may be experiencing physical pain, some kinds of aches may also affect us emotionally and cause anxiety and stress. Hence, providing holistic healing can help. Giving comfort to someone who’s in pain is important to healing. Assuring them that you are there with them gives them a sense of peace for feeling that they are being cared enough and that we love them.
Whether you are experiencing pain or someone you love is in pain, it is best to support them. Or better support each other. We all experience pain at one point but I think it’s a beautiful thing when we see that while we are in pain, we feel that someone cares for us genuinely. It feels like sharing our pain with someone. This eases the pain that we feel inside and we heal emotionally because it’s comforting to know that someone wants to be there with us while we are in pain. Also, it feels good to care for someone and comfort them while they experience pain.
In addition to providing them with the affection they need, is to match it with effective remedies that can address the physiological pain they are experiencing. Whether you are dealing with some pain, or you are taking care of someone who is in pain, they deserve to be given the best kind of therapy you can give them. The best kind of medication you can give them is the one that you know and are assured that is effective.
Some essential oils are said to be analgesic. Since essential oils are natural and have therapeutic properties for relieving pain, choosing essential oil as a remedy is one of the best options you can have if you want to treat pain naturally. One of the essential oils that is supported by some reported case studies is peppermint oil. Hence in this post, we will list the different methods of using peppermint essential oil to alleviate pain.
1. Topical for pain relief
Effect of peppermint essential oil on neuropathic pain
A case report in 2002 presented a 76-year-old woman who was diagnosed with postherpetic neuralgia and was suffering from pain. According to the report, the pain had already been resistant to standard pain reliever medication. To prove the efficacy of peppermint oil in treating pain caused by neuralgia, the patient was instructed to rub neat peppermint oil containing 10% menthol on her skin. The researchers reported that the pain of the patient was alleviated immediately. She experienced pain relief for 4-6 hours after applying peppermint oil. Hence this case report proves that peppermint oil is effective in treating neuropathic pain. (1)
Effect of peppermint essential oil on neck pain
An experimental trial conducted at Hungkuang University’s motion analysis laboratory investigated the influence of four aromatic oils in cream on neck pain. Sixty patients with neck pain history were the participants of the study and were allocated into control and experimental groups. During the intervention, the experimental group received cream with a 3% concentration of the essential oils marjoram, black pepper, lavender, and peppermint. Meanwhile, the control group was given an unscented cream. During the four-week treatment program, the participants had to use the respective cream assigned to them after showering or bathing. They had to directly apply 2 grams of it on the affected area daily. After the intervention, the experimental group who had taken the cream with the oils had better results than those who had taken the unscented cream. They had remarkable improvement and their pain tolerance also got better. Thus the study demonstrated that the cream with essential oils marjoram, black pepper, lavender, and peppermint can be used to improve neck pain and was presented in a 2013 paper. (5)
2. Inhalation for anxiety and pain
The efficacy of peppermint essence for treating pain and anxiety was investigated in a 2019 study. The investigation was conducted from December 2016 to June 2017 where 80 cardiac patients who will undergo intravenous catheterization in Imam Ali Hospital in Iran were selected for the study. Their age range at 18–65. The material used in the study was 100% pure peppermint essence and the patients were assigned to intervention and the control group. The participants in the intervention group received cotton with three drops of peppermint oil which was attached to the collar of the patient 10cm from their nose. Meanwhile, the control group received a placebo which is three drops of distilled water. After the patients received the materials, intravenous catheterization was performed by the researcher. The findings of their study revealed that inhalation of peppermint oil can alleviate pain and anxiety caused by intravenous catheterization. (2)
3. Ingestion for chest pain
Some patients from 2013 to 2016 were selected for the study about the effectiveness of peppermint oil as a medication for dysphagia and non-cardiac chest pain. In the study, the respondents were given concentrated peppermint oil dissolvable tablets. Two tablets were taken before meals. The result of their study yielded that peppermint oil is effective in providing relief for chest pain caused by esophageal motility disorders (3)
This is consistent with an earlier study in 2001 where eight patients who also experienced chest pain due to diffuse esophageal spasm (DES) were given a solution containing five drops of peppermint oil in 10 mL of water. The patients were instructed to ingest them. The researchers reported that esophageal contractions were eliminated. Plus two of the patients experiencing chest pain find relief after ingesting the peppermint oil solution. (4)
The effectiveness of peppermint oil in treating different health conditions using different methods has been proven by the case reports above. This enables us to be more confident in using peppermint oil in our commitment to treat our pain or the pain of the people we love.
You may be experiencing a challenging situation now, that’s why pain comes occasionally. But here’s what I know, sticking to the best remedy will always enable you to find comfort.
So hold on tight to the best remedy and…
Heal together always…
References:
- (1) Davies, S. J., Harding, L. M., & Baranowski, A. P. (2002). A novel treatment of postherpetic neuralgia using peppermint oil. The Clinical journal of pain, 18(3), 200–202. https://doi.org/10.1097/00002508-200205000-00011
- (2) Akbari, F., Rezaei, M., Khatony A., Effect Of Peppermint Essence On The Pain And Anxiety Caused By Intravenous Catheterization In Cardiac Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of Pain Research 2019:12 2933–2939
- (3) Khalaf, M. H. G., Chowdhary, S., Elmunzer, B. J., Elias, P. S., & Castell, D. (2019). Impact of Peppermint Therapy on Dysphagia and Non-cardiac Chest Pain: A Pilot Study. Digestive diseases and sciences, 64(8), 2214–2218. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10620-019-05523-8
- (4) Pimentel, M., Bonorris, G. G., Chow, E. J., & Lin, H. C. (2001). Peppermint oil improves the manometric findings in diffuse esophageal spasms. Journal of clinical gastroenterology, 33(1), 27–31. https://doi.org/10.1097/00004836-200107000-00007
- (5) Ou, M. C., Lee, Y. F., Li, C. C., & Wu, S. K. (2014). The effectiveness of essential oils for patients with neck pain: a randomized controlled study. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 20(10), 771–779. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2013.0453
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