Essential oils are trending right now in response to the uptick in alternative medicine approaches to healing and general wellness presented in American culture. In contrast, they have also been called snake oil by those who are passionately loyal to western medicine. So, what are essential oils, and are they helpful or not? We’ve heard claims for their ability to treat migraines, anxiety, and even tinnitus. Are these claims valid? Here’s the nitty-gritty on it all, with a special closeup on their ability to cure tinnitus:
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What are Essential Oils?
Essential oils are liquids extracted from herbs, plants, and fruits. There are hundreds of essential oils, but the most popular ones include peppermint, eucalyptus, and lavender. Essential oils are even used to flavor foods and have been used for aromatherapy and cooking for centuries. Although there appears to be some ancient wisdom behind essential oils, there is contradictory evidence of their effectiveness. We’ve seen stay-at-home moms hustling with their side gigs of selling these oils from their cars and their homes, and most of these sales attempts end up failing. Likewise, research consistently finds that there is absolutely no clinical evidence backing claims that essential oils can treat tinnitus.
Essential Oils for Tinnitus?
Websites selling essential oils claim that certain essential oils can treat hearing loss, ear infections, and tinnitus. The claims are convincing because multiple sites voice the same exact essential oils to treat tinnitus and related conditions. Different websites with different sellers have mentioned that tea tree, geranium, and lavender oils can treat tinnitus. Still, we find no clinical evidence that is the case for any of them. The only essential oils for tinnitus that may help with tinnitus are CBD oils, and even this research is unconfirmed.
What About CBD?
Since there is little to no evidence that essential oils effectively treat tinnitus, it’s important to stay cautious about using them for this purpose. Feel free to place a few drops in your diffuser, as essential oils are known for their aromatherapeutic benefits, but when it comes to treating ear issues, it is quite possible essential oils will do more harm than good. In addition to blistering the skin and potentially burning the ear canal membranes, using essential oils in any way at all is unsafe for pregnant and nursing women. Yikes!
What To Do Instead
It’s intriguing to consider alternative medicine as a way to heal naturally. That said, essential oils are not proven to be effective in their ability to treat tinnitus naturally or otherwise. Doctors do not recommend placing essential oils in the ear, as to do so would likely introduce more problems with hearing. The best course of action for treating tinnitus is to see a hearing specialist who knows of conventional ways to address the issue. Tinnitus can also crop up from anxiety and stress and may go away on its own in time.
Stay away from taking drastic measures and treat your ears with extreme sensitivity. You’ve only got two of them.
