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Does Your Job Make You Sick? |
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FOR MANY THERAPISTS, USING THE WRONG TYPES OF MASSAGE OILS CAN CAUSE SERIOUS HEALTH PROBLEMS. By Dr. Millie Hinkle Are massage oils making therapists sick? This is a question I had never considered until Linda, a healthy-looking, 27-year-old massage therapist, first appeared in my office in August 1999. I was soon to learn that Linda was anything but healthy! She had resigned from the U.S. Army just one year earlier to begin her career as a massage therapist. Linda had been in practice approximately six months when she made her initial visit to my office. Her main complaints consisted of headaches and weight gain, despite an exercise and diet program. She also felt sluggish and nauseous, but was most concerned because she had
ceased having menstrual periods for three months prior to her appointment. This was a major concern for Linda because she and her husband, Tom, wanted to start a family. Linda stated that she had been taking blue-green algae, hoping to relieve the symptoms, but ended up feeling worse. She had wondered if she might be feeling ill due to exposure to plaster, paint and glue from building materials that she and her husband were using to remodel an older home. After taking a complete medical history, I decided to test Linda using electrodermal screening (see sidebar on Page 46) to determine what might be causing her problems. The results showed an imbalance of the lymph, pancreas, liver and endocrine system points. I then checked Linda for homeopathic remedies (see sidebar, Page 49) that might balance these points. Unfortunately, I could find nothing wrong. Having focused on environmental illness and multiple chemical sensitivities in patients in my practice, I suspected that the massage oils might be causing the imbalance. I then tested Linda on the oils she used in her practice. Electrodermal screening showed an imbalance when these oils were tested. The oils were stressing her organ systems! We promptly made a homeopathic remedy from these oils and retested Linda. Bingo! The homeopathic remedy balanced every single point that was out of balance! After checking the labels on her bottles of massage oils, I discovered that some contained a base of peanut oil, to which Linda had a known allergy. The lotions contained preservatives such as BHT, EDTA, PEG, PVP, methyl and/or propyl paraben, as well as glycerol. Many of these chemicals are derived from petrochemicals.1
Our course of treatment consisted of specific nutritional support for her liver and pancreas, detox of her lymph system using homeopathic remedies for the oils and drainage remedies, as well as a program to encourage the release of the oils from her tissues. To this, I added a program to assist in bringing her endocrine system back into balance. I also recommended that Linda complete a hormone panel to check for hormonal imbalances. The results showed that she had very low levels of progesterone and elevated levels of estrogen. I placed her on a low dose of a natural progesterone, as well as specific digestive plant fibers, to help lower the estrogen levels. Within one month, Linda reported feeling great. Her periods returned to normal after approximately three months. Two months after this, she called to inform me that she was expecting a baby. Eventually, Linda was blessed with a healthy baby boy. A few months later, I received a desperate call from Emily, a 61-year-old therapist and yoga instructor. She had practiced as a massage therapist for 18 years. She stated that she had received lymphatic massage three weeks prior and had immediately felt ill. She developed a painful rash in her lower pelvic area, groin and genitalia. She thought that this might be a detox of some kind. Her family physician prescribed a cream, but the medication only seemed to make things worse. Even bathing had become painful. I agreed to see her, and asked that she bring the oils she used in her practice when she came for her appointment. Emily's medical history revealed digestive disorders, high blood pressure and a history of childhood asthma. She also was postmenopausal. The hormone panel results revealed low levels of progesterone and extremely high levels of estrogen. Further tests revealed elevated cholesterol levels. The abnormally high levels of estrogen prompted a call to the physician on staff with the testing lab. He informed me that women who sometimes use large amounts of lotions on their bodies could have abnormally high levels of estrogen. This rang a bell because we had had a patient a few years earlier from Florida with the same problem of extremely high levels of estrogen. She was using an entire bottle of suntan lotion every other day on her body, and the lab determined at the time that the lotion was causing the elevated levels. I treated Emily with low levels of a natural progesterone while I attempted to lower her estrogen and cholesterol levels with diet and nutritional supplements. [Note: Studies show that the liver cannot detoxify estrogen when it is undernourished.2] I also recommended that Emily try to reduce her use of oils and/or switch to a lighter organic oil such as grapeseed, which might be easier for the liver to detox. This seemed to work, and within two weeks, her rash had completely disappeared. After a 90-day recheck of her estrogen and cholesterol levels, her estrogen levels had dropped within normal range, as well as her cholesterol.
I started Susan on a detox program, as well as a homeopathic remedy for the oils and a drainage remedy. We also recommended that she switch to a natural progesterone. After a few weeks with the support of nutritional supplements and a special diet to take the load off Susan's liver and pancreas, as well as a detox program for her tissues, Susan started to feel better but developed a rash on her hands. After questioning, I discovered that Susan was using a new brand of massage oil she thought to be acceptable. After checking the label on the bottle, I found that it contained preservatives we suspected might be causing the problem.
I had her discontinue use of the oil and recommended that she use nonlatex gloves when necessary with her clients until her rash cleared up. (Many people have sensitivity to latex.) She stated that she needed to "feel" the client's skin. I therefore suggested a skintight-fitting nonlatex glove similar to those worn by surgeons. This took some getting used to by Susan, but it seemed to work. Within four months, her menstrual cycles had returned to normal. She lost 18 pounds, and stated that she had never felt better. She was so pleased and concerned about the oils that she asked me to speak to the director of the massage school from which she was a recent graduate. Joan, the director of Susan's school of massage therapy, asked if I would speak to her current students, as well as previous graduates. She thought that the massage oils and lotions might be of real concern because she herself had developed symptoms of chronic fatigue for which her doctors had no explanation. An hour lecture soon turned into three hours of questions from concerned therapists. Many of them had some of the same symptoms that I had observed in earlier cases, or they knew of someone with similar
The mildest case I documented was Daniel, a 56-year-old male therapist and avid cyclist with 28 years in the practice. On his initial visit, he complained of feeling "tired and a little sluggish." He had had his gallbladder removed six years prior but was otherwise in good general health. As in the other cases, after electrodermal screening, the evidence (an imbalance of liver, pancreas, lymph and endocrine points) seemed to point to the oils. Daniel decided to switch to an organic, lighter combination of oils and an organic cream that we recommended, and was very happy with the results. It might be noted that studies show that men have an increased ability for detoxification compared to women.4
On the other hand, the most serious case to come to my office was Kay. She had heard of my study and called me from Michigan. Kay stated that she had been diagnosed with severe liver impairment, as well as impaired function of her pancreas, high blood pressure and elevated glucose levels along with a variety of minor ailments. Also, she said that her doctors in Michigan were concerned that she might eventually need a liver transplant. Kay was frightened and concerned about the possibility of this, and wanted to avoid it if at all possible. She wondered if the oils might be a contributing factor in her health problems. About six years earlier, she had gone through a detox program on her own when she had taken four months off from her work as a massage therapist. During this time, she felt wonderful but began to feel sluggish after returning to work, and thought at the time that it might be her heavy workload. She stated that she loved her work with her clients and that she did not want to give it up. I agreed to see her, and she flew in for an appointment at my office in North Carolina. After taking a thorough medical history and utilizing electrodermal screening, I determined the liver, lymph, pancreas and gallbladder points to be out of balance. I checked the oils and lotions that she had brought with her, and found all of them to test poorly for her, except an olive oil that she used on clients with skin allergies. This checked quite well for her. We made a homeopathic remedy from the oils that tested poorly, and found that it balanced the out-of-balance points of her various meridians. I also found a viral infection and recommended appropriate therapy for that. I placed her on a diet designed to take the load off her liver and pancreas, plus added specific nutrients also for this purpose. I recommended a detox program for her tissues, as well as the use of skintight, nonlatex gloves for a short period of time until she could get the toxic overload reduced to a manageable level. Kay left my office to fly back to Michigan with a skeptical but willing attitude. I received a call three weeks later from Kay stating that she felt "fabulous." With the detox, diet, nutrition program and switching to lighter organic oils, she was seeing patients again on a regular basis. |
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The next therapist came to my office in tears with the fear that she might have some type of cancer because of all her symptoms. Susan was a lovely, young 25-year-old therapist. She was 5 feet 6 inches tall, and weighed 180 pounds. Her symptoms were nausea, abdominal swelling, weight gain (she had gained 40 pounds over the prior seven months), fatigue and a menstrual cycle every 10 days with heavy bleeding and severe cramps. Five months prior, she had seen her gynecologist, who had done a pelvic exam, as well as a radiological workup. That doctor had discovered a small ovarian cyst, which had since disappeared. Her gynecologist had prescribed birth control pills for her irregular cycles, but this did not seem to help. She said that they made her feel nauseous and irritable. After consulting with Susan, I determined that the gynecologist had not done a hormone panel, and I suggested that she complete one. I also did electrodermal screening and found her gallbladder, endocrine, liver and lymph points to be out of balance. Again, after testing, I found the oils to be the main culprit. The lab results of Susan's hormone panel revealed slightly elevated levels of estrogen, but extremely low levels of progesterone. Because of her unexplained weight gain, coupled with low progesterone levels, I recommended that she complete a thyroid panel. The thyroid panel came back within normal levels. It should be noted that studies show toxins, such as those in the petrochemical-based preservatives found in some of the oils Susan was using, could potentially cause a progesterone deficiency and an elevation of estrogen. A low progesterone-to-estrogen ratio can cause abnormally heavy and frequent menstrual cycles, as in Susan's case, and extremely low levels of progesterone with elevated estrogen levels can cause skipped or cessation of menstrual cycles, as in Linda's case.3
symptoms for which they had no explanation. Thirty-two of the therapists made appointments with my office over the next few months. I realized that this issue of the preservatives in the oils was important, and decided to document the case studies of these patients. Word spread, and within a nine-month period I saw 48 massage therapists with varying degrees of illness and a wide variety of ailments. The ages ranged from 25 years to 61 years of age, and consisted of three men and 45 women.