Diana Hooper
2644 Moonshine Park Road
Logsden, OR 97357
diana@essentialsoflife.net
EssentialsOfLife.net

Essential Oil Heritage: Jean Valnet, M.D.

Jean Valnet, M.D., is well known throughout France as a medical doctor, but his roots are in natural medicine. His grandmother was a midwife and herbalist, and Dr. Valnet observed her treat people with plants she had gathered herself.

As a fourteen-year-old, Dr. Valnet experienced a healing event by watching an old herdsman named Brenot. One day, this man was gashed in the cheek by the horn of one of the cows he and young Valnet were tending. As Valnet was about to seek an antiseptic, the old man applied a bit of cobweb to the wound. The next day the man created a poultice of herbs gathered from the side of the road. In a week, the wound had totally healed. The scientist in Jean Valnet could look back on this experience and understand that cobwebs indeed have an antiseptic property and that plants also have curative powers.

So it is not surprising to find that Dr. Valnet employed therapeutic essential oils in battlefield situations as he practiced surgery during World War II. Following the war, Dr. Valnet devoted his time to the study of natural therapies, publishing the book Aromatherapy: The Treatment of Diseases with Plant Essences in 1964. This work was translated from French and is available as The Practice of Aromatherapy: A Classic Compendium of Plant Medicines & Their Healing Properties (edited by Robert Tisserand, Healing Arts Press, 1990).

Dr. Jean Valnet was the first to establish dosages of essential oils for therapeutic use. In his aroma therapy book, he writes: "Internally, the essential oils are prescribed in the form of either capsules or drops, or most often, in honey water. They are given alone or in association with other oils. Depending on the case, dosage will vary between 5 and 20 drops of pure essence administered several times a day before or during meals, or between 20 and 30 drops taken four times a day in honey diluted in a half a glass of warm water.” (1)

For "sluggish digestion," Dr. Valnet wrote that one could take peppermint essential oil internally in a dosage of "2 to 5 drops several times a day, either in a draught [drink] or in honey water.” (2)

During the holiday season, many people decorate an orange with dried cloves. This tradition, however, began as protection against communicable disease. Dr. Valnet notes that cloves were used in the original four thieves' formula used during the plague, and he recommends taking 2 to 4 drops of clove essential oil three times a day. (3) (This formula is now updated in Young Living's Thieves® oil blend and product line.)

In 1964, Dr. Val net wrote: "It is conceivable that the day will come when the true therapeutic value of natural substances will be given proper recognition." Today, modern science has validated the worth of essential oils in thousands of medical studies.

Notes:
1. Jean Valnet, M.D., The Practice of Aromatherapy, Vermont: Healing Arts. 1990, 74,
2. Ibid., 173
3. Ibid. 115

Reprinted with permission of Young Living, Lehi, UT 84043
Essential Edge magazine

Testimonial

Last Spring, to my surprise my husband and I discovered I was pregnant with TWINS (we already had three children [12,9&4] and were not planning on more). Then in late May we discovered that one of the babies was probably going to be still born, as he had Trisomy 18 (a chromosomal defect). I was heartbroken. The Dr. tried to talk to me about terminating the one baby, but said that it would probably not effect the outcome of the other baby and I would probably be able to carry them both close to term. I could not terminate my baby. I had recently listened to one of the training tapes that mentioned that Essential Oils can repair DNA, so my optimistic mind decide that I was going to try Frankincense and Aroma Life on my belly daily and pray for a miracle.

Well, on our anniversary at 24 weeks and 6 days gestation, my water of the first twin broke and I was rushed to the hospital, ambulanced Code to another, and then my little boy was still born. The Dr's did a lot of things to stop our little girl from being born and I stayed in the hospital trying to hold onto our little girl for another 20 days until her water finally broke and she was born @ 1214 grams. (about 2lbs 11 oz.) She (Molly) was only 27wks and 5 days gestation. Fortunately, I was at a wonderful Hospital that had a level 3 NICU.

After Molly was born, she only had to be on the ventilator for about 12 hours. Then she was on CPAP for maybe 24 hours and then at room air with a cannula. It was amazing. At that point I was able to do what they can "Kangarooing", which is when you hold your baby skin to skin. I would do this daily, and when I did I would put Frankincense and Joy on me and hope she would absorb it through her skin. Some days she would have to have her oxygen elevated a little so I would also put on RC. Nurses would comment on the smell. After several weeks, I could sense that she needed more direct contact, so I mixed some RC and Raven in some olive oil an rubbed them on her chest and back. I would notice in her charting that her incidences of Brady's and Apnea (both common for babies who aren't ready to be born, they forget to breathe.) would decrease, not stop but go down significantly. I would continue, but there were days when I would not have my oil with me or that there was a nurse too close that would be very negative to my using the oils so I would wait. Those days, the Brady's and Apnea would go back up. Then one day, her primary nurse learned of my oil use and said go ahead. (I did not choose to tell her that I was applying them to her until we went home. She thought I was just putting the RC on a blanket in her isolet.) The day after I was given permission to more openly use the RC, the boy next to Molly who had been named the Brady King, did not have another Brady for over 12 hours, and neither did Molly.

The little boy went home in two weeks at about 37 weeks gestation, and Molly went home in about 3 weeks at 35 weeks gestation, nursing! Yes, I was there everyday almost all day long, but I think the oils helped too. And now she is almost 11 months old, 18 -19 lbs. and over 27 inches long, has no known health problems, got through the winter just fine, and everyone comments "Is she always this Happy?" and I always have to answer "Yes." She is the happiest, and best baby I have ever had. Could it be the Joy and Frankincense? You decide.

Have a wonderful weekend.

Blessings,
Christie

This information is intended for educational purposes only. It is not provided in order to diagnose, prescribe, or treat any illness or disease of the human body.