I have been involved with aromatherapy since the 1970s, long before it became a household name. My first book, ‘Aromatherapy for Women’, written from my personal experience of bringing up a family without recourse to antibiotics, has sold in excess of 700,000 copies worldwide since its publication in 1985. My latest book, ‘Aromatherapy vs MRSA’, took me three years to research and write. It contains information on a select group of essential oils able to kill a variety of micro-organisms and looks in detail at one type of bacteria that cannot always be killed off by current antibiotics – MRSA.
Knowing how well essential oils had helped me recover from chest infections picked up during my travels in India and Africa, I began doing some research into their potential use as alternatives to antibiotics, having come across internet articles in 2004 on the rise of antimicrobial resistance in UK hospitals. My first step was to send a selection of essential oils to a private microbiology laboratory; then to create an essential oil blend from the most promising oils. Next, I recruited a handful of volunteers who had been discharged from hospital, having survived an MRSA infection, but were still colonised (carrying MRSA bacteria on their bodies). Results were better than I could have hoped for, and it wasn’t long before I presented my results to a UK university, and began working with their microbiology team: the objective being to find out whether essential oils had the potential to tackle superbugs. Over a five year period and much incubation of bacteria, the scientists were able to highlight which essential oils were consistently able to kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria and these results ultimately lead to the creation of Benchmark Thyme.
Today, I am looking for about a hundred people to take part in a Pilot Study, which will use Benchmark Thyme diluted in jojoba. The oil blend comes in a 10ml roller-ball bottle, for ease of use. I am hoping for constructive feedback in order to determine how well the blend is able to clear up a bacterial infection on the skin and would like to hear from anyone who experiences difficulty in healing from simple, everyday things such as - a scratch, an insect bite or sting, an abrasion or a shaving cut – any minor skin trauma that does not heal quickly and sometimes necessitates a visit to the doctor for a course of antibiotics. So, if you are over 18 years of age and have a compromised immune system, I would love to hear from you.