Terrified - used clary sage oil at 7.5 weeks pregnant

[KeenoOnVino]

I have struggled with sleep for the last few weeks and like an idiot on Friday and Saturday night I sprayed my Goodnight magnesium oil all over my feet and legs in the hope it would help me sleep. I’ve just seen this morning it’s got clary sage oil as well as other essential oils. Will I definitely miscarry now? I feel so upset. I have mild cramping all day yesterday but just put it down to normal early pregnancy cramping. I have a scan booked on weds when I will be about 8 weeks. I am normally so careful I have no idea why I didn’t check.

I think it’s highly unlikely there was enough in the spray to cause you any issues but if you’re really worried give your midwife a call for some advice

Chances are that you and your baby will be absolutely fine.

It's totally understandable that you are feeling stressed, and it's great you've got a scan, but do try to take a deep breath and be calm as you can in the meantime.
Bluntly, if it was this easy to induce a miscarriage then there wouldn't be so much political drama about access to termination. Your baby is almost guaranteed to be absolutely fine - and if (and hopefully not) anything isn't right, it won't be anything you've done, you sound really conscientious and caring.
Congratulations on your pregnancy and hope the scan goes well

Try and be logical. If Clary Sage oil would definitely make you miscarry then there wouldn't be any need for abortion clinics/morning after pill etc etc.

Similarly, the amount of oil in the preparation is probably minimal. So the chances of it having any effect are likely to be similarly minimal.

Try to be calm down and sit tight until Wednesday.

Glitter has it perfectly. Congratulations on your pregnancy, OP and enjoy seeing your little one on Wednesday

Thank you. You have all been very logical. I have a history of miscarriage, and normally I’m too end of paranoia I about everything so I don’t know why I didn’t check. Doesn’t help that for the last two days my symptoms seem to have disappeared as well. I think everything together has just made me feel so anxious and down.

“Will I definitely miscarry now? I feel so upset“

Even if you do, it was nothing to do with the clary sage. Honestly. All it does is smell nice.

As PP said, if you could induce a miscarriage that easily desperate women would never have had to resort to coat hangers and throwing themselves down the stairs. You could probably bathe in the stuff without damaging a healthy ongoing pregnancy, much less use a spray with a little bit in. If Clary sage really had some kind of dramatic effect, don't you think they'd use it to induce birth in hospital instead of having to do hormone drips?

We can't promise you your baby will be fine, but we can promise you confidently that if something happens with your pregnancy it won't be because of this spray or anything you did.

I dumped an entire bottle of pure clary sage oil into the bath when I was way past my due date to encourage labour. DS didn't budge an inch and I now utterly detest the smell over 5 years later
It won't have done any harm. Good luck for your scan

I totally get the paranoia, and understand that logic goes out the window. As someone said, whatever happens, it's not something you've done. Good luck xx

Have a read of this op
According to Wildwood, “A common myth in aromatherapy is that massage oils containing essential oils such as Clary sage, rose or even rosemary can cause a miscarriage and hence should be avoided throughout pregnancy." Authors such as Ron Guba, Kurt Schnaubelt, and Chrissie Wildwood have all pointed out that there have been ‘no recorded cases of miscarriage or birth defect resulting from aromatherapy massage using therapeutic applications of any essential oil.”
naha.org/explore-aromatherapy/safety

This thread is a good example of how wrong the “oh it does no harm” attitude to alternative medicine is.

Sorry Bertrand, what do you mean?

Bertrand this thread isn’t the place to discuss that.

I think Bertrand is referring to the anxiety caused in OP and others by the mistaken idea that aromatherapy and essential oils have real effects.

“Sorry Bertrand, what do you mean?”

I mean that whoever and however the OP is reassured, if, god forbid, something happens, she will LwYs have in the back of her mind that she could have done something different.

Honestly, Keeno, whatever happens, it’s not your fault. Look forward to a lovely baby, and enjoy your nice smelling feet!

Honestly vaguely Inhaled Aromatherapy oils will get nowhere near your fetus. By the same logic wouldn’t you be worried about the effects of smelling burning toast etc. Aromatherapy smell nice and help relax you. That’s it. A lot of the reasons beauty clinics advise against stuff relates to preventing litigation as miscarriage is so common. I have a friend with a perfect baby having received 5 cycles of chemo in pregnancy. Don’t beat yourself up.

Thank you all. I am normally a logical and intelligent person. 😁 everything everyone has said has made sense. As an aside, I think homeopathy is a load of nonsense, but gave more credence to essential oils.....is it basically just as “silly “??

Pretty much, yeah. They smell nice and have a placebo effect. That's it.

I guarantee you, if there was any scientific evidence that Clary sage oil induced labour or miscarriage, midwives and doctors would prescribe it to you first before they used mifepristone or ERPC procedures or syntocin drips because it would be lower risk and less invasive. They don't, because it doesn't do anything.

I had a craving for the scent of lavender in one pregnancy and mint in the other. Unfortunately I also had a craving for McFlurries...

At 41 and a bit weeks pregnant the woman in H&B didn’t want to sell me it in case it induced labour, erm that was the point!

Anyway I bathed in the stuff, rubbed it in oil on my vast belly and on the part of my foot connected to the uterus, did absolutely feck all. M
You’ll be fine OP

on the part of my foot connected to the uterus

That gave me a very odd mental picture of your anatomy until I realised what you meant sweetkitty

OP if it were that easy to induce a miscarriage, millions of women wouldn't be dying from unsafe surgical abortions. If you do have a miscarriage, it was going to happen anyway and is nothing to do with this.