Consuming olbas oil

[Beau2020]

I know this sounds gross but ever since a child my Nanna has always given me 2 drops of olbas oil in hot lemonade to cure a cold. I inhale the smell and then drink the remedy. I've done this since a child and I'm absolutely fine. She said that in the olden days (she's 95 and obviously still alive) the bottles used to tell you to consume it.

Obviously I know this sounds absolutely ridiculous to anyone reading this but as I've grown up doing this I've known no different and I've never felt weird after doing it or anything. I'm pregnant now and obviously don’t want to harm the baby if it could be potentially toxic or dangerous but I was wondering if anyone else has heard of this?

Please no insensitive comments, I'm quite aware that it may sound strange to you but this is what I've grown up with and me and my Nan are absolutely perfectly healthy.

@dementedpixie, working from home tomorrow and already have Amazon Prime so free delivery.

My old Nan- she died aged 100 but would be 115 if still alive today- used to take a spoonful of Vicks Vapour Rub at the first sign of a cold. Gave it to all her kids (with a bit of sugar on ) and they all survived. However my Dad must have thought better of it sometime between his own childhood and mine and my siblings as he would expressly tell my Nan, if anyone was a bit snotty, “Don’t be giving them any Vicks on a spoon!” She however did it right into her final days. Imagine what it must have tasted like!!!!

I have read a lot of research saying how certain oils can be fatal but as I say I've never had a bad experience with it

Ridiculous. It’s highly toxic. If a child ingests even a drop of it the advice is to go immediately to A&E. surely that tells you enough about how dangerous it is?

The argument that you’ve always done something and it’s never done you any harm is the most irrational argument possible. You could cross the road wearing a blindfold 100 times and be fine, it doesn’t make it a good idea.

You can buy olbas oil pastilles from most pharmacies.

The way oils work is they get into your system if you rub them on your skin. So applying eucalyptus oil to your skin, traces would be in your liver in 20 mins. You need a carrier oil as topically applied it would burn your skin.

Ingesting oils, is so dangerous. If you accidentally ingest oil you need to be admitted to hospital.

This is fact.

When I said tea tree oil is ok to ingest I didn’t mean guzzle bottles of it, I meant it’s the least toxic oil. It’s safe if you accidentally ingest it. It won’t kill you.

In pregnancy or otherwise I wouldn’t risk it. Damage to internal organs that are already under pressure in pregnancy.

I mean.... OP.... most essential oils are to be avoided in pregnancy.

Please stop ingesting them, pregnant or not. And please for the love of fuck don’t feed them to your child. It would be a matter for social services- it would be deliberate poisoning.

It's absolutely not to ingest! My son swallowed some as a toddler (stupid olbas oil and their non child proof lid) and was advised it's toxic and he needed to begin treatment within the hour. He was kept in overnight for observation

Here we go, the social services police. Really not necessary!

Please refrain from your unwanted opinion if it's constructive it's welcomed but just throwing unhelpful comments here is not needed, thanks.

Jesus Christ. I can think of few things that or more helpful or constructive than ‘stop consuming a known poison’.

In Australia, where eucalyptus oil is very commonly used, they see a lot more cases of poisoning. And specifically look out for it in young children, where it would be treated as ‘non-accidental poisoning’ (ie the parents did this on purpose).

www.rch.org.au/clinicalguide/guideline_index/Eucalyptus_Oil_Poisoning/

But, hey, you know two people who take it and are OK, so there can’t possibly a problem. What do scientists and their randomised double-blind trials with representative samples of the population know?

Funnily enough, this study doesn’t report on whether the children’s colds got better more quickly or not:

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2804512/

@ItsGoingTibiaK I don't have an issue with using it & that's not what my OP was asking so if I wanted your advise I'd have asked for it. I simply asked if anyone else had ever heard of what I was asking.

I don't need you to tell me what I can or can't do with my body, what I choose to consume is none of your business. You have informed me it's dangerous and that's all you need to concern yourself with. What I choose to do from there is absolutely nothing to do with you.

People are so dramatic on here anyone would have thought I said I'm planning to drown my baby in olbas oil and force feed it with some grass for dessert.

Never ever heard anything like this

Cool. Absolutely no skin off my nose. You crack on and do what you like. But, if this is your first pregnancy, you'd probably better get used to people offering an opinion on all manner of things, most of them much less significant than whether or not you administer a known poison to yourself and your child.

But to answer your actual question:

I'm pregnant now and obviously don’t want to harm the baby if it could be potentially toxic or dangerous but I was wondering if anyone else has heard of this?

No, I have never heard of anyone other than you and your nan deliberately taking a substance that has been proven (not 'potentially') to be both toxic and dangerous to treat a cold.

Goodnight.

Ew and really? I love the smell but I wouldn't drink it

So will you be using this treatment when your child has a cold OP?

You can’t argue with stupid.
It’s dangerous but I’m going to do it anyway.
My grandparents never wore seatbelts (I’m old) and it never killed them. Doesn’t mean we should all unbuckle.

Eating Olbas oil (not to mention Vicks Vapor Rub - what the actual fuck!) seems like a monumentally bad idea. Who cares if someone's old gran did it and lived to 150! Madness.

Hi, I remember that my aunt used to give us this (a few drops on a spoonful of honey) when we had colds...
I was quite surprised when I read on the bottle that you shouldn't ingest it!
I'm still here to tell the tale but I haven't used it for anything other than inhaling since, and I wouldn't ingest it any more...
Hope you feel better soon (assuming that's why you're thinking about it now).

I'm like 😳🙄😳 at the OP trying to defend herself consuming a well known toxic substance that is only meant to be inhaled.

Dear Lordy, carry on swallowing it hun if you must 😳

It is strange tell people what you do on a public forum and then get really angry (when you get replies) telling posters it's none of their business what you do.

Why not inform yourself by looking up the side effects online?

Hmmm.... Weird thread, not sure what to think, quite worrying that you're about to became a parent op.

Oh my god will people chill out. It's absolutely pathetic how people have such strong opinions over the safety of my child. Please worry about your own children rather than worry about my child thank you very much. At what point have I said I'm going to feed my child olbas oil. It's getting ridiculous now 😑

It's because we are worried about you op, consuming something that is obviously bad for you isn't a normal way of thinking. We know you lived your nan but can't you replace the albus oil with something else? It's just a bit crazy tbh. When you become a parent you usually do anything to keep yourself well so you can bring your child up, not consume poison because you've been fine so far!

At what point have I said I'm going to feed Olbas Oil to my child?

To be fair, your original post sets out the following facts; you've always consumed a few drops of Olbas Oil to treat colds, you're now pregnant and wondering if it is dangerous or toxic.

It's not ridiculous to advise you NOT to take it when pregnant (and assume that's what you are considering) any medication you take passes to your baby in utero. Why else make a thread like this and tell everyone you're pregnant?

In fact, why take a chance at all? There are plenty of over the counter medications which successfully treat cold symptoms. You can also inhale Olbas Oil if you wish.