Essential Oils with Dr. Ann Huntington

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Come join me May 1st through the sixth so that you can rest rediscover your strengths, reconnect with yourself and those physicians like you who are ready to leave work at work. And re-energize. This is the invitation for you to make 2023 your year. Join me in Costa Rica in this really amazing, non-judgmental, intimate decision community.

I am gonna show you how to rest and how to recharge. Let's transform your brain. So that you can start to dream the life that you always wanted this year in 2023. I can't wait to learn all about what kind of year you're gonna have after this conference. Take care. Hello. Welcome to Beyond ADHD, a Physician's Perspective.

I am Dr. Diana Mercado. Marmarosh. I'm a family medicine physician practicing in rural Texas. I used to be hindered by my adhd, but I now. See it as a gift that helps me show up as a person. I was always meant to be both

in my work and in my personal life. In the past two years, I've come to realize that unlearning some of my beliefs and some of my habits were just as important as learning the new set of.

Hello. I am so excited to be chatting with you guys today about a really cool topic that most of us might not be aware about. And so it's, you're in for an amazing treat. Today we are gonna be talking about essential. Oils, and I want to introduce you. A real close friend of mine, Dr.

Ann Huntington. She's actually a physician. She's an internal medicine trained hospitalist medicine physician, and she's also a fellow of the American College of Physicians. And she. She's been very busy during this pandemic. She has lots of expertise in quality, patient safety, peer review, privileging and credentialing.

And she was actually the director, medical director of over 50 hospitalists. And she was able to successfully lead them through this pandemic and help all the patients and her colleagues. She really believed in lifestyle. And she thinks that this is the foundation to medical care and integrative medicine.

And she is actually the founder and c e o of give more Naturally it's l C and it All about essential oils, and she's launching an unbranded C m E course for physicians on the safety and research of essential oils as an integrative tool. So she's gonna tell us all about how she got into this area and if there's any tools or tips that might be helpful for focusing or for improving our mental health.

So I'm super excited about today's. So Dr. Huntington, as I've always, everybody probably already heard it in my intro, but you and I are having a conversation as two colleagues, but these are just our opinions, right? These are not meant to be Taken as we are their physician.

So they have to go talk to their own physicians and figure out whether this is for them. But anyways, Dr. Huntington, tell me how you got into this essential

Dr. Ann Huntington: oils. Thank you and thanks for having me. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for that introduction. I guess I'll go backwards to my outpatient practice for about seven years after I finished residency, I was an outpatient doc, primary care internal medicine doc.

And then I also did inpatient medicine as well, a hybrid role and As I got into that role, I realized there were so many things that I wish I could do that I just didn't have all the tools for. I could certainly help people control their chronic diseases, very complex situations, and, get tight control of their diabetes and their hypertension and really help them.

But I started delving into lifestyle medicine and as many people know and our listeners will know, lifestyle medicine is really the status and practice, study and practice of medicine through a healthy lifestyle. So through whole food, plant-based medicine whole food, plant-based diet, regular exercise, appropriate sleep and stress management, and reducing toxins and healthy relationships, and all of those things, and that really became a foundation.

For my practice, I really was focused on helping people, get healthier that way and really helping people get off of unnecessary medications that may be, a polypharmacy situation. As we would say, lots of side effects from those. Some of those were absolutely necessary to continue, but.

I focused on that quite a bit and then I would have all these patients come to me and say they would be taking all these supplements and I had no clue what they were talking about, or I didn't know their research on them or the safety. And you probably had that as well. We didn't really get trained on any of that.

I didn't get trained on nutrition or on. Supplements or vitamins or integrative medicine that wasn't part of my medical training, but I was always curious. I was open to hearing what my patients were trying to do to improve their wellness, improve their help. And I had one patient who told me she was using essential oils, and I remember sitting in the exam room, trying to, listen, and I just looked up at her, raised an eyebrow and I was like, I don't know anything about these.

I know they potentially can cause skin irritation, that's all I know. And I couldn't help her. And she didn't push the, she didn't push the conversation. We moved on to other things, but I really couldn't help her in that way. And I know that. Some of my patients who really had a they wanted a natural approach.

If I couldn't answer their questions, they would go elsewhere. They would seek out other, kind of practitioners or people on the internet or Dr. Google or whoever to try to find out the answers to their questions. And so in the background of all of that, I reached out to a friend one day when my kids just had cough and congestion.

This was several years ago before the pandemic and. I knew it was self-limited. I knew they were gonna be okay. It wasn't a big deal but I knew that, we could have a rough few days. And so I reached out to a friend who I knew had some essential oils, and for whatever reason, I, asked her, do you have anything that could help this?

And she sent me home with a diffuser, a little water reservoir that can vaporize some of these and some samples of certain certain essential oils. She taught me how to use it. and I went in, my kids were going to bed. I, tried it on myself first it was okay, and then I put it in their room and just I, stood outside as I turned it on and they were, settling down and it, within a few minutes I realized that their cough and congestion had subsided a bit.

They were, better. They went to sleep. They were much better the next morning. And because of the timeframe on, just seeing this and seeing the historical nature of, what would happen, I realized that they actually did something that they were biologically active.

That was my first kind of light bulb moment where I realized, that I needed to look into this more. And so I took a deep dive into this at that point and started looking at the research, started looking at the safety, started looking at the different use. And we can talk more about the different nuances to that, but it was a it's been a fascinating journey.

Somewhat of an overwhelming journey because there was not information out there that could it was really difficult to find the information that could satisfy a medical doctor to really learn about these. So it has taken me years to learn, to research, to experiment, experiment with these, to use them in my home and, with other folks to help them improve their wellbeing.

So it's been a journey, but it's been really exciting. I'm excited to share it with my physician colleagues, many of whom are already using these but don't know much about them, and they're interested to learn.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Awesome. In your current practice what do you mainly use them for? Do you use them for the cough like you're saying now?

Or do you use them for more energy? Do you use them for or do you use them or what are you how is that working into your current

Dr. Ann Huntington: It's a great question. So I am now about four years ago I left my outpatient practice and did have been doing just hospital medicine. So it's a very different environment than I would use in my outpatient practice.

There are, there's plenty of research in the hospital with these, and I won't get into it here, but I do, share how docs can learn more about this. The health system that I have uses essential oils. They don't use super high quality , and so I don't think they know how to really use them.

So we're working on that. And some protocols, some of the health systems that use them know how to use them much better and have different protocols and we can talk about some of those ways. I remember going into one of my patient's rooms who was there for bowel issue and Was quite nauseated, having a lot of nausea, and we were giving a lot of medications to help her reduce her nausea.

And as I walked in the room that day, I smelled peppermint. And I was like, oh, it's pretty distinct. You walk in the room, you can smell it. And a nurse had put some peppermint essential oil on an absorbent pad, on a little card and taped it to right by her head to the hospital bed right near, near her.

and it was interesting, and that wasn't something that I prescribed. They have a kind of a protocol and it was interesting that her, nausea, she seemed to feel like it helped that day, that she potentially, required a few lessons. Issue was, symptoms were a little bit better controlled as she got through this issue that we were treating that we were treating separately.

And that was a really interesting scenario to see that, that in the hospital setting there are uses for these. And there's some, some other uses that health systems are using often a lot for calming. And there's some potential, in as we learn more about these as physicians learn more about these, there's some potential.

To be able to, really help people get through their difficult situations in the hospital. That's currently where we're using it. And then of course there's a lot of physicians using them in the hospital. Anesthesiologists are using them in the perioperative setting and also some surgeons.

And then there's certainly in the outpatient setting, these are being used quite a bit and recommended and educated.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Awesome. And Have you yourself used them to help you with like focus or with any type of like energy or what have you used them

Dr. Ann Huntington: for? Yeah, that's a great question.

We use them for a lot of things. It depends on the situation. The more you learn, and especially as physicians, the more you know the mechanisms of action behind them, the more you know how to use them. So we'll talk about properties and then I'll talk about some specific oils that we. When you look at some of the properties of these essential oils, they're basically, and we're gonna take a dive back into organic chemistry.

So the docs who are listening, they, hopefully you don't have some bad memories from your organic chemistry days, . Cause we're gonna go back to a little bit of organic chemistry, but the way that these plants help protect themselves is through these essential oils, or there's, often tiny little oil sacks in the leaves, in the flowers, in the bark that can help protect the plant against disease, against pests and help pollinate and things like that.

So there's some beneficial properties for the plant. And this is derived from c. From a specific chemical constituents that occur in this, in these oils that have different properties. So when we're thinking of, calming benefits, , one of the, most calming chemical constituents is olol, and that is found in lavender and multiple other essential oils.

And when you see some of the very, calming essential oils you wanna look for lolol in the chemistry. And there's, of course others. So lavender is one that, that can be very calming and many of our listeners will, Probably had some stress in their lives and probably had some situations where they feel a little bit anxious or they feel a little bit worry.

And a lot of people will use lavender as the most commonly used essential oil. It's the most commonly studied over a thousand research studies and a lot of studies in the United States even and around the world on lavender itself. Roman camo is another one that, that people will use for calming.

And often, we use these two in kids as well, when kids are a little bit anxious and that can, really help do some calming. And I will say one of the most common ways to use these is through aromatherapy, and a lot of people will be familiar with that term. Where we can use it in a diffuser, like I mentioned, where you've got a little water reservoir, you put a few drops of essential oil in, and these essential oils are volatile, meaning they evaporate from liquid to gas at room temperature, and so they can go out in the air.

And the mechanism is like when you take bread out of the oven and you can smell it, you can smell the aroma. Or when you take cookies out of the oven, it's a little bit different. But these are. Little tiny micromolecules that evaporate in the air and can really exert their beneficial effect.

Some other ways that people use aromatherapy could be, like I mentioned with my patient on an absorbent pad or cloth. Sometimes they can be in a little dish and you can, take the lid off the little dish or cup and be able to get that aromatherapy or inhale that sometimes people will just smell them from an open bottle.

And if you, I've got one here. Just smell that aroma that can be very calming or soothing. Some people will put a drop in their hand, rub it together and inhale. So there's different ways to do aromatherapy and certainly massage. Folks who are massage therapists have used these a lot and will use sometimes massage aroma therapy where they'll, use, get that aroma benefit.

Also, the topical benefit, that's another way to use these. the topical way where these can absorb into the skin. You have to be very careful and know what you're doing when you use these topically. Because every, not everything that you put on your skin is good for the skin. And and sometimes skin can be very sensitive to this.

But that's another way to use these. So when you're thinking of and feel free to jump in if you have any other specific questions about that, but then when we're thinking about, alertness or sometimes. Sometimes people will use ones that can help with a little bit of uplift and citrus oils have been felt to really provide a lot of uplift and a lot of, some happier thoughts.

So we think of orange for example. Most people love the smell of orange. And when you extract the essential oils from the orange peel or rind the chemical constituent limine in many of the citrus oils can be very uplifting and beneficial. . And then one of my other favorites is is peppermint.

And peppermint has a very kind of cool, clear aroma that can really, feels like it open up your airways if when people use like really strong peppermint gum, for example, it's often in flavorings when they use, peppermint gum or sometimes peppermint tea or even a drop of pepper.

I, I will do a drop of peppermint in my mouth for breath freshening. And that really can open up your sinuses and make you feel more alert. So people will often pair citrus oils with peppermint, for example, to help. Maybe when they're studying to help them focus or when they're trying to do a difficult task, they may pa you know, pair those together to help them focus a little better.

And that can be a really fun way to use. I'll stop there and see if you have any other, , any other specific questions, but that's a, that's a few of the ones that I use. There's some others but just a way to think about it. Either the calming side or the, uplifting side or even the, focus side, mental alertness.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Yeah. So I think that there is this is important to bring up because some people. To get in the zone or to get activated or to get yourself like ready to do a task that maybe sometimes we're not like, oh, I can't wait to do that task, right? , if you have a way to help yourself either.

For me it's candles I like to turn on candles and. Again, maybe it's the smell of it that just gets me there. I haven't tried essential oils yet, but I'm definitely open to trying something like that because the smell of the candle kind of helps me calm down or be more at ease and And so I could imagine, like you said, if you are with somebody who understands how much of it and what and when it could be very beneficial as a way for you to get yourself in that zone or get yourself To think about something different.

Because just like for some people it might be music that activates them. For some people it might be smells, right? For some people it might. And so I think this is a way for us to also consider, and like you said, you. Done some of this research and you understand that, we all try teas of different sorts, right?

And they are plant medicine, right? , all our medicines eventually are derived from something, right? And they are, it is just a different tool or it's a different method.

Dr. Ann Huntington: Absolutely. That was one of the reasons why I thought this was so important to share, is it is another tool. It doesn't mean that it replaces all of our other tools, but it really can enhance and augment our ability to, just really improve our lives with an additional tool.

And I agree. It often comes, our success in life often comes down to our routine. And I am reading the book Atomic Habits. I'm not sure , if you're reading that book. Yes. But it's a fantastic book that talks about, how life is really built upon our systems and our beliefs and then that leads to our habits.

And if we can have good habits that help us be successful, then we are often, very often to accomplish those tasks that we need to, even if they're difficult And One of the things that I've learned recently is if we're able to celebrate in a way, once we complete that ha that task, having just that pattern of Yep, I'm gonna do a difficult task.

I'm going to, get my setup where I need it to be, to improve the chances that I will get this done. And then I have a little way to celebrate and take a break. Once I've completed that, before I move on to my next task can be really Improve that, ability to do that and also improve our satisfaction in getting things done.

So that can be really fun. I know that, oftentimes when we are. Worried about focus. And this is, certainly when we're on screens a lot or when we are super tired, that can really reduce our ability to focus appropriately. And I think lifestyle is foundational, right? Having a healthy diet where you are really taking in the nutrients that you need to be fueled, hydrating getting good sleep at.

Really doing all of those things can help improve our chances of being able to focus, being alert, awake, not having that afternoon slump where we're super tired, right? We crash and then we, sometimes people fuel with coffee to get up, but, All those things are little habits that we can do that, a thousand habits can make for, really big changes in our lives.

And this is just one of those that can add to that routine. It's really fun. Yeah.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: And I'm sure like, Having some awareness of on these when you can't necessarily use some medications like for when you're pregnant or when you have other chronic conditions that maybe your autoimmune puts you more compromised.

Having the ability to again, reach to something more natural is just a way to also enhance, right? Or sometimes just being aware. Some people can't swallow pills or some people can't, so again, it's having different delivery methods that can really make a difference. So I think, yeah, it's so important.

Yes. And with Atomic Habits What they say is if you're able to habit stack, right? So if you add something like a pair with something that you don't like to do with something that you enjoy doing, and it's like you said, you're rewarding yourself for doing the thing that maybe you need to do or want to do.

And that can make a big difference. So for me, That means turning on the music and dancing to Shakira Aquin. I don't wanna do the dishes right . So it, it's or listening to a cool podcast or a good audible book while I'm doing the dishes. So it is just a way to figure out how can I still do the task or if I, and not make it be so hard with I like using and I've.

I like using the candle that usually has e equi, I can't even say the word eucalyptus. Is that how you say eucalyptus? Uhhuh. . Yeah. Eucalyptus. Does that, have you learned anything on that or does that have any type of, is there a eclipsis oils? I don't know why. I feel like that smell helps me to focus.

I don't know if there's anything with it or not, but I've, no, we all become a creature of habit. . , when you. Something and then is working. You don't change it, you just keep going to the same thing.

Dr. Ann Huntington: Yep. Exactly. Yeah, that's a great point. So everybody's so different. We're all so different.

Our body chemistry is super different. Just our preferences are different and sometimes. Different smells we really like, and then sometimes we really don't like 'em, and especially, as you mentioned through pregnancy, we can sometimes really, crave certain things and then the next week you're like, Nope, that's disgusting,

So it can change. But yeah, we should, so eucalyptus there is an essential oil that's eucalyptus and one of my family members grew up in California and loves Eucalyptus because it's there as well. And just that clean ar. And we actually use eucalyptus in the shower. When you're heating up the water just before you step in, you can drop a few drops of eucalyptus and have you get your little spa experience for a little while, and that can improve your day.

One thing to mention as we're talking about different preparations of these, that these products that contain essential oils is the quality. And it's interesting, the essential oil market is crazy. It's multi-billions of dollars and it's everywhere. Essential oils are every. But there's a distinction between the therapeutic, just the aroma and the therapeutic use.

The, you. I guess I should back up and say essential oils are in our food supply. They're used as flavorings in our food. They're used for, to enhance the flavor. Sometimes they can be used in our skincare products, in our candles, like you said, certain lotions, certain shampoos. And then, in massages that we would get, with an aromatherapy massage and then, on a therapeutic side.

And so sometimes we may be getting eucalyptus or lavender or tea tree in some of our product. But some of these products may actually not contain very much of the exact, of the actual essential oil because they're either diluted with other, other chemicals or other things that are in there.

And you may have very little of the chemistry to actually have a therapeutic benefit beyond the aroma. So that's one kind of distinction for, especially for the physicians who are listening, we're so used to having medi medications be pharmaceutical grade where if you say, all right, I'm gonna, prescribe a certain medication at a certain dose, you're pretty confident that you're gonna get that dose without much variation, right?

The supplement and nutraceutical industry totally different. Unregulate. You've got, lots of different suppliers and lots of different methods of processing and lots of things that, may not be what you what you think they are. So that's another thing to keep in mind when people are thinking about essential oils because they're everywhere.

But. It can be difficult to distinguish what are the highest quality and what are not diluted with a lesser expensive oil or with a vegetable oil without telling, telling the consumer. So that's something to keep in mind. When you're looking for high quality, make sure that there's a few, things that we can share with our listeners to find a higher quality essential oil if they're just buying the essential oil.

Look for the the name and the name of the essential oil and the parts of the plant that's used. Look for the Latin name that should be list. And it should be in a glass bottle rather than plastic. It should be in a kind of amber color to protect it from light and heat.

And it should be, it should smell like the plant. And some of us don't even know what the plants smell because some of them we may have never heard of or never walked through a field of lavender or, some of those are more common. Those are just some ways ideally it would say organic and it would be wildcrafted and it would, really be therapeutic grade.

Although there's many that will say their therapeutic grade and they may not be. So there's, it's pretty tricky to find a really high quality essential oil. I would look, certainly a, there's a lot of websites you. , sharing these, selling these. And very few of them actually, share a lot of the scientific knowledge and a lot of the, the.

Chemistry in the background behind them. So that's something to, just be aware of. But can be really, I don't wanna Go ahead. Put,

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: put you on the spot or Oh, yeah. But do you have one that, or two or three that you sometimes like, or do you, that you refer people to buy from or is that something that you're still like working

Dr. Ann Huntington: out?

That's a great question. I'm gonna answer that in a little bit indirect way by saying yes there's certain companies that are better than others and and so I have, found one that I stick with very generally in a lot of physicians. Stick with them. I don't share it publicly.

Because I'm not promoting any certain company, but there are ways that, that I'm working on to be able to share with people because people are asking me all the time where do you get the yours and how do you find them? One thing to look for from a testing standpoint, and this is really important to make sure they do G C M S testing or gas chromatography, ma mass spectroscopy, and that they actually probably label their lot number or batch number so that you can look up where this came from.

Now GC m s is not the only way to test. Some companies do just GC m s, but there's far more testing that goes into having the highest quality essential oil. So I would say look for a company that really does. Very extensive testing. Not just G C M S, but different other types of testing, organoleptic testing and some of the others.

My website actually has some information on testing that's much more detailed. And so there's ways to do that and to at the companies and look at the sourcing, where they get these from. Do they get them in the lab? Do they make them in the lab? Do they get them from. Small family farms or for, from commercial farms or from a lab.

Those are all important questions, but yeah it's a really interesting process. If you're getting a $5 essential oil at the supermarket, you're probably not getting the highest quality. They're expensive to produce. Whether it be, distillation or other. They can be pretty ex, expensive and they can also take a lot of plant matter to produce concentrated essential oil.

So what would

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: be a roundabout that you would think, okay, maybe we're on the right track, like a $50 one with saying something along, like you said, a glass and then amber looking container. And if they put something about G C M testing, then maybe we're in. Way, would it be something around the $50 mark just so that our, of course, everybody has to do their own investigation , and like we said, that we're not here to give you a physician advice and you still have to check with your own physician to make sure there's no contraindications with the current meds you're on yourself.

But just so that we have something in our minds of what we're going towards since maybe this is a thing we're all excited about and we're gonna go

Dr. Ann Huntington: exploring. Yep. It's a new thing. It's a whole new skillset set, actually. So it depends on the, it totally depends on the essential oil.

So citrus oils are relatively inexpensive somewhere in the 10 to $20 range, depending on the amount. It depends on how much. And then, lavender, peppermint, a little bit more expensive. In the 20 to, 20 to $30 range. And then something like Rose, which takes, tens of thousands of rose blossoms to actually, you.

Create enough essential oil for rose, essential oil can be a hundred, a couple hundred dollars. So it really depends on the essential oil. Some are just more costly to produce than others. I would say. This is, my website give more naturally. Dot com has information on testing and a lot of information on that, that people can can look for.

And they can certainly subscribe to my email list and we'll give a little bit, information over time about this and can certainly follow me. It has taken me a long time to learn about this and it can be overwhelming to people because there's so many options on the market and people wanna make the right choice and people wanna, try things out.

And I, and one other thing we should say is, as we've, as you've appropriately mentioned, yeah, we're not given medical advice. These actually aren't FDA approved. They're not regulat. And they're, I can't say that they cure or prevent, treat, any of the diseases, but I think they can help augment some of the ways that people are trying to feel good and trying to improve their quality of life.

So that's my biggest focus. But it's a fun it's a fun exploration. It's fun way to explore

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: and learn. And so tell me about your fun exploration that has now led you to like your passion. Project that is now your big business, right? So tell us about that, because I think you're really gonna disrupt the field of medicine in a good way.

And I know you have a course, so tell us about

Dr. Ann Huntington: all of that. Yeah, thank you. Because it took me so long to learn about this and to sift through all the research and to learn the safety and to learn really how to use these effectively, I created a course for physicians, a virtual course. On what I wish I would've known when I started this process.

A way for docs to learn in a much more succinct way. They can learn the research, they can feel confident about the safety as much as the information as we have on some of the most common essential oils. And they can learn about the market and the industry and where things can go wrong. So that, that's what I've done.

It's taken me a long time to compile all this information together, but it's entitled an evidence-based Approach to Essential Oils. And it's a virtual course that has c m. It is it's four weeks. It has some live q and as well. This is just for physicians and pharmacists and dentists at this time.

And then, there will be other information for folks who are not physicians, et cetera, in the future. But it's a really great way for docs to just learn the basics and take a deeper dive into the research and the safety and learn how their patients are using these. And part of the reason I created this course was because our patients are using.

All the time. I will often have patients coming in to the hospital and say, oh, I use this. And I'm like what do you use it for? And then we have a conversation and they're already using these and sometimes they get good education, sometimes they don't get great education and they don't know about 'em really well.

And that's a concern in the industry where you have, sometimes salespeople that are teaching, they're trying to sell. There's a varied degree of education and it's gonna be different than having your physician educate you about these. Look at your whole wellbeing, look at the medications you're on, the medical conditions you have.

What your kidney function looks like and liver function looks like, and all of those things to make sure that they can give their best recommendations. So that's why I created it. It's gonna be really fun. It's launching next week and we'll be we've got some information out there, but I'm super excited for people to take a deep dive and learn with me.

It'd be. .

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: This could become a vertical for them too, right? If they decided that they wanted to turn around and look into it in the future, as you continue to educate them they might decide that they, they might. Find a company that, that they really trust, with sa and who knows, right?

This could be something just like some people say, oh, here's some vitamins that you can try. This might be something ju It's not anything different than that. This is some essential oils that you might wanna try to enhance your mental health to enhance your energy level, to enhance , your overwhelm it to decrease your overwhelm and enhance your stress-free life.

Dr. Ann Huntington: ?

Yeah. Yeah. I think there's so much opportunity for us to learn additional tools to, help improve our quality of life and really they're, there's, they're so versatile because of, the way the chemistry is. They're just so versatile. They can be used in a lot of d.

Situations. We use them, like I mentioned, everywhere from helping, calm things down to, before sleep, to putting a little tea tree in my kids' really smelly tennis shoes, to help improve the aroma and everywhere in between. There's so many ways to, to use these.

And once, once you learn a lot about them, then you can. Feel more confident. It is, it's interesting. Some people use them far too much, I think, and they still, we still have to be careful because they're, people will say, oh, they're a hundred percent natural, they're a hundred percent safe.

That's not exactly true. There's always, a another side to everything. So people need to learn about these. But I think there's some really good benefits and so many physicians are, doing integrative medicine practices now. They're getting additional integrative training. There is some essential oil education in some of the integrative medicine training, but not as much as what I've, put together as a really good standalone course.

But they're, people are interested in their, telling their patients and giving them additional tools and paying it forward, which I think is really fun. Yeah.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: And I would be really interested in figuring out how I could help, like the parent of the kid who just is at their.

It's n right? Where they're like, oh my God, how do I, yeah. And or my Alzheimer patient who is just, does not have the awareness of why they are sound downing or why they're doing X, Y, and Z. Yeah. Like how cool would it be as a family member to have a tool. a help and to have the right tool, that is, yeah. Like you said, with the help of somebody who understands these and not just somebody who might take advantage of you cuz you're trying to do your best for them and you don't know what you're getting, right? Yeah. But, . Yeah. I think, like I said, I think this is a new tool that one should definitely look into because like you said, they're still using it, so you might as well understand what they're using so that yeah, you can facilitate the discussion because you, most of us think, oh, they're not paying attention to us or whatever, but they are like, if you they bring me all their supplements because I'm very open mind and. How much are you paying for that? That's my first question I asked. I'm like, did you realize these are just all vitamins? And I read it to them and I'm like, as long as you realize what's in here, and as then, and if you're okay with it, let's try it. Give it a three, four months of it.

And then if you really see a big like enhancement, why not? But if you don't notice a difference, then I don't want you spending in that, and so we have that discussion. Yeah, because sometimes they're not aware that what they are taking, they're double or triple taking it because they're also taking a supplementation of that specific vitamin B12 or that specific vitamin C and sink and all this other different ones, plus the multivitamin, plus the whatever they bought.

On the internet or something. Exactly. So I think it's so important for us to realize that when we are asking our patients, or even ourselves when we are, like, sometimes we don't mention all the other stuff that we're doing right. When we they ask us. Cause we're like, oh, that wasn't prescribed.

They don't need to know, but forget. Yes. It might like, it might have some enhancement or diminishing return. Unaware to you that you're oversaturated on something, right? Yeah, exactly. I really love what you're doing and like everything, sometimes we don't know why we are passionate and we hyper focus on something , but we gotta use that as.

As a tool to help others because you already did all the research. I'd rather come to you and just tell me what I really need to know Exactly. Because I don't wanna go and

Dr. Ann Huntington: figure it all out, yeah, I totally agree. We don't have time for that. . Exactly.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Work smarter, not harder, .

Dr. Ann Huntington: Exactly. Exactly.

I think that's so true. And going back to what you said about the mom, with the kids I do know that sometimes, sometimes kids, especially if they are, neuro. They maybe not, they may be a little cautious to try something new. It may be a little overwhelming for them.

And we're always cautious about what we put on kids' skin and things like that. Sometimes the moms will put the oils in their hair. and hold the kid that's, really upset and that can really provide some calming benefits. That's a little mom hack that we use because it can really really help soothe them and can really, be another way to redirect the situation similar to, like you said, your patients with, that are elderly and that may be a little agitated that can, that can really be soothing as well.

There's some fun and potentially really beneficial ways to use these. But it's, yeah. I think it's, the possibilities are endless. And really the opportunity is really fantastic. I will say my course has a significant safety component because as a physician I wanna make sure you know that what I'm doing is safe.

And of course, there's so much information out there. There's no way I could compile all, 20,000 plus. But we will talk about interactions. We will talk about specific patient populations and conditions and what to be cautious of, because I want docs to be empowered with the informations that's out there.

It, it's gonna be out there. The patients often are like, oh, that, that sounds great. I'm gonna try it. They're just like, Great to jump at it. And the docs on the opposite end of the spectrum are like, Ooh, that's new. That sounds woo. It sounds like snake oil, . I'm really nervous about that.

Is that safe? And so you've got people on the opposite ends of the spectrum, and there's nobody in between creating a balance to say we just need to, we need to bridge that gap. And so this is an effort to bridge the gap of what's happening right now. Educate physicians who are open-minded and who are willing to learn and also educate patients like, You can't use 30 essential oils and not expect, these are still metabolized in the body.

They may interact with your medications. They may, cause issues. You need to, there needs to be some balance here too. And ultimately for those people who are listening who are like many of my really hardcore lifestyle Madison colleagues. Absolutely, I agree. Lifestyle is foundational, right?

This is not going to reverse the effects of your fast food intake or your high sugar intake. Oh, oh man, . So this is a way to augment a healthy lifestyle and really improve that quality of. So I gotta throw that in there. .

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Yes. You have to point that out too much or too little of something.

It always gets us into trouble. So tell us again, where can people find you? Yeah,

Dr. Ann Huntington: so my company is Give More Naturally. The idea is to give more tools, more hope, and more help. And it is www dot give more naturally dot. And you can subscribe to our email list, even if you're not a physician, you can subscribe.

And then the course again is for physicians, pharmacists, dentists, cuz actually dentists are using them in their practice. They may not know some of the dental treatments have some clove and other essential oils in them. And It will, the registration's open now again at C M E for those who are, can get reimbursed.

And then it will close next week and we'll get it started. And

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: I talked her into giving us a code for listening. So would you mind sharing a code with us today, ? Yes.

Dr. Ann Huntington: Yeah. So for those folks who listen to Dr. Diana's podcast, we have a 10% off. So you would, when you go to check out type in podcasts as your coupon code, and I'll give you 10% off for this for listening to this session.

So I'm grateful for you to have and be on and being able to share this message.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Okay. So before you go, I always ask everybody this. These two last questions. The first one is, let's say, the audience that you have right now, we tend to have wondering attention. So if you just started listening right now, what is the takeaway point you want them to take away

Dr. Ann Huntington: today?

Yeah, great question. Essential oils in general are safe. They are effective if you get the right quality and know how to use them and they can really be a positive force for good in your life and in your patient's. But it's a lot of work to learn. So for the docs out there, come and take the course, listen and learn, and we will continue to learn together.

Awesome.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: One last question. In the next three years, what do you see yourself doing for fun?

Dr. Ann Huntington: For fun? Ooh, that's a great question. I as similar to many of the docs and other people that are listening, I have lots of interests, so I have to narrow. I still, I think this is really fun to share, this message with people.

So there will be some consulting opportunities. I think educating medical students and residents will be really fun, and I've had some of those opportunities. And then I love to travel, so I speak Spanish, so maybe we'll go to Costa Rica sometime together. and and love to, I really love to, connect with people and I think that's an amazing aspect of my job as a physician.

And also, an interest on the.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Hey, I would be like tax write off. I have to go test the original source of this essential oil, right? Like

Dr. Ann Huntington: all over the world. Go collect some, right? ? Yep. There. Yeah. Some of the companies, there's an opportunity go visit those places where they source the essential oil, so that could be an opportunity.

Hey, you and I, we gotta talk, . That's right. That's right. Let's plan.

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: Awesome. Thank you so much for coming. It's been a pleasure. You having

Dr. Ann Huntington: you. Thank you so much for having me. Have a great day everybody. Thank you for spending

Dr. Diana Mercado-Marmarosh: your time with me. I really believe that time is your most valuable asset.

Please subscribe to the podcast, share with your colleagues, and don't forget to check out my website@hdlivecoach.com where you can find out about my upcoming coaching group classes, as well as free master classes and other exciting events that are happening.