Lemon oil to relieve nausea in patients severely suffering from cancer
Nausea and vomiting is often present in patients with advanced cancer. Alternative treatment methods to alleviate symptoms are well accepted by patients and caregivers although proof of their effectiveness is often missing.
The palliative care unit of the University Hospital Krems regularly uses aromatic oils to support therapy. Priv. Doz. Dr. Gudrun Kreye investigated the effectiveness of lemon oil pads in relieving nausea and vomiting in a group of patients.
205 times lemon oil on cotton pads was used by 66 different cancer patients to relieve nausea and/or vomiting. After 10 minutes, patients were asked whether the lemon oil pad was effective against their symptoms. If not, medical interventions were administered. In 149 cases, the lemon oil pad was helpful. Aromatherapy with lemon oil alleviated nausea and vomiting especially when symptoms were related to cortical issues, thus occurred in connection with anxiety and pain. If nausea and vomiting were due to impaired gastric emptying, the symptoms hardly improved by using the lemon oil pad.
Although the effectiveness of aromatherapy for palliative patients suffering from nausea and vomiting cannot be significantly proven yet in large surveys, the lemon oil pads used at the University Hospital Krems showed a positive effect against nausea and vomiting. The use of rescue medication was not necessary in many cases.
The publication is freely available to everyone due to the KL's open access agreement with the publisher MDPI.KREYE, G., WASL, M., DIETZ, A., KLAFFEL, D., GROSELJI-STRELE, A., EBERHARD, K. & GLECHNER, A. 2022. Aromatherapy in Palliative Care: A Single-Institute Retrospective Analysis Evaluating the Effect of Lemon Oil Pads against Nausea and Vomiting in Advanced Cancer Patients. Cancers, 14.
