Letter to the Editor
Commenton“TheEffectsofVariousEssentialOilson
EpilepsyandAcuteSeizure:ASystematicReview”
ThomasMathew ,
1
SajiK.John,
1
VikramKamath,
2
andAshaShaji
1
1
Department of Neurology, St. John’s Medical College Hospital, Sarjapura Road, Bengaluru 560034, Karnataka, India
2
Department of Neurology, Apollo Hospitals, Bannerghatta Road, Bengaluru 560076, Karnataka, India
Correspondence should be addressed to omas Mathew; chakkuthom@hotmail.com
Received 4 June 2019; Accepted 10 September 2019; Published 30 September 2019
Academic Editor: Daniela Rigano
Copyright © 2019 omas Mathew et al. is is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution
License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is
properly cited.
We have read with great interest the article by Bahr et al.
entitled e Effects of Various Essential Oils on Epilepsy and
Acute Seizure: A Systematic Review, published in May 2019
edition [1]. e article is very informative and is pertinent in
the current context, as a lot of essential oils are used and
misused by the public. e effects/outcome of various es-
sential oils on epilepsy and acute seizure are well described in
the article. As the authors have reviewed only the publi-
cations up to 2017, they have missed one important pub-
lication on seizures induced by the inhalation of the essential
oil of eucalyptus. We, from Bangalore, South India, had
described 10 cases of eucalyptus oil inhalation-induced
seizures in 2018 [2]. We have also presented a paper on
essential oil-related seizures due to balms and various
preparations containing the mixture of essential oils of
eucalyptus and camphor in a recently concluded American
Epilepsy Society meeting in New Orleans [3]. Indeed, we
observed that many of the cases of the so-called “idiopathic
seizures” are induced and provoked by essential oils of
eucalyptus and camphor as they are the most common
commercially available essential oils. We have also observed
that inhalation, ingestion, and even topical application can
trigger seizure. In our case series, indeed, topical application
was the commonest mode of exposure. Physicians are not
aware of the proconvulsant properties of these essential oils
and rarely enquire about the exposure to these in their
history taking [4]. As all these balms, oils, and other products
containing eucalyptus, camphor, and other epileptogenic
essential oils are freely sold in the market and are used by
many, thinking they are safe, it is high time that public,
especially those with seizure and epilepsy, should be
counselled to avoid these essential oils with proconvulsant
properties [5]. Articles like this should sensitize commercial
companies and regulatory authorities to put labels on
products with proconvulsant essential oils stating “poten-
tially proconvulsant and to be avoided by people with epi-
lepsy.” is may prevent many cases of essential oil-related
seizures, especially those secondary to usage of camphor and
eucalyptus.
ConflictsofInterest
e authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
References
[1] T. A. Bahr, D. Rodriguez, C. Beaumont, and K. Allred, “e
effects of various essential oils on epilepsy and acute seizure: a
systematic review,” Evidence-Based Complementary and Al-
ternative Medicine, vol. 2019, Article ID 6216745, 14 pages,
2019.
[2] T. Mathew, V. Kamath, R. S. Kumar et al., “Eucalyptus oil
inhalation-induced seizure: a novel, underrecognized, pre-
ventable cause of acute symptomatic seizure,” Epilepsia Open,
vol. 2, no. 3, pp. 350–354, 2017.
[3] T. Mathew, V. Kamath, R. Jadav et al., “Essential oil-induced
(EOIS) and provoked seizures (EOPS): a multicentric pro-
spective observational study from South India,” in Proceedings
of the 12 th Asian and Oceanian Epilepsy Congress, American
Epilepsy Society, Bali, Indonesia, June-July 2018.
Hindawi
Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Volume 2019, Article ID 6829428, 2 pages
https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6829428