I have read in a few places/different teks people discussing the internal use of essential oil of lemon.

I'm wondering: is this really safe??? Is it safe if diluted? I know some oils can be taken internally, and others can't.

I became obsessed with essential oils when I was in high school and shelled out $2000 to build the ultimate collection. One time, many years ago, I decided to have a "citrus bath" (filled the tub with hot water and put citrus oils in), and I had to jump out after a few minutes because my skin was BRIGHT RED and BURNING. I used lemon, lemon balm, and mandarin.

Ever since then I've been quite sketched out by all three of them. For some reason I had never considered they could be an irritant. Too much limonene can definitely irritate me just from being around it.

Anyway, it might not have been specifically the lemon that bothered me (I use it to mop my floors all the time), but what is the internal safety status? I just don't like to learn things (especially involving essential oils, drugs, or the body) the hard way.

Now a NEROLI bath, a drop of rose beneath a pillowcase, or a drop of vanilla bean oil in your hair...

Lemon oil is about 65% limonene, 13% betapinene (the nausea-reducing terpene) and tons of other trace compounds.

The lemon oil I got is organic and it is ok for internal use. In fact, on the little box it came in, it says you can take 2 drops 3x a day.

Sometimes without any specific reason, like maybe every other day or once a week, I take a couple of drops of it.. I love the after taste!. It does have a slight burning on the throat as it goes down, but it seems very "healing", once I was about to get a sore throat and after taking the lemon oil, the next day it was gone. Might have been coincidence, but it seemed like it wasnt. Also sometimes there's the lemon burps that come up, but they seem fine to me

Here's the one I have bought. You can look up their other oils, it says which ones are recommended for oral use and which ones arent.

http://www.pranarom.com/...o/FAM00100/SSF00120/2445

Im attaching the PDF with GC-MS analysis of the particular batch I bought, in case anybody is wondering the exact constituents of lemon oil

In the US, I'm fairly certain it is in violation of FDA provisions to advertise essential oils for human consumption. In the case of the lemon oil I purchased, I was able to verify that the company uses gc/ms for quality control and many people ingest their oils (found it in their forum) despite their statement that it's "not for internal use."

My lemon oil package says "Ingestion can lead to lung damage" but not what amounts have that effect.