Eucalyptus Oil: Benefits, 15 Uses, Dilution & Side Effects

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Eucalyptus oil is the essential oil steam-distilled from the leaves of the eucalyptus tree, most often Eucalyptus globulus, and it's good for opening stuffy airways, calming coughs and chest colds, and soothing sore muscles and headaches.17 When you're stuffed up, I recommend breathing it in from steam or a diffuser, or rubbing it on your chest in coconut oil and then taking a hot shower.5

Open a bottle and the cool, sharp scent makes your nose feel clearer with the first breath. A stuffy nose, a wet cough and a tight chest are your airways doing their job, trapping a virus or an irritant in mucus and working to move it out, and eucalyptus oil helps that clearing along by thinning thick mucus and calming a swollen airway lining.18 Rest, fluids and your own immune system do the healing, because your body was designed to heal, and the oil helps you breathe, cough and sleep more easily while it does.

Cold-and-flu season is when it earns its place on the shelf, and eucalyptus oil for steam is part of the cold-and-flu kit in my Top 50 Healing Herbs & Essential Oils field guide, alongside elderberry syrup and echinacea tincture.1

Did you know?

• Chest rubs made with menthol, camphor and eucalyptus oil have been used by adults and children for more than a century.9

• Eucalyptol, eucalyptus oil's main compound, switches on the body's cold-sensing channel, TRPM8, and in lab tests it was at least six times as potent on the human version of that channel as on a mouse's.10

• As a vapor, eucalyptus oil worked even more strongly against microbes than it did on direct contact in lab tests.2

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What is eucalyptus oil?

Eucalyptus trees belong to the myrtle family and are mainly native to Australia, though some species now grow around the world.7 In a 2023 analysis of E. globulus oil, cineole made up 63.1%, with smaller amounts of p-cymene, alpha-pinene and limonene, and the oil used in the knee-surgery trial below tested at 61.46% cineole.24 Our guide to eucalyptus leaves covers the leaves themselves, and the oil has two relatives that are easy to confuse with it.

A short history of eucalyptus oil

In Indigenous Australian medicine, eucalyptus has long been used for colds, flu, fever, muscular aches, sores, internal pains and inflammation, and today its oil goes into medicines and cosmetics around the world.7 Reviewers who gathered the research on the oil describe a long history of traditional use with a good safety record.16

Traditional Chinese medicine reads an oil by its energetics. In my field guide's Chinese medicine profile, eucalyptus is cooling and pungent and works on the lungs, and it's best for thick congestion, cough and stuffy sinuses.1 Those are the same jobs modern researchers have tested it on, from stuffy noses to chest colds.153

What is eucalyptus oil good for?

In my field guide, I rank eucalyptus oil's top uses in this order: sinus congestion, cough and bronchitis, airway inflammation, muscle aches and airborne germs.1 Four of those five jobs center on your airways, where the oil helps your body clear thick mucus and calm a swollen lining, and the fifth is easing tired, sore muscles.

How eucalyptus oil works in your body

Eucalyptus oil works mainly through cineole, which cools the nerves in your nose, thins thick mucus and calms an inflamed airway lining, so you breathe more easily and can clear what your body is trying to move out.2181 I recommend diffusing it for respiratory conditions, the common cold among them, because it seems to open up the nasal passages.27 From the steam in your bowl to an easier night, it works in five steps:

The same cooling channels seem to matter for inflammation. In mice, eucalyptol calmed inflamed paws and lungs, and the effect disappeared in mice bred without those channels.10 That may be part of why a diluted rub feels soothing on sore muscles, and the knee-surgery trial below shows that breathing it in can ease pain.4

Eucalyptus oil benefits

Eucalyptus oil does its best-known work in your airways, the first two uses on my list, and it also helps with pain, headaches, allergy season and focus.1

Does eucalyptus oil help a cold, cough and congestion?

When you're really congested with bronchitis, or you have mucus and phlegm you're coughing up, I recommend rubbing eucalyptus oil on your chest with coconut oil.30 Our guide to essential oils for cough compares eucalyptus with thyme oil, peppermint oil and five other oils for a wet or dry cough, and the trials below show what eucalyptus itself has done.

In six primary-care clinics in northern Israel, a throat spray with eucalyptus brought relief within 20 minutes. Sixty adults with upper respiratory infections sprayed either a blend of five oils (eucalyptus, lemon eucalyptus, peppermint, rosemary and Syrian oregano) or a placebo spray five times a day for 3 days, in a randomized trial in which neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what. Twenty minutes after spraying, 73.1% of the spray group said their most bothersome symptom, a sore throat, hoarseness or cough, had improved, against 41.2% with placebo.20 By day 3 both groups had improved and the gap between them was no longer significant, so the spray's clearest benefit is fast relief in the first 20 minutes.

At bedtime, a chest rub helps a coughing child and their parents sleep. In the children's rub trial, 138 children aged 2 to 11 with colds and a night cough got a rub of 4.8% camphor, 2.6% menthol and 1.2% eucalyptus oil on the chest and neck, plain petroleum jelly, or nothing. The rub beat doing nothing for cough, congestion and sleep, and against petroleum jelly its clearest wins were better sleep for the children and their parents and a better overall symptom score.9

Capsules of purified cineole, eucalyptus oil's main compound, have also been tested on their own. In the bronchitis trial, funded by the capsules' maker, 242 adults took 200 mg of cineole three times a day or placebo for 10 days, and by day 4 their coughing fits had improved 1.18 points on cineole against 0.64 on placebo, with a better overall bronchitis score too.14 In 152 adults with acute sinusitis, cineole capsules lowered a sinus symptom score from 15.6 to 3.0 in a week, against 9.2 with placebo, with less headache when bending forward and a less blocked nose.15 In a 6-month winter trial of 242 adults with COPD, adding cineole capsules to their usual care brought fewer, shorter and milder flare-ups.31

A 2022 review that pooled six randomized trials with 1,857 people with coughs from colds and bronchitis, four of them testing combination formulas rather than the plain oil, found eucalyptus products made a cough 45% more likely to improve or clear than placebo (a relative risk of 1.45), a benefit the reviewers judged small, with no serious side effects.3

Those trials show what cineole can do in your airways, and at home the oil gets there in four simple ways: a steam bowl, a diffuser, a hot shower and a diluted chest rub.1 A neti pot rinse and the other steps in our guide to natural cold remedies work on the same congestion, and essential oils for colds covers the oils that pair well with eucalyptus. For a stuffy nose, start with steam; for a wet cough, add a chest rub and a hot shower.15

Can eucalyptus oil ease pain and headaches?

In my book Ancient Remedies, I describe eucalyptol as a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory and point to the knee-surgery trial as one reason the oil helps with pain,27 which fits what eucalyptol did to inflammation in the mouse studies above.10

In that trial, from Korea, 52 of the 56 adults who enrolled after total knee replacement finished. Their average age was 68.2, and they breathed in eucalyptus oil or almond oil for 30 minutes during their daily sessions on a knee-motion machine, 3 days in a row, in a randomized trial in which neither the people nor the researchers knew who got what. Pain was rated on a 0-to-10 scale before and after each session. With eucalyptus, pain fell 1.1, 1.2 and 1.2 points on days 1, 2 and 3, while with almond oil it rose 0.4, 0.3 and 0.1 points.4 Blood pressure was also lower in the eucalyptus group on day 2, while heart rate and two blood markers of inflammation didn't differ between the groups.

Headache is a common problem during dialysis, and at a dialysis center in Tehran, 33 adults with dialysis headache were randomly assigned to breathe 1 mL of eucalyptus oil from about a foot away (30 cm) for 5 minutes at the start of dialysis, to have acupressure, or to receive routine care, across three sessions. Headache eased in both the eucalyptus and acupressure groups compared with routine care, and this small trial found no difference between the two.19 Our guide to essential oils for headaches covers other oils that help, and natural painkillers covers more ways to ease pain without a pill. For pain, I recommend diffusing a few drops.27 The knee-surgery patients breathed the oil from a gauze pad held under the nose.4

Does eucalyptus oil help allergies?

Breathing it from a diffuser is one of the ways I recommend using eucalyptus for allergies and stuffy sinus colds.5 The mask trial ran in Korea while mask-wearing was required during the COVID-19 pandemic. Adults aged 19 to 60 with allergic rhinitis were randomly assigned to put a drop of a four-oil blend of eucalyptus, lemon, Roman chamomile and peppermint on their mask in the morning and afternoon and another on their pillow at bedtime, or to go without aromatherapy. On a standard nasal symptom score, the blend group went from 6.75 at the start to 4.46 after 1 week and 3.86 after 2 weeks, while the comparison group went from 6.90 to 6.21 and then 6.45. Fatigue eased in the blend group too.17

Soft toys are a major source of dust mites and their allergens, and sleeping with them raises a child's chance of becoming sensitized to mites.29 In a test of 36 soft toys, washing them in a solution of 0.2% to 0.4% eucalyptus oil cut live dust mites by 95.1%, the same as freezing them overnight and slightly better than an hour of hot tumble drying (89.1%), and it cut mite allergen from 9.12 to 0.37 micrograms per gram.29 For more on what drives a stuffy, itchy allergy season, see seasonal allergy symptoms and essential oils for allergies. If your child sleeps with stuffed animals, a eucalyptus wash is an easy step to add to allergy season, and use 13 below shows how.

How to use eucalyptus oil: 15 ways

Diluting means mixing the drops into a carrier oil such as coconut, jojoba oil or olive oil. Two drops in a teaspoon makes about a 2% blend, my everyday strength for the body, and 3 drops makes about 3%, the top of my range for a chest rub.1 In a diffuser, use 3 to 5 drops per 100 mL of water and run it 30 to 60 minutes at a time, with breaks, in a ventilated room.1 Uses 1 to 5 below help your breathing and throat through cold and allergy season, uses 6 to 11 cover your ear, aches, focus, skin and bugs, uses 12 to 14 work around the house, and use 15 is a mouth rinse.

1. Steam open a stuffy nose. Add 2 to 3 drops to a bowl of hot water, drape a towel over your head and breathe the steam deeply, or sprinkle 3 drops on the floor of a hot shower.132 My home remedy for a cold is to mix eucalyptus and peppermint oils, add ginger oil, put a towel over your head over a bowl of warm water and take deep breaths, or put the same oils in a diffuser.5
2. Diffuse it through cold-and-flu season. Run 3 to 5 drops per 100 mL of water in a diffuser at home or at work, and pair it with the daily habits in how to boost your immune system.1
3. Rub it on your chest for a wet cough. Mix 2 to 3 drops into a teaspoon of coconut oil, rub it on your chest and then stand in a hot shower.15 My homemade vapor rub mixes olive oil, coconut oil and beeswax with peppermint and eucalyptus.335
4. Soothe a sore throat. Rub the same diluted blend on your throat and chest,271 or gargle with a drop or two in water (use 15). Our guide to essential oils for sore throat has more blends.
5. Breathe easier in allergy season. Diffuse 3 to 5 drops at home or at work through allergy season.51
6. Comfort an aching ear. For an earache, I recommend gently massaging the oil into the skin around your ear, mixed first into a teaspoon of carrier oil and kept on the outside of the ear.321
7. Massage sore muscles. For sore muscles, I recommend adding 2 or 3 drops to 1 tablespoon of coconut oil and massaging it into the sore spot, about a 1% blend.27 Our homemade muscle rub and muscle recovery guides have more.
8. Ease a headache. Mix 2 to 3 drops into a teaspoon of carrier oil and rub it into your temples and the back of your neck.271
9. Wake up your focus. Diffuse eucalyptus at home or at work, or rub a few diluted drops on your temples or neck, whenever you want to feel energized, alert and focused.321 It's an easy first step on an afternoon of brain fog.
10. Calm minor skin irritations. For a small scrape, a bug bite or an irritated patch of skin, dab on 2 drops mixed into a teaspoon of carrier oil.1 Our guide to wound care covers cleaning a cut first.
11. Keep mosquitoes and ticks away. For bug season, choose a repellent labeled oil of lemon eucalyptus or PMD, apply it as the label directs, and see homemade bug spray and home remedies for mosquito bites for more.13
12. Clean surfaces and discourage mold. Add a few drops to a homemade surface cleaner or this disinfectant spray. In lab tests, eucalyptus oil works against a range of bacteria and fungi, molds among them.162
13. Wash dust mites out of soft toys. Add eucalyptus oil to the wash water at the strengths used in the soft-toy test above, about 1 1/2 teaspoons to 1 tablespoon per gallon.29
14. Discourage rats. In lab pens, house rats ate much less food from the side sprayed with 5%, 10% or 20% eucalyptus oil.34 That was a lab pen study, so treat it as an experiment: 5% was the lowest strength tested.
15. Rinse your mouth and throat. Gargle with 1 to 2 drops of eucalyptus oil stirred into a little water, then spit it out.32 See homemade mouthwash with essential oils and how to get rid of bad breath for more.

Eucalyptus oil side effects & who should be careful

Never swallow eucalyptus oil. I've written that tree oils, eucalyptus among them, are dangerous to ingest,27 and on my show I've named it, along with birch and wintergreen, as an oil you should never take internally.36 Of 109 young children admitted to a Melbourne hospital after swallowing it, 28% became drowsy or less responsive and three were unconscious after 5 to 10 mL, though all recovered; minor effects can start after 2 to 3 mL.6 In a later Australian survey, nearly three in four children who got to the oil did it through a home vaporizer, most often one sitting at ground level, so keep bottles and vaporizer refills up high or locked away, with child-resistant caps.371 If anyone swallows it, call Poison Control at 1-800-222-1222 or emergency services right away.

Dilute it every time it touches your skin, at 2 to 3 drops per teaspoon of carrier oil, and patch test a new blend on your inner forearm for 24 hours first.1 In one documented case, a 6-year-old girl became unsteady, slurred her speech and lost consciousness after a eucalyptus home remedy was spread widely over her skin for hives, and she recovered within 6 hours of its removal.38

My rule is never to use eucalyptus near the face of a child under 6 and to diffuse it only lightly and briefly around young children.1 Children are much smaller, so use smaller amounts on older children, always in a carrier oil such as coconut oil.36 In the children's rub trial, parents of 28% of the children who got the rub reported a burning feeling on the skin, and 16% and 14% on the eyes and nose, so keep a rub on the chest and off the face.9 Some oil of lemon eucalyptus repellents are labeled not for children under 3, so check the label first.13

In a 4-year study at four hospitals in India, 55 people had seizures tied to essential-oil exposure, 22 of them first seizures and 33 breakthrough seizures in people with epilepsy, and the products involved held eucalyptus and camphor.35

With asthma or sensitive airways, start with a short, light exposure, such as one steam bowl or a brief diffuser session, and stop if your chest tightens or breathing gets harder. In one documented case, eucalyptus triggered a vocal cord spasm within minutes in a 46-year-old woman.39 Get medical care right away for breathing trouble that doesn't settle quickly.

Eucalyptus is toxic to dogs, cats and horses, and signs include drooling, vomiting, diarrhea, depression and weakness.40 Never apply it to a pet, keep bottles, rubs and sprayed corners out of reach, and diffuse it only where your pet can leave the room. Our guides to essential oils for pets and essential oil safety cover other oils too.

The bottom line

Eucalyptus oil: frequently asked questions

References

1. Axe J. Top 50 Healing Herbs & Essential Oils. DrAxe.com protocol; 2026 (Eucalyptus, Oil 04, p. 41: best for congestion, cough, sinus pressure and stuffy airways; top uses ranked sinus congestion, cough and bronchitis, airway inflammation, muscle aches, airborne germs; steam 2-3 drops in hot water, diffuse 3-5 drops, chest rub 2-3% in carrier, shower 3 drops on the floor; "1,8-cineole thins mucus and calms airway inflammation"; Chinese-medicine profile cooling, pungent, lungs; never swallow it, keep away from the face of children under 6; "Read This First" safety and dilution page, p. 39: children 2-6 years 0.5-1% with gentle oils only, daily adult body use 2%, patch test on the inner forearm for 24 hours, diffuse 3 to 5 drops per 100 mL of water for 30 to 60 minutes with breaks; "Your Natural Medicine Cabinet": eucalyptus oil for steam in the cold and flu kit).
2. Čmiková N, Galovičová L, Schwarzová M, Vukic MD, Vukovic NL, Kowalczewski PŁ, et al. Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of Eucalyptus globulus Essential Oil. Plants (Basel). 2023;12(5):1076. doi:10.3390/plants12051076
3. Her L, Kanjanasilp J, Chaiyakunapruk N, Sawangjit R. Efficacy and Safety of Eucalyptus for Relieving Cough: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials. J Integr Complement Med. 2022;28(3):218-226. doi:10.1089/jicm.2021.0226
4. Jun YS, Kang P, Min SS, Lee JM, Kim HK, Seol GH. Effect of eucalyptus oil inhalation on pain and inflammatory responses after total knee replacement: a randomized clinical trial. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:502727. doi:10.1155/2013/502727 (correction to Table 3 and Figure 2 units, Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2026;2026:9765463, doi:10.1155/ecam/9765463; conclusions unaffected)
5. Axe J. Fall Essential Oils for Colds, Sore Throats and More. Dr. Josh Axe on YouTube. October 18, 2017 (eucalyptus, peppermint and ginger steam under a towel, or in a diffuser, at 1:43; eucalyptus "the number one" oil to open the airways, diffused or in coconut oil on the chest before a hot shower, at 8:14; homemade vapor rub at 8:35).
6. Tibballs J. Clinical effects and management of eucalyptus oil ingestion in infants and young children. Med J Aust. 1995;163(4):177-80. doi:10.5694/j.1326-5377.1995.tb124516.x
7. Vuong QV, Chalmers AC, Jyoti Bhuyan D, Bowyer MC, Scarlett CJ. Botanical, Phytochemical, and Anticancer Properties of the Eucalyptus Species. Chem Biodivers. 2015;12(6):907-24. doi:10.1002/cbdv.201400327
8. Juergens LJ, Worth H, Juergens UR. New Perspectives for Mucolytic, Anti-inflammatory and Adjunctive Therapy with 1,8-Cineole in COPD and Asthma: Review on the New Therapeutic Approach. Adv Ther. 2020;37(5):1737-1753. doi:10.1007/s12325-020-01279-0
9. Paul IM, Beiler JS, King TS, Clapp ER, Vallati J, Berlin CM Jr. Vapor rub, petrolatum, and no treatment for children with nocturnal cough and cold symptoms. Pediatrics. 2010;126(6):1092-9. doi:10.1542/peds.2010-1601
10. Caceres AI, Liu B, Jabba SV, Achanta S, Morris JB, Jordt SE. Transient Receptor Potential Cation Channel Subfamily M Member 8 channels mediate the anti-inflammatory effects of eucalyptol. Br J Pharmacol. 2017;174(9):867-879. doi:10.1111/bph.13760
11. European Medicines Agency, Committee on Herbal Medicinal Products. Assessment report on Eucalyptus globulus Labill.; Eucalyptus polybractea R.T. Baker; Eucalyptus smithii R.T. Baker, aetheroleum. Final, Revision 1. EMA/HMPC/320282/2023; 20 November 2024 (p. 4: the European Pharmacopoeia oil, monograph 07/2021:0390, is steam-distilled and rectified, with 1,8-cineole minimum 70.0%).
12. Carroll SP, Loye J. PMD, a registered botanical mosquito repellent with deet-like efficacy. J Am Mosq Control Assoc. 2006;22(3):507-14. doi:10.2987/8756-971X(2006)22[507:PARBMR]2.0.CO;2
13. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Using Insect Repellents Safely and Effectively (oil of lemon eucalyptus products: some labels say not for children under the age of three).
14. Fischer J, Dethlefsen U. Efficacy of cineole in patients suffering from acute bronchitis: a placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Cough. 2013;9(1):25. doi:10.1186/1745-9974-9-25
15. Kehrl W, Sonnemann U, Dethlefsen U. Therapy for acute nonpurulent rhinosinusitis with cineole: results of a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial. Laryngoscope. 2004;114(4):738-42. doi:10.1097/00005537-200404000-00027
16. Sadlon AE, Lamson DW. Immune-modifying and antimicrobial effects of Eucalyptus oil and simple inhalation devices. Altern Med Rev. 2010;15(1):33-47.
17. Her J, Hur MH. The effects of mask applied aromatherapy on allergic rhinitis symptoms, fatigue, and quality of life related to allergic rhinitis in the COVID-19 era: a randomized controlled trial. J Korean Biol Nurs Sci. 2024;26(3):177-184. doi:10.7586/jkbns.24.021
18. Göbel H, Schmidt G, Soyka D. Effect of peppermint and eucalyptus oil preparations on neurophysiological and experimental algesimetric headache parameters. Cephalalgia. 1994;14(3):228-34. doi:10.1046/j.1468-2982.1994.014003228.x
19. Narimani MM, Motamed-Jahromi M, Radmehr M. Comparative Effectiveness of Acupressure and Eucalyptus Aromatherapy on Headache Severity in Hemodialysis Patients: A Randomized Controlled Clinical Trial With a Pretest-Posttest Design. Health Sci Rep. 2026;9(5):e72494. doi:10.1002/hsr2.72494
20. Ben-Arye E, Dudai N, Eini A, Torem M, Schiff E, Rakover Y. Treatment of upper respiratory tract infections in primary care: a randomized study using aromatic herbs. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2011;2011:690346. doi:10.1155/2011/690346
21. Burrow A, Eccles R, Jones AS. The effects of camphor, eucalyptus and menthol vapour on nasal resistance to airflow and nasal sensation. Acta Otolaryngol. 1983;96(1-2):157-61. doi:10.3109/00016488309132886
22. Hill N, Lenglet A, Arnéz AM, Carneiro I. Plant based insect repellent and insecticide treated bed nets to protect against malaria in areas of early evening biting vectors: double blind randomised placebo controlled clinical trial in the Bolivian Amazon. BMJ. 2007;335(7628):1023. doi:10.1136/bmj.39356.574641.55
23. Moore SJ, Darling ST, Sihuincha M, Padilla N, Devine GJ. A low-cost repellent for malaria vectors in the Americas: results of two field trials in Guatemala and Peru. Malar J. 2007;6:101. doi:10.1186/1475-2875-6-101
24. Gardulf A, Wohlfart I, Gustafson R. A prospective cross-over field trial shows protection of lemon eucalyptus extract against tick bites. J Med Entomol. 2004;41(6):1064-7. doi:10.1603/0022-2585-41.6.1064
25. Bachir RG, Benali M. Antibacterial activity of the essential oils from the leaves of Eucalyptus globulus against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus. Asian Pac J Trop Biomed. 2012;2(9):739-42. doi:10.1016/S2221-1691(12)60220-2
26. Schnitzler P, Schön K, Reichling J. Antiviral activity of Australian tea tree oil and eucalyptus oil against herpes simplex virus in cell culture. Pharmazie. 2001;56(4):343-7.
27. Axe J. Ancient Remedies: Secrets to Healing with Herbs, Essential Oils, CBD, and the Most Powerful Natural Medicine in History. Little, Brown Spark (Hachette Book Group); 2021 (eucalyptus entry: eucalyptol "a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory," the knee-replacement inhalation trial, diffusing for respiratory conditions, 2 or 3 drops on the chest and back of the neck for a cough, 2 or 3 drops into the temples and back of the neck for headaches, 2 or 3 drops in 1 tablespoon of coconut oil for sore muscles, "Don't take eucalyptus oil orally," dilute on children's skin; tree oils "dangerous to ingest," p. 147).
28. Serafino A, Sinibaldi Vallebona P, Andreola F, Zonfrillo M, Mercuri L, Federici M, et al. Stimulatory effect of Eucalyptus essential oil on innate cell-mediated immune response. BMC Immunol. 2008;9:17. doi:10.1186/1471-2172-9-17
29. Chang CF, Wu FF, Chen CY, Crane J, Siebers R. Effect of freezing, hot tumble drying and washing with eucalyptus oil on house dust mites in soft toys. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 2011;22(6):638-41. doi:10.1111/j.1399-3038.2011.01144.x
30. Axe J. How to Prevent & Heal Cold & Flu Naturally (Foods, Supplements, & Herbs for Rapid Recovery). The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2024 (eucalyptus rubbed on the chest with coconut oil for bronchitis and productive mucus and phlegm, at 23:00; YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw-cciZ5TTY&t=1380s).
31. Worth H, Schacher C, Dethlefsen U. Concomitant therapy with Cineole (Eucalyptole) reduces exacerbations in COPD: a placebo-controlled double-blind trial. Respir Res. 2009;10(1):69. doi:10.1186/1465-9921-10-69
32. Axe J, Rubin J. The Biblio Diet. Hachette Book Group; 2025. ISBN 9781546008439 (healing oils chapter, eucalyptus entry: steam inhalation under a towel, massaging the oil into the skin around the ear, studies on sinusitis, gargling 1 to 2 drops or applying it to the chest, diffusing it or rubbing a few drops on the temples or neck for energy and focus).
33. Axe J. Top 5 Essential Oils for Allergies & DIY Vapor Rub. Dr. Josh Axe on YouTube. March 30, 2017 (eucalyptus "the king of opening up the respiratory airways" at 4:05; vapor rub of olive oil, coconut oil, beeswax, peppermint and eucalyptus at 8:03).
34. Singla N, Thind RK, Mahal AK. Potential of eucalyptus oil as repellent against house rat, Rattus rattus. ScientificWorldJournal. 2014;2014:249284. doi:10.1155/2014/249284
35. Mathew T, K John S, Kamath V, Kumar R S, Jadav R, Swamy S, et al. Essential oil related seizures (EORS): A multi-center prospective study on essential oils and seizures in adults. Epilepsy Res. 2021;173:106626. doi:10.1016/j.eplepsyres.2021.106626
36. Axe J. Dangers of Essential Oils: Top 10 Essential Oil Mistakes to Avoid | Dr. Josh Axe. The Dr. Josh Axe Show. 2017 (oils never to take internally, eucalyptus among them, at 2:19-2:41; smaller amounts and a carrier oil for children at 7:13).
37. Day LM, Ozanne-Smith J, Parsons BJ, Dobbin M, Tibballs J. Eucalyptus oil poisoning among young children: mechanisms of access and the potential for prevention. Aust N Z J Public Health. 1997;21(3):297-302. doi:10.1111/j.1467-842x.1997.tb01703.x
38. Darben T, Cominos B, Lee CT. Topical eucalyptus oil poisoning. Australas J Dermatol. 1998;39(4):265-7. doi:10.1111/j.1440-0960.1998.tb01488.x
39. Huggins JT, Kaplan A, Martin-Harris B, Sahn SA. Eucalyptus as a specific irritant causing vocal cord dysfunction. Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol. 2004;93(3):299-303. doi:10.1016/S1081-1206(10)61505-0
40. ASPCA Animal Poison Control. Eucalyptus (toxic to dogs, cats and horses; toxic principle eucalyptol; signs: salivation, vomiting, diarrhea, depression, weakness).

Dr. Josh Axe, DC, DNM, CNS

Doctor of Natural Medicine · Founder, DrAxe.com

Dr. Axe is a certified doctor of natural medicine, clinical nutritionist, and multiple New York Times bestselling author. He has spent 20+ years in clinical practice helping people heal at the root cause and founded one of the most-visited natural-health platforms in the world.

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