Herbal Contraceptives

[Chrysalis]

Before I start my post, I want to make it very clear that I DO NOT have any intention of using herbal contraceptives as a primary or sole method of birth control. So there is no need to me, lol.

However, I find the whole concept very interesting. I was doing a web-search for alternative methods of birth control and stumbled across this site: http://www.sisterzeus.com/herbalcontraception.html
Due to the fact that I've had bad reactions to hormonal birth control methods like the pill, I'm wondering if herbs are a viable alternative. I'm open to the idea of trying them as a 2nd or even third method of BC, in addition to condoms or whatever else. I actually tried to find queen anne's lace seeds, but I'm having trouble finding a place that sells them. Hmmmm...

Has anyone here tried herbal contraceptives before? What do you think about them?

[Tesseract]

Funny you should mention this... I just finished reading a book by John Riddle called Eve's Herbs: A History of Contraception and Abortion in the West, and it makes very clear that women have been using herbs as contraceptives and abortifacients, apparently with relative safety and success, for thousands of years. There's been a gradual trend of increasing attempts by male-dominated societies to control women's fertility and access to herbal lore, which has become severe in the last 500 years or so. Riddle theorizes (and I think he is primarily paraphrasing several other scholars) that the burning times were primarily an attempt to cut off women's access to exactly this type of herbal lore. The attempt to suppress the information, unfortunately, has been largely successful, and while most of the herbs themselves are still available today, most women don't know about them, and there is a severe lack of reliable guidance as to effective forms and safe dosage.

There is a quite lengthy list of herbs, and some of them have been proven by modern western-style scientific animal studies to have contraceptive and/or abortifacient properties, at least in rats. Some of the herbs that were mentioned over and over again through the centuries were rue, pennyroyal, artemesia (wormwood), colocynth (bitter apple)... some of the other more common ones have already slipped my mind. Queen Anne's Lace is being used today by some rural American women who have managed to keep the lore in their families, reportedly with very good success.

Oh, yeah, he also mentioned this product,which is still sold today:
http://www.wonderlabs.com/itemleft.p...&ad=goowmlpink
Yep, a number of those herbs listed in the ingredients are known to have contraceptive/abortifacient qualities. According to Riddle, the label now contains a warning that pregnant women should not take it. Hmm, I wonder why? Morning-after pill, anyone?

[zoebird]

Susun Weed also has great information about this.

you might also be interested in Fertility Awareness Method for charting your cycles: Garden of Fertility.

[Vicky]

wow i had no idea, this is awesome !

[bstutzma]

I am glad the original poster said straight out that this would not be the primary method of birth control. I also use more than one method, herbal not being one of them.

If you do not want children, please use effective birth control, preferably, more than one method.

[zoebird]

b:

imo, even if you're using "effective" methods of birth control (meaning, chemical, barrier, etc), i think that two should be used. every method has a failure rate--including tubal ligations and similar. So, a double-up is always a good idea.

[Trueveggie14]

I'm amazed at the stories about Neem Oil. I have got to buy some of that. No side effect - spermicidal that men can and do take orally. Also shown to prevent some STDs when applied topically. Good mouth wash for preventing and killing gingivitis. Keeps the bugs away safely when rubbed into the skin. Clears up acne. Just Wow!!!

http://www.neemfoundation.org/health.htm

I'm also curious about the Pomegranate. According to the one website in the OP ..." the seeds contain an oestrone identical to the genuine hormone [estrogen] and states Punica seeds are the best source of plant oestrone to date. "
What I'm wondering is when we are going through menopause, could we use the pomegranate seeds instead of synthetic hormone therapy to prevent "manliness"???? LOL.

and hey Apricot kernels have "Anti-cancer" qualities? Guess it doesn't hurt to eat some apricots. But how exactly do you eat the kernel?

[zoebird]

grinding the pit helps.

[Trueveggie14]

So we grind up the apricot pit, then "sprinkle" on food or put in a smoothie???

[zoebird]

yup, that typically works. you can grate it, grind it in a mill of sorts, use a mortar and pestle. . .etc.

but, same nutrients that prevent cancer in that are also found in millet, which is much easier to obtain (unless you eat a lot of fresh apricots) and you simply cook it like rice or quinoa.