Herbal Birth Control?

[Ithaca]

My fiancée and I are both against the idea of using chemical contraceptives such as the pill, and neither of us much like the idea of barrier methods like condoms or diaphragms, etc., mostly for comfort and intimacy reasons. So that pretty much leaves us with spermicides and natural family planning, which I have read can be very effective if used properly (right?). However, I recently heard that there are herbal methods of birth control that act like the chemical hormonal contraceptives, but I wasn't able to find any specific information about them, like what exactly they do, and how safe and effective they are. Can anyone help out or point me to a good source of info?

[dancingdoc2]

Hmmmm....never heard of such a product.

I would like to chime in on your following notion:

> My fiancée and I are both against the idea of using chemical contraceptives such as the pill, and neither of us much like the idea of barrier methods like condoms or diaphragms, etc., mostly for comfort and intimacy reasons. So that pretty much leaves us with spermicides and natural family planning, which I have read can be very effective if used properly (right?).

I agree with you about condoms. With regard to diaphragms I cheerfully offer another point of view. Have you ever used one? Preparation and insertion of device can and should be incorporated into your love making. Applying a spermacide and inserting it are only momentary minor interruptions. I share in and often do the honors while keeping the "fires" stoked with a free hand. You and any other couple can too. Stop looking at things in the negative and look at the how to work with them. I would urge you to give the diaphragm a try and involve your partner with its preparation and insertion.

[Brandye]

Spermicides ARE chemical; the pill is a hormonal approach.

You have ignored the intra-uterine device. These got a bad rap twenty years ago when the Dalkon Shield, one specific product, caused many problems. The iud has been used for thousands of years in both humans and other animals. The natives of Taiwan have used pebbles from a "magical" stream for at least 1000 years. The local midwife did the insertion. Camel drivers on long trips inserted stones into the camels' uterus so she would be available the whole trip. The iud is still available; offers similar protection to the pill; is not noticeable during sex and needs little maintenance and is tolerated well by most women.

"Natural" methods were discussed here just last week. They range from looking at the calensar to rather sophisticated analysis of the mucous around the service. They are described by clicking through the saidebar on the opening page. Generally, practicioners are soon called parents. The simplest approach means blocking out about a third of the month; the best about a quarter.

There are herbal approaches. They are notoriously unreliable because it difficult to measure the strength of the dose when you are boiling roots. Many of them, including common kitchen spices, are not really contraceptives but are abortifacaents. They cause cramping of the uterus and expulsion of whatever is in there. There is always the possibility of damage to the foetus if you do become pregnant. You really do not want to be messing with this kind of home cooking.

I do not agree with Dancing Doc. Although I did use a diaphragm for a few years, insertion can be an issue - especially at first. There is a standing joke among diaphragm users about the spring sproinging and the thing bouncing around the bathroom. Hey, they are great and represented a major step forward when they became available in Germany in the late 19th century. They are still available and I still have patients using them. Their effectiveness is about the same as condoms.

[Ithaca]

I had completely forgotten about the IUD,thanks for mentioning that. I discussed that with her earlier today, and she seemed pretty supportive of that idea (as long as we were to use the copper variety, but I'll get into that later), until she realized that the device actually goes inside the uterus, not on the cervix. When I told her that, she quickly changed her mind, claiming that she didn't want any foreign objects in her uterus.

The reason that we do not want to use a preogesterone IUD or rely on the pill for birth control is that in the rare event that the IUD or the pill should fail and she does get pregnant, we do not want the supplemental hormones to force a miscarriage, we will just go through with the pregnancy. Are there any statistics available as to how common it is for hormonal birth control to force miscarriages when they failed to prevent pregnancy in the first place?

[Brandye]

The incidence is very, very low with modern hormonal systems. If, after ending the pills for the month, or removing the patch or the ring, the period does not arrive, contact the prescriber, get tested and go on with the pregnancy. The issue you raise was a concern several years ago; dosage is presently so low that it is not a major concern.

The system that puts the lowest amount of hormone in the bloodstream is the ring. And it goes into the vagina, not the uterus.