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What can i do NOW? What is my Best Option?
High Risk Exposures to Sperm
and you are now at high risk for pregnancy.
Immediately after exposure to sperm/semen it is in the vagina, common household items can be used to help kill the sperm before they get into the cervical canal and uterus beyond. First try to squeeze out the semen, wiping it away. Sitting on the toilet and blowing your nose contracts those muscles and can help, bowel movements can also force semen out. Then you can do one of a couple things to try and kill the remaining sperm. Two tablets of non-chewable, pure ascorbic acid (a type of vitamin c) can be placed in the vagina against the cervix and allowed to dissolve. For more info on ascorbic acid. Lemon juice would be another alternative, rinsing the vagina gently with pure or slightly diluted lemon juice will also help kill sperm. Both of these remedies will probably cause irritation to the vaginal tissues. If it is too much, this side effect can be remedied by taking a bath, or gently douching with water. I say gently, because douching because you want to rinse sperm out, not force them in any further. I've also read that garlic, might have some spermacical activities. If you don't have easy access to anything else it might be worth a try. Peel and bruise a clove and push it up against your cervix and leave it there for 8 hours.
I wouldn't trust these remedies to kill every sperm but they can probably get most of them. The following day it might be wise to go for emergency contraceptive pills at the local planned parenthood.
If it is too late for emergency contraceptive pills, then your next best option in my opinion would be to use an implantation inhibitor, which works by making the uterus temporarily unsuitable for a fertilized egg. My first choice would be queen anne's lace seeds. 1 teaspoon of seeds CHEWED per day, wash them down with a glass of water. Make sure you chew them well so that the oils are released. These are taken for the next 7 to 10 days then stopped. They are not easy to find, although I have found some online sources where you can order them. This is something to have on hand just in case, rather than search for in the time of crisis.
If you are unable to obtain or can't use Queen Anne's Lace seeds (also known as wild carrot). [follow the links for more detailed information and how-to's] Then Vitamin C or Rutin would be your next best alternative. I have no opinion on which is more effective when it comes to vitamin c or rutin. Personally I really don't know much about rutin other than what Susun Weed wrote in her book. Vitamin c is used more often than rutin. But perhaps as more women become aware of these alternatives and tell me of their experiences when trying to prevent pregnancy, we will get a better feel for their effectiveness. For doses and more info on Rutin follow the above link.
When using vitamin c as an emergency contraceptive or implantation inhibitor, 6 grams of vitamin c (pure ascorbic acid, check the ingredients) are taken each day, divided into 500mg or 1000 mg doses (1000 mg = 1 gram) are spaced over the 24 hour day. 6 to 10 grams are taken per day for the next 10 days then stopped. However, I do think that the queen anne's lace seeds are more effective than the vitamin c is at preventing implantation of a fertilized egg.
In the meantime obtain two or three early detection pregnancy tests. If possible try to find the ones which can give an accurate reading 10 days after ovulation has occurred. You will use these tests as early warning in case the vitamin c did not work. Rather than just waiting for menstruation to arrive, and potentially wasting valuable time if you did conceive and the steps you took to inhibit implantation didn't work.
The first pregnancy test is taken 12 days after being exposed to sperm, (if 3 tests are bought) the second test is taken two days later, and the final test is taken 1 week after the last test was taken.
Most abortive herbs have a strong scent, if you get herbs that are old or harvested or stored improperly will be unlikely to give you the results you desire. So be choosey, you only get one shot. Herbs from walmart are unlikely to be as good as those from a local herb shop.
Dosages for the various herbs at this time would be at or near abortive strength, I hesitate to use the more toxic herbs in their abortive doses unless the pregnancy has been confirmed. When it is this early, its hard to find a test accurate enough to be accurate. So again, use your discression, and base your decisions on the information you gathered in previous pages, and use them only if you really feel it is neccessary.
Vitamin C can be used in place of the abortive herbs, and is more easily found than some of the herbs. Intuition tells me that herbs of excellent quality may be more effective at disrupting pregnancy before menses is due, but I don't have any data to back that up. I've seen it work and not work, fewer women have reported in on the herbs so its hard to say how effective they are.
For complet information read my website in detail. Starting with Terminating Pregnancy then work your way down the Herbal abortive directory page
I also think that it is important to determine how far along the pregnancy is before attempting any of the home remedies.
Now with a positive test she breaks them out. Because her period is due in the next few days her chances are good that she will be able to get menstruation started. But just in case she makes an appointment at the abortion clinic. She starts with the vitamin c using abortifacient doses, 10 - 12 grams per day - divided into 500mg doses (1000mg = 1 gram) taken every hour. Taking 1500mg before bedtime and setting the alarm to go off 3 hours later to take another dose. She continues this for 3 days, menstruation is now due, but there is no sign of bleeding, which is not uncommon because if usually takes a minimum of 5 days of self-treatment in cases of confirmed pregnancy before bleeding will begin.
On the 4th day of self-treatment she adds 1000mg of Dong Quai taken every 4 hours. The reason for taking the vitamin c for a few days before adding the Dong Quai is to give the vitamin c a few days to deprive the uterus of progesterone, which should weaken the eggs grip on the uterine wall. This way when the Dong Quai is added and the uterus is stimulated and contracting it should be easier to knock the egg loose and get menstruation started.
She can continue taking this for up to 10 days. 14 days if she really wants to or thinks it is worth it. If she wanted she could add a tincture of black cohosh for the final four days before throwing in the towel and falling back on Plan B, the abortion clinic.
If bleeding begins on its own - once bleeding is flowing like a normal period she would discontinue the vitamin c & herbs.
If spotting starts but does not seem inclined to become a full flow, our subject could do one of two things, she could encourage her uterus to contract by having one or more orgasms. Or she could add an extra one time dose of the dong quai. She could also do both, to try and get the blood to flow more like a regular period, then herbs and vitamins would be discontinued.
If she decided not to continue with the vitamin C, she could use the Dong Quai by itself or a different abortifacient herb. A uterine contractor and/or stimulant would be appropriate, herbs like Dong Quai, blue cohosh, pennyroyal and tansy. There is information about all these herbs here on the website, research them carefully and choose one that is appropriate for you. Using herbs is not without risk, and you should read up on what can go wrong as well as what to expect. Read about the individual herbs, some shouldn't be used by certain people or in certain situations, you will find the specifics in other sections of the website. Make all your decisions informed ones. And don't just take my word for it, do your own research. For more information on terminating pregnancy with herbs or vitamin c click here.
Before Menstruation is due - when menses is due in about 5 days its a perfect time to begin abortive herbs if a high risk exposure to semen has been identified. Susun Weed's favorite herb for use during this time is Blue Cohosh, but any good quality abortive herb is likely to be effective. The earlier the pregnancy is the easier it will be to disrupt, but don't be fooled, terminating a pregnancy is NOT an easy task. Our bodies are designed to protect and nurture the embryo, disrupting the process is not easy especially if one is healthy and the pregnancy is too.
~ What you can do.
There are several options and methods to choose from. Lets go back to our sample scenarios, and say that one of our subject's pregnancy tests came out positive. She had purchased some ascorbic acid and some Dong Quai capsules while out shopping form pregnancy tests to have on hand just in case.
Vitamin C used Unsuccessfully as an Emergency Contraceptive
If in another situation she had used vitamin c to try to prevent implantation this would alter the length of time she should take it, and may cause her to decide to try a completely different herb.
I still think vitamin c is a good choice, and with a confirmed test abortifacient doses would be used. I also think using Dong Quai along with it would be important. She could use the vitamin c for an additional 5-7 days and combine it with Dong Quai -- because the vitamin c taken previously would have been working to interfere with progesterone uptake in the uterus and adding the Dong Quai may be just the thing to start the uterus contracting and expel the egg. By continuing the vitamin c at a higher dose you can continue to prevent the uterus from utilizing the progesterone efficiently.
Section
Ending Pregnancy
