Birth Control Alternatives

[eclipse76]

100% Natural and 99.2% efficient: Copper. See Paragard

Yes, but that also carries other risks, and the way it effects your cycle can make you go crazy. :twocents-02cents:

I've been using Paragard for almost 10 months, and it hasn't effected my cycle at all. I could set a clock by my period. It did make my cramps worse for a few months, but I consider that a fair trade for 10 years of hormone-free BC.

A friend had problems with it, but for the removal part [gory details censored]. But if hormones make you suicidal, it's still better.

 

[Rose]

100% Natural and 99.2% efficient: Copper. See Paragard

Yes, but that also carries other risks, and the way it effects your cycle can make you go crazy. :twocents-02cents:

I've been using Paragard for almost 10 months, and it hasn't effected my cycle at all. I could set a clock by my period. It did make my cramps worse for a few months, but I consider that a fair trade for 10 years of hormone-free BC.

A friend had problems with it, but for the removal part [gory details censored]. But if hormones make you suicidal, it's still better.

That's not the risk I was mentioning. At least for my mother anyways, hers had migrated somehow and she had to have an invasive procedure to get it removed.

No birth control is a perfect solution. Some people have amazing experiences with it (yay! Not suicidal on hormones and it gets rid of acne, congrats!) and some people have horrible side effects (boo! Hormones make you gain lots of weight, feel manic and don't regulate your periods, horrible!). That's just some of the experiences that I've had with the pill, there's loads of others with other types. :? In a perfect world we'd all just have on/off switches instead. That would be a heck of a lot easier.

 

[JerryBoBerry]

I worked for a couple of super old-school feminists who started protesting the in the sixties and among a number of interesting books they had on birth control and feminine care was a book printed in the fifties or sixties that had about 200 different abortion methods in it that ranged from DIY to bring-a-friend to maybe-you-should-seek-professional-help-for-this. A lot of the methods were centuries old and others were more modern, all things considered. I think that the drugs and methods available now are probably a lot more effective and safe, but that there are alternatives for those too poor/scared/whatever to go to a clinic.

I'll admit I've found many other natural alternatives I wasn't aware of since I started googling because of this thread. But my original 'knee-jerk' reaction to using herbs and such as birth control was kind of brought again up in that research. (my joke about calling them parents)

The main concern I have with it is; has there been any scientific studies involving the effectiveness or side-effects of using other measures?

I couldn't find any. And most of the sites I went to just had anecdotal evidence at best. Several in particular mentioned a woman (Robin Bennet) who did a study of her own. (for the sake of motivation i searched her name. She sells natural healing books, medicine and conducts clinics for pay) According to her study she gathered 12 women she knew who agreed to take Queen Anne's Lace (QAL) for a year to see what happened. Three of them got pregnant. A couple 'felt pregnant' but didn't confirm so they went ahead and took some other medication to resume their periods (i don't know specifically what that means). One woman stopped the study because she wanted to get pregnant. Half of them also used condoms and withdrawal methods during the study.

So just looking at the numbers you really only have 11 in the study since one dropped out. Half the original amount used two other means of protection, one of which has a proven track record to be a rather high success rate when done properly. So that leaves 5 actual women who remained in the study and JUST used QAL. Of those five, three of them got pregnant. In the author's quotes she spun this as a great thing because 'only 3 out of 12 got pregnant and the one who dropped out was able to get pregnant proving it's reversible.' [paraphrased] To which I say she hasn't proven it works yet so 'reversible' is entirely open for debate. In my mind the numbers are really at that 3 out of 5, or 60% pregnancy rate. The withdrawal method alone has a much lower 22% chance of failure. They would have done better by simply pulling out. Really according to her numbers the only thing out there in existence that has a higher pregnancy rate is doing absolutely nothing at all while having sex all the time.

The point of this isn't really to argue the effective rates, it was simply to point out I couldn't find any true scientific studies that have been done. That woman's 'study' was NOT scientific in any way and the fact she's using it as evidence to sell her books and products makes me laugh.

I realize probably one reason there hasn't been major study's on natural methods is because then the big drug companies involved wouldn't make their profits from selling pills if carrot seeds worked. But it would go a long way toward making the general public more open to it if there were. So far all i can see is every web page referencing a study done in china showing it did something in the reproductive cycle of animals and that Robin Bennet's "anecdotal story telling" that she purports to be a study. :lol: (see, still laughing at that one).

Does anyone know of an actual study done on any of the herbal methods? And by that I mean involving a decent number of woman to be statistically relevant. The woman involved in the study aren't also using other methods, even withdrawal or timing their cycles. That is about the only way we can truly tell if one of the natural herbs work, or if it's just one of the other methods they might be using in conjunction.


For the sake of openness here is the testimony quoted on so many webpages i've ran across.

Robin Bennet gathered 12 female volunteers to test the qal seeds for 12 months. "During the study, three women apparently conceived; one confirmed her pregnancy with a laboratory test and terminated it clinically. She had been using the carrot seeds daily until the month she conceived when she used them on only three of the recommended 7-8 days around ovulation. The others felt pregnant but did not confirm their suspicions. The both used herbal emmenagogues and menstruated. One of the two women used seeds for 7-8 days around ovulation. The other women used them daily. None of the other women in the study became pregnant, and half were using QAL as their only method of birth control (including when they had sexual intercourse during ovulation). Half used withdrawal and condoms as back up but only during ovulation. One woman in the study stopped taking the seeds in order to conceive and had a healthy pregnancy and baby, suggesting their antifertility effects are temporary and reversible." 2 The majority of women in the study reported no side effects. A few women have noticed an occasional side effect of slight constipation, from the seeds being a bit too drying in the colon. Which can be remedied by increased water consumption.

 

[Paulie Walnuts]

100% Natural and 99.2% efficient: Copper. See Paragard

My wife has used this since she was in her early 20s. She never had any problems until 5 or so yrs ago when she had one removed as it had began to grow into her uterus.
:shock:
but she had it far longer than recommended so no wonder. After a year she had a new one put in and so far only a slight cramp now and then, no real issues with cycle times or the like. Actually she is now more regular than she ever was she says.

She's a pretty sexually active little minx so she gave the thing a damn good workout over her lifetime, and no kids to show for it.

Paragaurd has my vote :lol: