From: repnomar@leland.Stanford.EDU (Janet M. Lafler)
Subject: Re: Period
Organization: DSG, Stanford University, CA 94305, USA
Date: Thu, 30 Jul 92 07:28:19 GMT

In article <1992Jul30.033918.3724@nuscc.nus.sg> polsak@nuscc.nus.sg (Suzaina Abdul Kadir (Ms)) writes:
>
>I had a talk with a group of women friends last
>night and the topin of menstruation, PMS etc etc
>came about. A friend then mentioned that it *is*
>possible to *induce* your period if it happens to
>be a few days late already.
>
>My enquiry is whether this is true ? That you can go
>to the doctor and ask them to *induce* your period ?

First of all, there are several herbs that can be used
to induce menstruation.  They are *not* recommended for
women who think that they might be pregnant, because
such an herbally-induced miscarriage can be *very*
dangerous.  However, on a couple of occasions when my
period was late and I knew that I could not be pregnant,
I have induced menstruation by drinking herbal teas.
The primary herb used to induce menstruation is pennyroyal
leaf - not pennyroyal oil, which can be toxic!  I don't
know if pennyroyal is available where you are; it's sold
in any of a number of healthfood stores and herb and spice
companies here in the Bay Area.  In case you think this is
too earthy-crunchy for words, _Our Bodies, Ourselves_, the
famous women's health book, suggests a tea made of penny-
royal as a remedy for amenorrhea (absence of menstrual
periods).  Some other emmenagogues are tansy and motherwort,
also in the form of teas made from the leaves.  With any of 
these, be careful not to use them unless you are absolutely 
*sure* that you are not pregnant.

As for going to the doctor, there are various hormonal
treatments that will trigger and/or regulate menstruation,
but doctors don't usually like to prescribe them unless
you haven't menstruated for several months, or have a
history of extremely irregular periods.

>Is this a form of abortion ? But, in the case
>that my friend was talking about abortion was not
>really in the picture since the woman wasn't concerned
>about pregnancy or not, just that she wanted to get
>her period over and done with before she went on some
>trip or other.

It's not abortion if you're not pregnant.  There is the
"morning after" pill (not the same as the famous French
abortion pill, RU 486), which induces miscarriage.  It
can have nasty side effects, whether or not you were 
pregnant when you took it, and there's evidence that
it's far more dangerous than a surgical abortion.  

Then there's menstrual extraction, which is removing the
lining of the uterus at about the time that the menstrual
period is due.  If you were pregnant, the fetus would 
be aborted.  This procedure is not available through
regular medical facilities; you have to find a self-help
group of women who perform the procedure on one another.
There may be long-term health or fertility problems with
this procedure if it is done frequently over a long period
of time, although so far I haven't heard about any nasty
side-effects.

For more information on all of this, see _Our Bodies,
Ourselves_, from which some of the above info was culled.

/Janet
-- 
Internet: repnomar@leland.stanford.edu // GEnie: J.LAFLER
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"Turnips are strongly emotional vegetables...."
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