Please don’t give up birth control in favour of using fruit, vegetables and herbs.
We shouldn’t have to say it but a tweet offering a list of ‘home remedies’ to use as contraception has gone viral, with over 12,000 likes.
Most of the remedies are not effective at preventing you getting pregnant and some of them are even toxic.
Botanist James Wong tweeted: ‘As a botanist I can tell you this tweet with 1000s of shares could result in the deaths of women. It needs taking down, fast.’
One particular piece of advice that was particularly worrying was using the plant pennroyal, as if you eat or drink it in high quantities, it could make you seriously ill.
The graphic says ‘Pennroyal promotes menstrual flow and helps initiate self-abortion. Often it is prescribed with other herbs to prevent pregnancy. Boil 8 ounces of distilled or spring water.’
In reality, too much pennroyal can cause liver damage, seizures and even death.
Other recommendations include papaya, figs and ginger.
It says: ‘Papaya is an effective birth control remedy. You can eat papaya twice a day for 3-4 days after having an unsafe intercourse. It will help prevent pregnancy. Also, the seeds of papaya reduce the sperm count in males.’
For figs, it adds: ‘It is one of the best conception control methods. Eat 2-3 dried pieces of figs after having unsafe intercourse. It prevents pregnancy and treats many other irregularities in the body.’
‘Ginger promotes menstrual flow. Drink 2 cups of strong ginger tea every day to defer pregnancy.’
The list also suggests injecting neem oil, from the neem tree, into the ‘uterine horns’. We have no idea how you’re expected to do that but it’s probably not a great idea to start trying to inject anything that hasn’t been recommended by a health professional inside your own body.
Many of the others on the list can cause side effects like vomiting or irritation if you take too much.
Bethany Fawcett, contraceptive and sexual health nurse for young people’s sexual health and wellbeing charity Brook, says: ‘Herbs and fruits should never be used as methods of contraception and some listed in this tweet can even be toxic and dangerous.
‘We encourage anyone looking for information and advice about contraception to access accurate and reliable sources provided by healthcare professionals such as brook.org.uk or the NHS website.’
Bethany added that there are many different types of contraception available and it is best to speak to your GP if you don’t like the current method you are using, rather than turning to the internet.
‘There are 15 methods of contraception available, and what works best for you will depend on your body and your preferences.
‘For those who do not want to use hormonal contraception, options include barrier methods such as condoms and internal condoms, diaphragms and caps, as well as the IUD (also known as the coil).
‘The IUD is a method of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) and is one of the most effective methods available. It is also the most effective type of emergency contraception.
‘It is important to remember that condoms are the only method of contraception to protect against sexually transmitted infections as well as unwanted pregnancy.’
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