Can drinking parsley and/or ginger tea coax your period on?

Warning:

TMI first part: So, I’m a tad late, and a tad sexually active, and a tad careless with my pill takeage (often end up taking two pills one day and zero the day before and after). But, we are always super careful with condoms, and four pregnancy tests have given me a negative result. So I’m pretty sure I’m not pregnant.

But I would like this period to come faster, so I know I’m not pregnant. It would give me peace of mind. I have tried masturbating like motherfuck and nipple stimulation (good times!), and running.

TMI part over.

I’ve been reading on the intrawebs that if you make a tea of ginger and parsley and you’re late but due to menstruate, it can bring it on faster.

Most of me is like shmeesh. But part is me is like, “bwuh?”

Is there any truth to this, dopers? Kind of hoping WhyNot will pop into this thread, as she’s a pretty reliable source on herbal solutions for lady issues.

Highly unlikely, especially over the short term.

Now, if I read that women who regularly supplement their good diet with plenty of extra herbs and spices, such as ginger, I’d not be surprised in the least if these same women had more regular cycles. These things tend to be beneficial to overall health, and the people taking/eating such things are probably on top of their health already.

If you mean “is ginger and parsley tea an effective abortifacient”, no. Even apart from that, it isn’t going to accelerate the timing of menstruation.

I did some superficial Googling, but there doesn’t seem to be any actual evidence - just the usual alternative medicine BS.

Regards,
Shodan

Worrying about your period can make your period late. If that’s the case, if you do something to release the anxiety, you’ll get often your period. (ever had a late period right around an exam, and then your period comes just a couple hours after the exam is done? same thing.) In that sense tea might help.

You might want to select an alternate contraceptive method, such as Nuvaring, which does not involve remembering your pill daily. There are a lot options nowadays.

BTW “restoring the menses” was 1700-era term for first trimester abortion, so a lot of what you’re going to find on herbalist type websites is really just coyly phrased and potentially dangerous old-timey agents to induce miscarriage.

Dunno the answer to your question, but I did want to thank you for these two sentences, which made my morning. :smiley:

Short answer- those herbs are not going to help.

Long answer-
Relax- stress will not help.
Consider alternative contraception- depot, coil, implant, Mirena- lots out there.
If multiple reliable tests are negative (i.e. not bought from the 99c store) you are not pregnant.
If nothing happens period-wise in a week, take more tests…be prepared with a plan in case they are positive (sometimes it takes a while to get that positive).
If pregnancy tests are negative and the sucker still hasn’t shown up after 2 weeks- see your doctor.

Thanks for the answers guys. I’m not so good at the “relaxing” stuff . . . maybe tonight I will just get a bottle of wine and go to town. I have an appointment with my doc in a week and I’ll see about getting something that doesn’t require daily pills. This stress is just not worth it.

Also, for the record, I’m not looking for a home-made abortifaectant. I really just want my period. Thanks!

I can’t, sadly, add a whole lot to what’s already been said.

Yes, most “restore cycles” herbals mentioned in classic literature were indeed abortifacaents. There are no safe herbal abortifacaents for home use. Most of them make you deathly ill, and have a high failure rate and cause birth defects. So if you decide to use one and manage not to kill yourself and it doesn’t work, you need a medical or surgical abortion anyhow. I suggest skipping the dangerous step and just going straight to an MD.

Being on the Pill but not being great about taking it has probably set your hormone levels a bit out of whack. Your body is “waiting” for the estrogen to progesterone ratio to get to the right level to trigger menstruation. Now, could I recommend herbals which might influence your hormone levels? Well, maybe…but I won’t. :wink: First of all, I can’t do that kind of complicated, individual work without actually seeing you and doing a full work up. Secondly, they don’t work quickly; they’re for long term regulation of the cycles, not immediate onset of menstruation. Thirdly, you’re already mucking around with hormones on the Pill, and I don’t want to add to that with herbals. It would just throw you off whack further for your next cycle and quite possibly render the birth control ineffective, and it’s just not worth it for temporary peace of mind.

I agree with **irishgirl **(except that I disagree about the pregnancy tests from the dollar store. Here, anyhow, they’re the same as the expensive one and must still meet FDA approval. Pregnancy tests from the dollar store are just as sensitive and effective as the drugstore ones. I don’t know if that’s the case in Ireland or not.) Try to relax, take another test in a week if your period hasn’t come, and see your doctor in two weeks if it still hasn’t come.

A doctor once told me that for women who don’t have once you’re in the postluteal phase, almost nothing delays a period, except for women who have some sort of hormonal imbalance (like low progesterone production). The way I understood it, the factors that may delay a period are most likely to happen in the pre-luteal phase. It’s possible you just didn’t ovulate this month. Relaxing certainly couldn’t hurt–unless you stress out because relaxing isn’t working. :slight_smile: Hope this gets resolved for you soon! I think almost all of us women have been there.

Well, I hope she didn’t ovulate this month, being on the Pill and all. :smiley:

I thought the same thing you did initially re: luteal phase, but then I realized the OP is on hormonal birth control to prevent ovulation, so she shouldn’t be having a luteal phase at all! Had to delete three paragraphs of perfectly good post, I did. :smack:

Similarly but also differently, if I don’t get mine in a week I’m calling the doctor, since I had a Mirena installed last month and while I’d be thrilled if it ended up stopping my periods ASAP (I’ve been on the pilll continuously and only having them a couple times a year for ages) it kind of worries me that it’s been five weeks since the last one and I haven’t had one yet. Very annoying.

Wear white pants. Nothing will bring on a period quicker.

I have known of unreliable tests bought online or from £ shops-mostly ones that are past the expiry date or made in Outer Mongolia.
A good brand, with the right expiry date and instructions in English, is accurate.

“Home Pregrarcy Kit” expired 1999 and instructions in “Engrish”…not so much.

In the US, such items cannot be sold. They must meet FDA requirements in manufacture and be unexpired or selling them is a crime. True, there is a chance you will encounter an expired product due to a store’s unlawful conduct. But Attorneys General cut their teeth on nice juicy expiration cases. Its like fish in a barrel.

Thanks for the reassurance guys. I spoke to my sexual partner today and he said he would be shocked if I were pregnant, considering we use three methods, two of them perfectly. I suppose now it’s just time to play the waiting game . . .

sort of off-topic, but while we are here, does anyone have any recommendations for non-pill-based hormonal birth control?

ENDOMETRIAL LINING HO!

I have never been so excited to put a tampon in.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Zsofia!

I’ve been back and forth between the depo shot and the pills for about 5 years, and i absolutely adored the shot! You get it every three months, and for me it stopped my period completely! Be warned though, it does make you gain a little weight, but for me, it was totally worth not having to remember that pill every stinking day and** deal with the period!

Eh, I’m 99% sure I’m not pregnant. I’m just sick of worrying that I’m going to get it at some inopportune time.

Mirena comes very highly recommended if you want hormones you don’t have to think about.

Tampon WOOT! :smiley:

Non pill based include:
Nuvaring - a flexible plastic ring you insert into the vagina and stays in for a month. Everyone I know who has Nuvaring, freaking loves Nuvaring.

Ortho-Evra - aka “The patch” a transdermal delivery system, basically you put a hormone-infused sticker on your ass and swap it out for a new sticker once a week.

Depo-Provera - you get a shot every three months. Some women have bad side effects, others don’t; seems to be the most intense love it/hate it option.

Mirena - an IUD that uses a very small amount of hormones. You can get one inserted even if you haven’t had kids, but some doctors will resist it. Try your local Planned Parenthood for an evaluation of whether you are a good candidate.

One of my co-workers uses Nuvaring. During one of those conversations that happen when a bunch of women who know each other well stand around sharing way, way TMI, I found out that the thing has to be refrigerated. That means it’s still really cold when you put it in.

I now have a vivid memory of an otherwise sort of mousy supervisor of mine making a rather sexually graphic gesture into herself as she realized that and cried out exactly what I put in the spoiler box.