CASTOR OIL..A POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS OLD WIVES TALE (Birth Induction)

Member Name: chrissypops

Product:	Birth Induction
Date:	25/09/01 (24949 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Can treat a wide range of disorders

Disadvantages: SHOULD NOT BE USED IN PREGNANCY

Castor oil has been for many years been given to a wide range of people for a number of reasons from relieving constipation to soothing arthritis. The castor oil plant has large palm-shaped leaves with 7-9 portions, cluster-like blossoms and prickly fruits, each carrying 3 seeds. All parts are poisonous, especially the beans. Castor beans affect all animals and humans. Even one of them may be sufficient to cause death. They contain some of the strongest toxins of our planet's flora: the alkaloid ricinin and the toxalbumin ricin, the latter being a plant lectin, or protein, more toxic even than strychnos and cyanides. What is more, it has the ability to accumulate in the body until the lethal dose is reached. The symptoms then are nausea and vomiting, stomachache, bloody diarrhea, headache, cold sweat, sleepiness, disorientation, fever, shortage of breath, seizures, followed by a collapse and death. It is also cultivated in many other countries as an ornamental annual plant 1-2 m high.

So with that basic information would you believe that the medical profession STILL recommend taking castor oil to induce labour? I'm afraid they do. Castor oil has been used as a natural induction for pregnant women for many years and there is no known regular dosage either. Many women get to their EDD Day ( estimated delivery day) and get impatient and try all sorts of old wives tales to try and induce labour before they go spare. I can understand that. Nine months is a long time to wait and with a bump the size of a mountain up your jumper its not easy. The thing is that unless your body is ready and your cervix is softened then nothing will happen until that baby is ready to come out. I must admit I was very lucky with both mine. Jess was born on her due date and Lucy was two weeks early, but even then I had had enough.

So how does castor oil work?


It is thought to act in one of several possible ways. By creating strong and spasmodic cram
ps of the intestines (which lie around and above the uterus at the end of pregnancy) it might cause a reflexive cramping and spasms of the uterine muscle, which might then turn into labour. It might work by having a dehydrating effect, and thereby causing uterine irritability from dehydration, and then labor ensues. It might stimulate the release of prostaglandin's from the inflammation of the intestines. Or it may have no real connection to the onset of labor at all, and be merely an unpleasant placebo. There has been no real research in whether taking castor oil is safe when trying to induce labour although the severe side effects are rare. I haven't personally taken it but I know of a few women who have and had some very unpleasant effect from it.

Someone who I was talking to, which spurred me into writing this opinion, collapsed after taking castor oil. Michelle was 39 weeks pregnant with her first child. She had been told by the midwife about ways you can induce labour, you know the ones, hot curry and a good sex session, bumpy rides in a car and castor oil. Michelle who had tried all the rest decided to go for castor oil. 2 tablespoons every 4 hours her midwife had told her and she would most likely go into labour within 24 hours. These methods might or might not work but she thought she would have a go anyway. What did she have to lose?

Well Michelle wasn't prepared for what happened in those 24 hours. 3 hours later she had terrible stomach ache and was doubled over with pain. After sitting on the toilet for the next hour or so as her system was clearing itself out so to speak, she started to have regular contractions. GREAT she thought, having diarrhea was worth it as long as it cleared up in time for the birth. Well it didnt and after another 4 hours, even though she was drinking, Michelle fainted in her kitchen. When her hubby called out for an ambulance, told them she was in labour but had fainted, they were on their way
. Michelle came to while she was in the ambulance and was frightened to death. She hadn't just fainted she had been unconscious. She had a drip in her arm as they had said with all the diarrhea she had become dehydrated. The worst was yet to come. Even though she had gone into labour, her blood pressure had dropped so low she was in shock, so they had to rush her in and she had a cesarean section.

I cant even begin to imagine what Michelle felt like. Luckily enough, baby Thomas was lifted out, safe and sound and although her had pooed inside her, he healthy but fractious. The pediatrician told Michelle that Thomas was distressed( reason why he had pooed inside her) as a result of her low blood pressure and the sudden onset of labour. He wasn't sure whether it was the castor oil that was to blame or just one of those things which happens sometimes in labour.


Thomas is now nearly a year old, healthy, happy and very bright, which she thanks her lucky stars for. Deep down she blames the castor oil for the rough labour she had. As a result of the trauma connected to her labour she had post natal depression and at one point, didnt want to touch her child. With the help of her friends and family she is now back to her old self and loves Thomas to pieces.

So please, don't whatever you do try Castor oil for natural labour induction. Personally I think nothing really works at inducing labour unless you body is really ready. This means the cervix has to be softened and ripe ready to thin out and dilate. Even scientists are still baffled in the how's, why 's and where fore's on what sets off labour. Some say that its a drop or an increase of certain hormones can cause the uterus to go into contractions. Others say its to do with hormones the baby gives off within the uterus which are passed through the umbilical cord and into the mothers blood. Whatever wondrous events sets labour off, it should be when the body is r
eady.. not before. I know some women have to have a artificial induction either because they are over 2 weeks late and professionals worry about whether the umbilical cord stops working after this time and therefore stops nourishing the fetus. Some women for some reason cant go into labour and have to be induced. Fair enough, if induction is needed then leave it to the professionals. In the mean time, I know it can be frustrating waiting for that D -day to come and then to see it go by, but just think. The time extra you have, it time to rest and relax before you wake up call to parent hood really begins.

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