Yesterday I hunted high and low for solutions to my AF problem. The only solution I found that seemed to have any truth to it was… parsley; plain old boring parsley.
It seems that parsley is a mild emmenagogue (an herb which stimulates menstruation). It is said to work like a charm at bringing on a missed or late period as long as pregnancy is not the cause of the delay. This being said, you should probably avoid drinking this if you are pregnant so that you do not miscarry or abort accidentally (although it seems that some people also use it precisely for this reason – to terminate a pregnancy).
There are a couple ways that parsley can be used; either as a tea (infusion) or as a pessary (you can look that one up for yourself). The tea can be made either from the dried herb (1 tsp per cup of water) or from the fresh herb (1 tbsp chopped per cup of water). Simply bring the water to a boil, then pour the boiling water over the herbs and let it steep for about 20 minutes. Using a mason jar is helpful for this because it keeps the heat in nicely. From the information I found, it looks like 2-4 cups a day are recommended and it seems that many women have successfully seen AF anywhere from a few hours to a couple of days afterwards. The only warnings I found were possible allergies and that individuals with inflammatory kidney problems or diseases should not use these methods. Oh, and it is also a colon cleanser according to some other sites so don’t go overboard either.
So, last night I went home and made the tea right after dinner. I drank all 3 cups (from fresh parsley) in an hour. The tea was light green in color and it didn’t taste bad at all. Kind of like a light mint with a hint of lemon and “green” taste. A tablespoon of sugar helped sweeten it up nicely too. I read that you could add honey or milk as well but I have not tried these yet. And I am not sure what it did but it did something! I have been having some cramps over the last couple of days but nothing like the parsley brought on. I could definitely feel something and it intensified with each cup. As for the pessary… maybe I did, maybe I didn’t!
This morning I had some spotting and called the hospital to make my appointment for an ultrasound on Saturday. Hopefully I will have full blown AF by then! And until I do I will continue drinking my tea because it really isn’t bad at all!
