Evening Primrose Oil - Dirty details please

rondosa · April 2013

Hi Ladies,

I've been lurking here a while and find this board very helpful. DH and I are having our first in early July and have completed our Bradley Method classes...we plan to go as natural as possible.

I've started drinking red raspberry leaf tea too, and would like to learn more about Evening Primrose Oil, but I have some questions.

I've done some searches online and found "I took 1,000mcg a day" or "I took it vaginally". Bu ya...I need more...I need SPECIFICS!

- when did you start taking it?

- did you take it only orally or orally & vaginally?

- what was your dosage? When/time and how much?

- when you say "I took it vaginally" what the heck does that mean?? Did you literally stick a pill up your v-j? Whole? Did you puncture it first? Did you just put it literally just on the inside or did you need it higher up (i.e. using one of those yeast infection medicine tablet injector things)? When did you do this (time of day)? How many pills? What the heck happens to the pills overnight, do they just disintegrate?

- did you use EPO for anything else? i.e. puncture it and use the oil to massage the perineum? if so, when/how often?

I feel like a complete tool asking this but I have no idea...I've never been one to shove pills up my vagina so I'm not exactly sure what the standard MO is

I did search the forums but nothing came up so I am hoping this isn't asked very often.

Please help a sister out

Kristina

annabelle.27 · April 2013

I got a capsule, about 1000mg if I remember right, and put the entire capsule in vaginally before I went to bed at night. That's it. The capsule will disolve and coat the vagina and perineum. I started at about 36 weeks.

You will get various answers but there isn't really a wrong way to do it, as far as I am aware. Just a wide variety of acceptable ways.

alliejoe · April 2013

There are a lot of "methods" that MWs recommend and/or people have tried. My MW recommended 1000mg 2x daily orally starting at 37 weeks after my only internal exam where I was not dilated or effaced or soft or anything else.

old_time_girl · April 2013

I started at 36 weeks with both my sons. I took 2000mg orally. 1 in the morning and one at night and then 1000mg vaginally as well at night. The gel caps will dissolve overnight.

SarahinMD · April 2013

I started about 36 weeks, DH help, we would puncture one capsule and use it to massage the perineum. At first I'd let a capsule dissolve overnight. As PP said, there seem to be several acceptable ways to use it.

nicant11 · April 2013

Ok what is this and what is it for?? FTM and a little clueless.

cyprissa · April 2013

My MW had me try it vaginally when I went overdue but it gave me a raging yeast infection. I will not be using it up the vag this time.

kriskell · April 2013

nicant11:
Ok what is this and what is it for?? FTM and a little clueless.

It helps soften your cervix. I plan to start at 36 weeks, one orally and one vaginally daily.

MamaMcCleary · April 2013

I am so grateful you asked this. My midwife suggested it and I asked all these questions. She answered them but I was still a little weirded out about the va j j part. It's nice to hear the responses from the others who have tried it. I am for sure so ready to meet this little one. I really need a pill for patience. Especially since I am a FTM and babies usually come after EDD.

abell77 · April 2013

start at 36 weeks, one orally and one vaginally per day, although I forget the exact dosage. I would insert at night, poke a hole in it (sterilize needle first) and then I would sleep with a panty liner on for any discharge.

daniellelea1985 · April 2013

I started at 36 weeks weeks. 2 capsules (500mg each) orally before bed.

Then get more aggressive at 38 weeks. 2 capsules orally in the morning, 2 capsules orally before bed and one capsule vaginally before bed. (the moisture and your body temp will dissolve it.)

I also started drinking Red Raspberry leaf tea at 38 weeks but just read today that you need to drink 4 servings a day for it to do anything so I'm upping my amount.

CRLSMC2011 · April 2013

Most important on this one: TALK TO YOUR MW/OB BEFORE DOING ANYTHING.

EPO can actually trigger labor, so you really need to be taking it under medical direction, not what random people on the internet say worked for them.

I started taking it orally at 36w 5d. I take 1500 mg twice a day (breakfast and dinner). The MW originally said to take it 3x a day, but after doing an internal said "No, I only want you taking it 2x a day" because I was already soft/ripe, 60-70 effaced, 2 cm dilated. Depending on how close I get to my EDD, I may ask if I need to up it or take it vaginally later on. For now I'm hoping not to make it to my due date cause I'm ready for this guy to get here (assuming he is strong and healthy).

Faith7 · April 2013

I'm a FTM at 32 weeks, so I've no experience with EPO for labor/delivery. However, I did try the capsules orally while TTC. I'd heard they could help, so I started with one a day. I broke out in a rash, which cleared up as soon as I stopped taking them.

Checking online, it seems some people can be allergic (or have a weird reaction) to it. I think it's rare, but if you've never used them before I'd consider starting out slow and making sure you don't have any unpleasant reactions first.

rondosa · May 2013

Thank you ladies for the tips! I will definitely talk to my Dr before doing anything. I like my OB a lot but sometimes with stuff like this I wish we went with a midwife....

lob · May 2013

Thanks for this info, ladies!

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