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Another The Only Sane Herbalist moment
Nov. 5th, 2009 12:38 pm1- Look, I hate to break it to you but there were male empirical medical people in the middle ages. There were also female ones, but not JUST female ones. Male non-doctors practicing medicine in the middle ages is BLOODY WELL ATTESTED!
2- There ARE a lot of other reasons for someone to not be menstruating regularly than being pregnant. Hard to believe, I guess, but yeah, there are. Some of them involve poor fertility. PCOS, anyone? Also, in a culture where your fertility (menstruation years) were your valuable years, there are reasons why a very young or very mature woman might want to achieve regularized menstruation.
3- After fetal death, retention of the dead fetus WILL KILL the mother. So, yes, there are a lot of recipes for expelling the dead fetus. In a culture without D&C, these could save your life. It's not just code for abortion.
4- Yes, some things that ease the menstrual cycle are not effective abortifacents. Or birth control. Diuretics, anyone?
5- If you were a hardworking medieval woman with PMS, wouldn't YOU like a hot drink, a hot bath, a hot compress on the affected parts, and to go to bed?! WOULDN'T YOU?!!!
*slams head into desk*
2- There ARE a lot of other reasons for someone to not be menstruating regularly than being pregnant. Hard to believe, I guess, but yeah, there are. Some of them involve poor fertility. PCOS, anyone? Also, in a culture where your fertility (menstruation years) were your valuable years, there are reasons why a very young or very mature woman might want to achieve regularized menstruation.
3- After fetal death, retention of the dead fetus WILL KILL the mother. So, yes, there are a lot of recipes for expelling the dead fetus. In a culture without D&C, these could save your life. It's not just code for abortion.
4- Yes, some things that ease the menstrual cycle are not effective abortifacents. Or birth control. Diuretics, anyone?
5- If you were a hardworking medieval woman with PMS, wouldn't YOU like a hot drink, a hot bath, a hot compress on the affected parts, and to go to bed?! WOULDN'T YOU?!!!
*slams head into desk*
