ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, October 27, 1996 TAG: 9610280160
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: SEATTLE
SOURCE: Seattle Post-Intelligencer
The young woman was six weeks pregnant and didn't want to be.
But rather than go to a clinic or her doctor for a surgical abortion, she decided to do a ``natural'' abortion herself, using an age-old herbal potion created from a member of the mint family, pennyroyal.
``Within hours after I first saw her, she was bleeding from every orifice,'' said Dr. Sandra Sultan, an obstetrician-gynecologist at Group Health's Eastside Hospital. ``I've never seen anything like it.''
The woman bled profusely, then went into kidney and liver failure and lapsed into a coma for weeks, kept alive by artificial respiration, Sultan said. The 25-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified, was recently discharged from the hospital and may still need rehabilitation for potential neurological damage from bleeding in the brain.
``What happened to this girl is just unbelievable,'' Sultan said, noting that she still required a surgical abortion.
Pennyroyal, in leaf and in concentrated oil form, is widely available as an herb or dietary supplement in health food stores and herb shops.
Doctors and herbalists alike say they are concerned about an increased interest in pennyroyal as an alternative abortion method.
Dr. Sidney Nelson, dean of the University of Washington School of Pharmacy and a nationally recognized expert on pennyroyal toxicity, said cases of pennyroyal-induced illness typically are poorly documented or tracked.
``Pennyroyal poisoning continues to occur regularly,'' Nelson and his colleagues reported in the April 1996 Annals of Internal Medicine. ``Its wide commercial availability and reputation [as an abortion-inducing herb] continue to make pennyroyal a serious public health concern.''
An increased interest in this ``herbal abortion'' approach, Nelson said, could just be caused by today's increasing interest in herbal and natural therapies in general.
Dr. Thomas Easterling, a UW professor of obstetrics and gynecology, said he's hearing more talk about pennyroyal these days.
``I think there's a desire by some women to do this more privately and to avoid going to a clinic,'' Easterling said. Others, he said, may just prefer alternative therapies. But pennyroyal, Easterling said, is a potentially deadly alternative.
``Pennyroyal oil has a long folk history as an abortifacient [an abortion-causing substance],'' said Dr. Lise Alschuler, a naturopathic physician and chairwoman of botanical medicine at Bastyr University.
``It isn't really. In most cases, it fails to induce abortion,'' Alschuler said. ``What women are doing in these cases is creating such high toxicity that their own body is unable to sustain the pregnancy. If pennyroyal oil is to work as an abortifacient, it's going to work because it's poisoning the mother.''
Eric Pollard, an herbalist and co-owner of Tenzing Momo, a Tibetan herbal apothecary shop in Seattle's Pike Place Market, agreed. He said people who turn to herbal remedies must educate themselves about the risks and benefits.
``When we sell the pennyroyal oil, we make it very clear that this is not for internal use,'' Pollard said. In addition to telling the consumer, he stamps a warning on the package.
Pollard and other herbalists emphasize that pennyroyal oil, a highly concentrated distillate made from the plant, is not just a simpler way to fix yourself a potion rather than brewing pennyroyal leaf into tea. The oil is highly toxic, he said, and can kill if less than a teaspoon is ingested. Many people use the oil as a natural pesticide, Pollard said.
Sultan said the woman she treated told her that she only drank pennyroyal tea. Her illness was so severe that some thought it must have been a brew that included some of the oil concentrate, but Sultan said the woman denied using any oil.
``That's what's so scary about this,'' the doctor said. ``People think the tea is not a big deal.''
LENGTH: Medium: 74 linesby CNB