Female sterilization or tubal ligation has both benefits and risks, just like all contraceptive methods and surgical procedures. Some doctors and patients believe that one of the risks is "post tubal ligation syndrome," which includes symptoms that some women seek to relieve through herbal medicine.
Tubal Ligation
In tubal ligation, the woman's fallopian tubes are surgically cut or blocked so her eggs cannot migrate down into her uterus and encounter sperm. According to "Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers," complications of tubal ligation are not common and generally limited to the surgery itself, such as reactions to anesthesia and wound infection. Tubal ligation is "safe for all women with proper counseling and informed consent" and 99.995 percent effective at pregnancy prevention. It is generally permanent. Reversal surgeries are unavailable or unaffordable in many areas of the world. According to MayoClinic.com, reversal procedures do not make conception possible again in at least 25 percent of cases.
The Case for Post Tubal Ligation Syndrome
Since the 1950s, some physicians and patients have reported long-term symptoms after tubal ligation such as abnormally heavy, painful, and/or prolonged periods and hormone imbalances. These symptoms have been grouped together as post-tubal ligation syndrome or PTLS, also called post-sterilization syndrome, although a uniform, precise definition of it is lacking. According to E.M. Boyd in the June 1987 "Journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, " research throughout the 1970s and 1980s identified menstrual hemorrhage as a frequent consequence of tubal ligation. The Coalition for Post Tubal Women was founded in 1998 to call for official recognition of PTLS and its listing as a risk on pre-surgical consent forms. PTLS is often explained as the result of surgical damage to the blood vessels supplying the ovaries.
Evidence Against PTLS
As of 2011, most scientific evidence demonstrates that PTLS does not exist, at least not in the sense that menstrual problems can be established as a common and direct consequence of tubal ligation itself. Published in 2000 in the "New England Journal of Medicine, " the large-scale Collaborative Review of Sterilization, or CREST, study found no "syndrome of menstrual problems after sterilization." The CREST study did note that tubal sterilization and menstrual abnormalities are common and ... likely to occur coincidentally." In addition "many women ... stop taking oral contraceptives at ... sterilization and may have menstrual abnormalities as a result."
Herbal Medicines for Menstrual Difficulties
If you have any of the symptoms that have been classified under post-sterilization syndrome, ask your doctor to evaluate them. Discuss both your "conventional" and "alternative" treatment options with him or her. To help relieve problems like menstrual cramping, pain and heavy bleeding, some women seek out qualified, skilled practitioners of health care modalities like naturopathy, traditional Chinese medicine or Ayurveda. These practitioners have a wide range of herbal formulas for menstrual and other reproductive difficulties in their established repertoires. Naturopaths may offer a mixture that includes chaste tree, wild yam and fenugreek. The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine offers tips for finding quality practitioners and making the best, safest use of their work.
References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: Unintended Pregnancy Prevention: Female Sterilization
- ChicagoTribune.com: A Syndrome or "Urban Legend"?; Terri Yablonsky Stat; 7 July 2004
- Family Planning: A Global Handbook for Providers
- "Fertility and Sterility"; Is There Any Evidence for a Post-tubal Sterilization Syndrome?; G. Gentile et al.; February 1998
- "Herbal Medicine from the Heart of the Earth"; Sharol Tilgner; 2009
- National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine: Be an Informed Consumer
