Pregnancy abortifacients

Many dietary supplements should be avoided in pregnancy because they may have emmenagogue activity, promoting menstruation. Some herbs that are considered emmenagogues are feverfew, garlic, and hawthorn [4]. St. John s wort should be avoided in pregnancy due to its emmenagogue and abortifacient properties. 

Dried seeds are mixed with crude sugar and eaten to terminate early pregnancy " " . Hot water extract of the dried root is taken orally as a tonic, expectorant, diuretic, stomachic, and liver cleanser " "" ". Hot water extract of the leaf is taken orally as a uterine stimulant during parturition " """". Hot water extract of the seed is taken orally as an abortifacient, emmenagogue, and aphrodisiac " """ . The dried seeds are used as a powerful abort -facient " """". The root is taken orally as a hypotensive medication " """ . 

Contraindications to interferon alfa therapy include hepatic decompensation, autoimmune disease, and history of cardiac arrhythmia. Caution is advised in the setting of psychiatric disease, epilepsy, thyroid disease, ischemic cardiac disease, severe renal insufficiency, and cytopenia. Alfa interferons are abortifacient in primates and should not be administered in pregnancy. Potential drug-drug interactions include increased theophylline levels and increased methadone levels. Co-administration with didanosine is not recommended because of a risk of hepatic failure, and co-administration with zidovudine may exacerbate cytopenias. 

Data from Brazil, where misoprostol has been used orally and vaginally as an abortifacient, have suggested a relation between the use of misoprostol by women in an unsuccessful attempt to terminate pregnancy and Mobius syndrome (congenital facial paralysis) in their infants (33). The frequencies of misoprostol use during the first trimester by mothers of infants in whom Mobius syndrome was diagnosed and mothers of infants with... 

Mothers who used misoprostol during pregnancy as an abortifacient had an increased risk of having a baby with congenital anomalies (OR = 2.4 95% Cl = 1.0, 6.2), as reported in a case-control study in Fortaleza, Brazil (36). Multiple malformations have been described associated with the use of misoprostol (37). 

Typical side effects are constitutional in nature, including a flu-like syndrome within 6 hours after dosing in more than 30% of patients that tends to resolve upon continued administration. Other potential adverse effects include thrombocytopenia, granulocytopenia, elevation in serum aminotransferase levels, induction of autoantibodies, nausea, fatigue, headache, arthralgias, rash, alopecia, anorexia, hypotension, and edema. Severe neuropsychiatric side effects may occur. Absolute contraindications to therapy are psychosis, severe depression, neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, symptomatic heart disease, decompensated cirrhosis, uncontrolled seizures, and a history of organ transplantation (other than liver). Alfa interferons are abortifacient in primates and should not be administered in pregnancy. 

Juniper is the only profile included which the authors do not regard as hazardous. It is included because other sources have frequently flagged juniper as being contraindicated in both pregnancy and kidney disease. A vigorous attempt was made to trace the source of these contraindications. There is evidence that juniper berries are abortifacient, but there is no evidence thatjuniperoil is responsible for this effect No evidence could be found to support the contraindication of juniper oil in kidney disease. 

Given this dependence on steroid hormones, endocrine-disrupting xenobiotics that affect the synthesis or actions of estradiol or progesterone are likely to disrupt embryo implantation or pregnancy. Indeed, the abortifacient action of the morning... 

Several heavy metals have been identified as teratogens and possible abortifacients in humans and animals, and the adverse effects of prenatal lead exposure on the developing nervous systems of both human and laboratory animal species have been well documented (Evans et al, 2003 Rice, 1998 Rogers and Kavlock, 2008). Prenatal exposure to organotins has been associated with pregnancy loss and... 

It is prudent to avoid broom formulations during pregnancy, not only because sparteine has abortifacient potential but also because of evidence that the plant produced malformed lambs in feeding trials. 

All mechanisms are considered to be contraceptive rather than abortifacient, as clinically conception and the start of the pregnancy are not considered to have occurred until a fertilised ovum is implanted in the endometrium. 

A sequiterpene, (12S)-1,12-secoishwaran-12-ol (390) exerted 100% abortifacient activity in mice when administered at a single oral dose of 100 mg/kg body weight on 6th or 7th day of pregnancy [89],... 

Significant side effects are those associated with its abortifacient properties and other smooth muscle contraction effects, e.g., diarrhea and abdominal pain. Misoprostol also is an effective cervical ripening agent (by vaginal application) for the induction of labor. Other unlabeled uses include the treatment of postpartum hemorrhage and, with mifepristone, termination of pregnancy. 

Other Diseases. These included diabetes, scarlet fever, diphtheria, influenza, pulmonary tuberculosis, heart diseases (palpitation, edema, intermittency of pulse), disorders of respiration, asthma, hay fever, bronchitis, pneumonia, morning sickness during pregnancy, diarrhea, chronic gastritis, chronic rheumatism, eye inflammation, scrofula, leukemia, breast and other cancers, high blood pressure, bites of snakes and rabid animals, passive dropsies, as an abortifacient, and so on and so on. 

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