Page 12 - IAV Digital Magazine #476

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Two Seattle Women Who Tried To Use Vacuum Hose To End Their Periods Early Hospitalized
By Vidisha Joshi
According to a shocking revela- tion by a Seattle nurse, two young women were hospital- ized in the first week of June after trying to use a vacuum hose to end their periods early. She wrote on Twitter that the women were aged 23 and 19, and both went into "shock"
after the DIY method trig- gered a rush of blood, rather than the stop they had hoped for.
The supposed "menstrual extraction" was first described by feminist activists Lorraine Rothman and
Carol Downer in the 1970s, who called it a way to perform an at- home abortion before Roe v Wade. They described how to construct a contraption, called a Del Em, using a syringe, a cannula, a speculum, and a jar.
Once abortions became legal across the US, this old-school
method was largely sidelined. But according to Mic in 2016, the procedure has seen a resur- gence in popu- larity, this time being pitched as a method to end periods early. The nurse who posted the
tweet added: "I don't know if it was Eureka, Dyson, Hoover or some Walmart brand, but yes... An
actual vacuum cleaner."
She further said, "Your period has a steady flow of its own that for all intents and purposes your body can toler- ate. A vacuum increases that flow over a 1000 times which your body can't toler- ate, therefore sending you into shock." Moreover, most gynecologists
advise against this particular practice as well.
Dr. Adeeti Gupta, OBGYN and founder of Walk In GYN Care, told Daily Mail: "It's a terri- ble unsafe idea. It can lead to severe vaginal injuries and infections. Menstrual bleed- ing is an active and natural process, it's not just sitting in the
uterus in a pool that can be sucked out. Please don't even think about it."
She continued, "Thankfully we don't see this often. Menstrual extraction via vacuum can def- initely send you into shock. It's very real and I have thankfully not seen this happen recently. But I have seen shock happen in similar situations before. Shock can happen either due to severe vaginal injuries leading to blood loss or just due to stim- ulation of the nerves in that region which can cause the body to go into a neurogenic shock."
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine