Two Seattle women who tried to use vacuum hose to end their periods early hospitalized
According to a shocking revelation by a Seattle nurse, two young women were hospitalized 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 triggered 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 resurgence in popularity, 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 tolerate. A vacuum increases that flow over a 1000 times which your body can't tolerate, 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 terrible unsafe idea. It can lead to severe vaginal injuries and infections. Menstrual bleeding 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 definitely 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 stimulation of the nerves in that region which can cause the body to go into a neurogenic shock."