At the beginning of menstruation and in the time leading up to ovulation it can be really useful to do a castor oil transdermal pack. I may have asked you to do one of these for many reasons but most commonly to help relieve or reduce some undesirable symptoms throughout your cycle (e.g period pain, clotting etc) or to help “clean up” the endometrial lining and uterus (“stagnation” or “cold”). If you are trying to fall pregnant and there is a possibility of pregnancy (ie you are now post ovulation) then you should only do this after your period has finished and before your “fertile window”. This is the basic process:
- A wash cloth or old tshirt or tea towl shoul be soaked in pure, cold pressed castor poil which can be obtained from a health food shop.
- The wash cloth should be placed on bare skin on the lower abdomen (i.e. below the navel but above the pubic bone)
- Put a piece of plastic on top of the cloth such as a plastic bag (you can also wrap cling wrap).
- Place a hot water bottle on top of that (NB: heat packs are not warm enough). The water should be made as hot as possible as high a temperature as you can tolerate (obviously without burning).
- Leave this in place for 30 mins.
Nb: The cloth can be reused subsequent times or thrown out and a new one used. NEVER try to clean this cloth in your washing machine. If castor oil comes in contact with your washing machine it will ruin it.
One treatment can make a difference but doing this procedure a few times in one cycle can have greater benefits.