Shepherd’s Purse is best used after the placenta is delivered and one is assured that it is complete, as it promotes clotting and may lead to uterine distension and additional blood loss.  Davis says that if one is unsure whether the placenta is complete, one should use Angelica (Angelica archangelica, A. sylvestris, A. atropurpurea, or A. sinensis, which is Dong Quai) instead.  Weed shares that, “Shepherd’s Purse is useful as a hemorrhage remedy but not as a prevention.  One midwife gave several dropperful doses of fresh Shepherd’s Purse tincture to several women during labor to prevent postpartum hemorrhage and found that it encouraged the formation of huge blood clots.  The clots were painfully hard to pass and sometimes kept the uterus from clamping down.”  However, Christopher and Gileadi tell us that “In hemorrhage it is said to work every time.”  Needless to say, Shepherd’s Purse is contra-indicated during pregnancy.

 

“Individuals with a history of kidney stones should use cautiously (McGuffin et al., 1997).  “. . . Excessive doses of the extract may cause heart palpitations (McGuffin et al., 1997).  There seem to be no known interactions with drugs, and there seem to be no restrictions during lactation, though full, unrestricted nursing should, in most postpartum cases, be sufficient to contract the uterus fully enough to prevent hemorrhage.  Although reports of research are available to this author, the actual research was unavailable due to time and other restraints.  Therefore, there is no way to say whether the ‘whole plant’ extracts were used in some of the sources listed (e.g. McGuffin et al., 1997) that correspond to the European contra-indications, or instead, chemical extracts of a few isolated constituents of Shepherd’s Purse.  So prayer should be used when contemplating whether to give heed to the cautions listed here, along with as much study as possible.