13/10/2025
PEPPER SOUP AND VA**NAL BIRTH.
Pepper soup restores warmth. But the womb restores itself not by pepper, but by contraction
Dear Anonymous?
I know you mean well. Truly, I do. Because I, too, grew up hearing that pepper soup 'flushes out' the womb after childbirth...that the steam, the spice, and the sweat somehow persuade the body to release what it holds back. And perhaps, in a way, it does heal... not by science, but by sentiment.
But let us speak plainly and lovingly. Pepper soup will not squeeze out blood clots. Your uterus will if it is healthy.
After childbirth, the body performs one of its quiet miracles. It begins to cleanse itself, not through pepper or palm oil, but through a rhythm of its own a gentle shedding called Lochia. It begins red, turns brown, then pale, and finally stops like a sunset that knows when to rest.
If clots appear, something is amiss. Most times, it means the uterus has forgotten its duty... to contract, to stay firm, to protect. We call it uterine atony. And when that happens, blood pools where it should flow, forming clots that can steal a woman’s strength or her life.
This is why we, in medicine, watch carefully. We press the abdomen not to cause pain but to help the womb remember. We give oxytocin, or misoprostol, to whisper the message of contraction. We check for infection, for anaemia, for remnants the body couldn’t let go of on its own.
So yes, eat your pepper soup. Sip it slowly. Let it heal your body and remind you of home. But let it not replace the wisdom of care, or the science that saves.
Because culture comforts and medicine protects. And in the tender space where both meet, women survive.
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