Thread: Bacterial vaginosis sufferers-READ THIS (long)

I have suffered with what I know know is BV for years. It has been misdiagnosed as everything from bladder infection to I.C. At one point it was even suggested that I should have my bladder removed. I finally got a doctor to test me for BV even though she looked in my vagina and said she didn't see anything. After 5 more painful days the results came back positive for BV and she wanted me to take more antibiotics. I refused and she washed her hands of me. I have been researching since to help myself as no one in the medical profession would help me. Everything that you have suggestd I have tried on my own with info I got from other sites. The only caution I have is to be sparing with the Tea Tree Oil as I gave myself quite a rash with it. But it did get rid of the infection! I am now going to continue on with some liquid acidophilous and rinsing with apple cider vinegar. You can also drink 2 T of Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water every once in a while. This helps with bladder Ph and lots of other things. thank you for taking the time to post this!

Thank you so much for posting this information!!! i tried everything you wrote and it worked wondered for me! The only modification i made was to coat the tampon with vitamin E and tea tree oil instead of tea tree oil only. I wish I could send you a thank you card! Thank you for sharing this info I have been a chronic bv sufferer for 2 years and this posting has helped to get this condition under control.

Originally Posted by gatorgal

I am posting this on as many forums as I can that deal with BV

This is long, but I hope VERY helpful.
The reason I listed the subject as I did is because this post is based on weeks of research on various websites, forums and personal experimentation. I have tried my best to condense all of the best and most useful info I could find on this subject.

I DO encourage anyone suffering from this to do as much research as they can, but if you are not good at research or do not have the time, I think this post will be helpful to you.

First,my story/symptoms- i am 40 and have had yeast infections from time to time during my adulthood. Have always treated them with OTC treatment that has worked well for me. A few weeks ago I felt that unmistakable itch that has always, for me, signaled a yeast infection. I tried the usual OTC. Didn't work...hmmmmmmmm. tried it again, didn't work again. That's when I realized I'm dealing with something else this time. Begin with the research and reading- I'm 99.9% sure I have BV. Looked at the "official" info websites on the subject. They give great info on the causes but all treatment suggestions send you to your Dr, where they promptly give you a pelvic and a dose of antibiotics. After reading hundreds of posts from ladies that followed that course-went to Dr, got antibiotics, got temporary relief and BV keeps coming back; I decided to try and treat myself from the get-go. If you make that choice also, please do it carefully. I am NOT one of those folks who doesn't believe in going to the Dr. But after all I've read, it is my strong opinion that the general medical community has really dropped the ball on this problem. All they seem to do is throw antibiotics at you; which at best gives you temporary relief only to have BV return. At worst, temp relief of BV, but a lovely yeast infection in it's place.
OK, Off the soapbox and on with the info....

First I'm going to talk about the WHY. If you've been to other sites you may know this already, so skip it. If not read on.

The vagina is an interesting little ecosystem. Basically you have "good" bacteria that live there and keep everything happy. The environment of the vagina needs to be acidic (3.5-4.5) Just a little primer on the PH scale...0-14, 0 is extreme acidic, 14 is extreme alkaline. If your PH gets off and moves toward the higher end, your Good bacteria die and bad bacteria take over-thus BV. Or a yeast infection. Either one lives at the more alkaline. The acidity/good bacteria is a circle. The good bacteria help keep the acid right and the acid keeps the good bacteria alive. If you need more info on whether you have a bacterial infection or a yeast infection, that is pretty easy to find here and all over the web. My info is designed for gals that pretty much know they have BV.

OK...what now??? Another gal put the treatment process very succinctly and I'm basically repeating her thoughts.

1. Kill bad bacteria
2. Make environment in vagina more acidic.
3. Re-introduce good bacteria.
4. Find out what is causing yours and prevent. This is a mystery, I think there may be more to BV than what we currently know. There are Soooooo many ways your ph can become unbalanced and cause this. Educate yourself as much as possible and try to figure out your why.

The tools I have found that seem to work the best for the most people are these:
(I will tell you how to use each) You can find all of this at a health food store.

1.Hydorgen Peroxide
2.Folic Acid
3.Tea Tree Oil
4.Apple Cider Vinegar
5.Probiotics

1.Peroxide-Good all around cleasing agent. The bad bacteria are anaerobic, meaning they thrive in the absence of oxygen. The good bacteria are aerobic, the opposite. Peroxide floods the vagina with an environment that the bad stuff hates.
2.Folic Acid-I don't know why or really if this actually works, but a LOT of women swear by it and it can't hurt you-so why not.If anyone has more info on why Folic acid works please let me know.
3.Tea Tree Oil- This is a great natural TOPICAL antibiotic. There are others also, but Tea Tree is easy to come by and inexpensive and goes a long way.
4.Apple Cider Vinegar-This is a natural, inexpensive acid. Some gals insist on getting the kind with the "mother". You can find this at natural food stores.
5.Probiotics- I cannot (because this would be unbearibly long) go into all the details of the various strains of bacteria that should be living in your vagina. There is soooo much info out there to read on this(and I suggest you do)So I'm going to be VERY basic. Lactobacillus Acidolphis is one of the strains you need and can be easliy bought and administered.

OK, now for actual treatment. Other tools you will need other than the ones listed above are-
1. A small syringe. Get the type that has a bulb on the end. Designed for giving children medicine. Looks like a large eye dropper or a tiny turkey baster. Found mine at Wallgreens.
2. Tampons- get the kind that have different sizes. You will use the small tampon in the large applicator.

How to use these tools for treatment:
Take 800 mg of Folic Acid in the morning and 400mg at night.

You can rinse with the Peroxide first or anytime the discharge is bad. I found no problem with using it full strength. You can dilute if it bothers you. Draw it up into the syringe, insert as you would a tampon and squeeze it out while the syringe is inside. You can repeat this a couple of times.

Tea Tree Oil. This is where you use the tampons. Take out a small one and a large one, remove both tampons from their applicators. Throw out the small applicator and the large tampon. The reason you are doing this is(duh) a tampon swells when it is wet, so you have to get it saturated with oil THEN insert. Use the syringe to draw up some of the oil. saturate the small tampon with the oil. place the tampon in the large applicator and insert. leave in for up to 3 hrs. This is the A-Bomb for the bad bacteria! Take out and wait a few hours before the vinegar.

Vinegar. I found that the vinegar will burn if you do not dilute heavily. Find a level that is comfortable for you. You can either use your diluted mixture to rinse inside as you did with the peroxide or can saturate a tampon as you did with the oil. This will bring your Ph over to the acid side and make it a nice place for the good stuff to grow.

Acidophilus. This one has the most latitude. Probiotics come in capsules, tablets, "liquid", and in various foods. Most strains cannot migrate from your digestive tract to your vagina. Sooooo, the best way to adminiser these babies is to put them right where they need to be. i found that the capsules didn't disolve in the vagina as they would in the stomach, so I found an Acidophilus that is in a kind of liquid form. It actually looks like a runny yogurt. This is an easy method to get the little guys where they need to be. Use the syringe and insert a couple of teaspoons inside.
I found it best to use the Peroxide, Oil, and Vinegar during the day and the acidophilus in the evening before bed. That way it's not so messy (put on a pair of COTTON undies) also allows the whole night for them to multiply.
As for taking probiotics orally, certianly can't hurt and may help a lot. So take them orally in conjuction with vaginally.

I had results from this treatment plan in one day. I hope to get some feedback with others experiences. Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps. This is such an awful problem and there aren't that many real answers out there.

Hi Tvstammy,

Glad to hear this worked for you, that is awesome! You said you had suffered with BV for two years; I'm also approaching year 2 of my BV and I haven't tried everything that was listed here together yet, but I'm planning to. How long did it take until your symptoms were gone and you realized the BV was gone?

Hi amelillo13

I wasn't comfortable doing everything at the same time because i wasnt sure how my body would reacted so I decided to try everything one at a time first. The first thing I tried was the hydrogen peroxide douche. I felt immediate relief but later on in the day I still had discharge (it was significantly less but it was still there). The next day I did the tea tree oil treatment (Please DILUTED the tea oil, it will burn if not diluted properly) and immediately there was no discharge. The symptoms went away immediately. the big test was my period and even after it went away I still had no discharge, no odor and no itching. I couldnt believe it!

I still do this treatment weekly but now i only do the tea tree oil once a week and hydrogen peroxide douche once a week.
I also take:
fem dophilus 2x a day 2 in the morning and 2 at night

1600 mg of folic acid

2000 mg of Vitamin C

I have also cut on my intake of sugar. Many woman also have had success from eating more yogurt but personally i dont like the taste of yogurt so I havent tried this method.

Please respond and let me know if this helps. I would also recommend that you do your own research just to be safe. I have had no side effects from doing this method.

Good Luck!!

Originally Posted by amelillo13

Hi Tvstammy,

Glad to hear this worked for you, that is awesome! You said you had suffered with BV for two years; I'm also approaching year 2 of my BV and I haven't tried everything that was listed here together yet, but I'm planning to. How long did it take until your symptoms were gone and you realized the BV was gone?

I have been using this method for about a week (not the exact method, I used hydrogen peroxide for the first few days and then I got the apple cider vinegar and probiotics)

This is what I do:
First couple days: I rinsed with hydrogen peroxide multiple times a day. BV was better but not gone.

Day four: Rinsed with hydrogen peroxide in the morning, used vinegar in evening and probiotics during the night.

Day five: I wasn't home, and I didn't use anything (My sister had her baby so I was at the hospital)

Day six, I used a drop of tea tree oil at around noon, rinsed with vinegar in the evening and used the probiotics at night.

Day seven is today and I haven't used anything today, yet.


and my BV is better, but still not gone.

IS there anything that works completely!?

Should I keep using it? Will it work completely if I give it more time?
Should I still use the hydrogen peroxide?

I don't have a lot of tea tree oil, so I only used that once (and I didn't soak a tampon with it.. .I just put a drop up there..... because I don't have enough to soak a tampon with)
Should I get more tea tree oil? Will it go away if I do that?


I need it to just go away... I'm going crazy...

I have had chronic BV for a few years. I started using hydrogen peroxide spray mixed with water on the outside of my vagina after sex to keep the area clean and free of infection because I am so suseptable to infections. I also take Femdophelis which is supposed to really prevent BV from cooing back. Well after I stopped taking the Femdophilis for 1 week the BV was back. Really upset. The smell and itch were upsetting and I felt discouraged so as a fluke I just douched with hydrogen peroxide straight. I thought it couldn't hurt since it always helped with relieving symptoms on the outside of the area as well. It was a miracle! The smell and itch went away within 2 hours. I AM NOT KIDDING. This is after my doctor even prescribed boric acid capsules to insert 3 x per week and told me I would have to do that forever. After I did the hydrogen peroxide I googles it and wound up in this thread. I read about tea tree and pole cider vinegar. Am gonna try it. The other thing that REALLY works is making a mixture of the Femdophilus and water and inserting it with an eyedropper before you go to bed at the first tinge of BV. It will catch it right away. Hope this helps. Signed, a happy camper at last

ok I have been dealing with bv now for a year. not on and off but pretty much for a year solid. I started taking vitamins includin b complex, acidophilus, vitamin c, and now im taking folic acid along with those. The only relief ive had was the first time i douched with the acidophillus and water. and the bv was gone for 5 days AT MOST!. Ive done alot of reading. Ive been apprehensive about the peroxide and tea tree oil going "inside my body" because ive used tea tree oil for acne but have heard bad things about it and peroxide in my vagina just doesnt sound right. But I will try everything to get rid of this thing! its a monster of its own kind. Doctors know nothing about it or how to cure it. and prescription medication just break down your body in every way possible. I am currently taking the vitamins daily as well as douching with acidophilis every day. I am just starting the folic acid so well see how or if it works. I will repost until I have found a cure. But in the meantime, we should start calling this thing a disease and not an infection. because i believe its not going to go away.like i said ill keep posting with updates.

Does anyone have burning during intercourse with their BV?