Thread: bacteril vaginosis

I have just been diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis. Never had this before. I am 58 years old, menopausal for 11 years. I have a greyish white discharge, burning and an "aching feeling down there". The doctor took swab and said it was BV. I got this after I completed a course of Cipro for a very bad UTI. Now she wants me to take Flagyl. I am very sensitive to medications as I have a chronic illness and am very afraid of the side effects. The Cipro made me ill that I took for the UTI. I am afraid of the Flagyl, the side effects seem awaful and I am sure they will in turn cause other bad effects like yeast. And I hear the recurrence of BV is high.
Who here has ever had BV and used Flagyl and had it work. Or are there other natural methods to use.
Thank you so much. This BV is awaful.
Lorhen

I am so sorry to hear that you are going through this too, Lorhen. I've had Chronic BV for a while that started exactly the same way as yours! I haven't had luck with any of the medications, and Flagyl is pretty nasty, especially in the pill form. However, you may want to try it at least once, as it is the drug of choice to treat this infection and a lot of women do respond to it. The vaginal gel version has less side effects than the pill, in my experience. If you are worried about getting a yeast infection while using it, I suggest getting a probiotic. Acidophilus can be found at any health food store. I'd recommend getting a refrigerated kind, as they are more potent, but if you want a chewable kind or pill, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, and any other place like that also sells Acidophilus. It is the good bacteria that is supposed to help combat the bad bacteria and yeast. As far as other natural remedies go, it kind of depends on what you are willing to try. Some people say a tampon dipped in tea tree oil helps, while others have had an allergic reaction to it. Douching with diluted down hydrogen peroxide or taking folic acid supplements has also helped some women. Others have found that their BV is due to a Vitamin D deficiency and taking supplements has worked for them. The only other thing I can think of is to try boric acid suppositories. Sounds scary, but it is supposed to wipe everything out. I tried those once, but I had a bad reaction to it after two nights, so I had to stop, but it seems to work for a lot of women. You can get boric acid suppositories from a compound pharmacy, but or make your own.

Everyone is different, so we don't all respond to these sorts of treatments the same way. Kind of a trial and error process. At the very least, I'd say try a probiotic first, either alone or in conjunction with some other form of treatment.

If your pH is off, you could also try using repHresh vaginal gel to regulate the pH so it keeps the bad bacteria at bay, but it's not supposed to "cure" an existing infection, more of a precautionary thing. I'm in the process of trying this method out anyway, just to see if it helps at all.