Thread: chronic bacterial vaginosis

Originally Posted by lexilex

haha I wish! going to wait it out this week since now I have my period and then go back to the gyno and ask about this metrogel. any progress on your end? Guessing the Natren didnt work...

No, the Natren didn't do anything...but yesterday I ordered the Yeast Arrest and Natren to try them together...and the rephresh pro-b, and Bragg's apple cidar vinegar..These things are so expensive ...This morning I have been googling naturopathic doctors in my area...I'm so desperate that I don't even care how much it costs. I have already spent so much the past 4-1/2 years trying to get rid of this already and nothing has worked...I tried using straight hydrogen peroxide on Monday (just inserting it with a medicine dropper) and that seemed to make it worse. I have only had luck with boric acid taking away the smell, not the discharge, but only if I use it every single day. I'm worried that I probably don't have any good bateria now because I have been using it for so long already. If I didn't use it though I would just rather lock myself in my house because I am afraid everyone can smell me.

Has anyone tried acupuncture?

I found that if I used vinegar in any quantity it made me worse, so my theory is that you've got to get the PH absolutely right, rather than just try to acidify as much as possible. I'm still finding the Balance Activ good, and I don't have to use it too often, but I find using it on my period (which is really when it need it most, plus afterwards) so painful - it stings!

I forgot to say and couldn't see how to edit my post, I often have thrush and BV at the same time, and also each on their own.

Originally Posted by Another Sarah

I found that if I used vinegar in any quantity it made me worse, so my theory is that you've got to get the PH absolutely right, rather than just try to acidify as much as possible. I'm still finding the Balance Activ good, and I don't have to use it too often, but I find using it on my period (which is really when it need it most, plus afterwards) so painful - it stings!

Have you tried the organic vinegar with the mother in it? Thats the kind I got. It says it's good if you drink it too every day...It has a lot of health benefits...I don't know about with BV though...Going to try it and see.

I can't get the Balance Activ in the US. Can you list the ingredients in Balance Activ for me? I would like to compare it to the RePhresh and Replens....I have tried both of those and it doesn't do anything for me.

I've been reading this thread on and off for months and months, along with other things I've found on google, and have come up with a "regimen" that has rendered me symptom free for almost two months now.

Wash only with pure unscented Neutrogena soap
1200 mcg folic acid daily
AND... I think this is what has been most helpful:
1 vaginal suppository nightly of 1/3 tea tree oil and 2/3 Vitamin E oil. I buy the empty capsules to make the suppositories at our local Whole Foods.

I had also been taking cinnamon and anti-yeast tablets, but ran out a couple weeks ago and so far the symptoms have still stayed at bay.

I wish everyone luck.

i'm so glad i found this forum.

i've had bv for about seven months now. at first, i thought it was a yeast infection, so i treated it with the monistat and waited for things to clear up. when they didn't, i went to my gyno. she then prescribed me a pill to take, and medication in a vaginal suppository form, only for me to find out days later that neither of those medications worked either. on my second trip back to the gyno, i saw another doctor in that office, who read the results of my culture back to me and said there was no yeast detected, that the whole time it had been bacterial vaginosis. i felt so dirty! lol. ironically, the bv started two weeks after i met my boyfriend, whose now my husband.

the whole time i paniced, thinking that he had given it to me. it seemed to all come on right after we met, so i assumed it had something to do with him. since the relationship was new, it was so hard to refrain from sex, so i blamed my reocurrences on that. now, seven months later, i still have it and am somewhat relieved to see there's so many more of you out there dealing with the same thing i am. it's soothing to know i'm not alone.

none of the prescriptions worked for me, and the antibiotics (metronydazol, clindesse, etc.), eventually broke down my immune system giving me a terrible head cold and a severe kidney infection that kept me wide awake for three nights before i could make it to the doctor and get medication. i was a mess! it was to the point where i was constantly depressed, and felt as if i was a failure as a new wife because i couldn't be intimate with my husband as often as he and i would have liked to be and i was always in a down mood. don't get me wrong though, he was so supportive through all of this, and still is.

i eventually stumbled across an online book that suggested i douche with a mixture of hydrogen peroxide and distilled water, take folic acid supplements, and use acidophilus supositories. this technique has seemed to work alright for me, and i've gotten my bv to a bare minimum, to the point where it doesn't even seem like i even have it sometimes.

i was wondering what other things have worked well for people? i've done a lot of reading through this thread and found some good ideas, but i'd like to know more. i'm still dealing with the side effects from the kidney infection, and drinking certain things like coffee will make me feel like i'm peeing fire! i'm going to see a urologist next week for that, but i've pretty much given up all faith in my gyno when it comes to the bv.

i'd love to have people to talk to about this, because nobody i know seems to be able to relate at all to my problem! thanks for reading! :]

My gyno has been pretty unhelpful. At first I went to one for what I believed to be bv (smelly clearish yellow discharge) and he stated thats just how I naturally was. It didnt make sense because I always clean down there, and to be frank, the scent smelled of infection.

I eventuallygot on a probiotic regime and it helped somewhat after a month but not completely (the smell of the discharged lessened), then I took Rephresh (the gel). That made the smell go away but after use for about a week it made me develop a yeast infection. I then took two rounds of 7 day monistat and that helped the itching but even when the monistat came out it smelled like the discharge I had after I took the probiotics.

After the two weeks of monistat I got my period. After my period was over I had the yeast infection again. I then when through having garlic suppositories, acidophilus orally and vaginally, and just abbout every other treatment. They helped with the yeasty discharge but the smell never went away.

I'm now on my second week of Yeast Arrest. The yeast is gone. However the egg white type of discharge with the same smell is there. The runny discharge is kind of strange, ebcause for three ro so days the amounts were massive (it was like seeing globs of gel on my panty liner. EW). There is a little less now, (i.e. a regular sized pad can absorb it all) but the fact its still there is annoying. I read somewhere that a side effect of yeast arrest is that liquidy discharge (because of the bacteria dying off) but shouldnt have it gone away by now? Granted I've had this issue for 4 years straight so it might take longer. Does anyone have any similar experiences that were cured?

yeast arrest is a boric acid insert right? another woman I know used those to treat her bv and said she never had any weird discharge from the boric acid. you should get some ph test strips to see if you still have a bacterial infection. I just started testing mine this month. Mine was between 6 and 7 the past two weeks and I was having a lot of clingy white/clear discharge. I used rephresh the past three days and today I tested 5 and no odor! I think the ph and bad bacteria go hand in hand but i dont know which is the cause for me. Ive been dealing with this for about a year now, sometimes I dont notice it but I can always tell its there. I want to try an antibiotic with a probiotic and something to lower ph, any ideas?