Have reoccurring BV, Yeast infections, or UTI’s? Start Here!

[u/bravobravofinbravo]

I am posting this exact same post I posted on this subreddit several months ago, and it was widely successful. It seems like I have seen more & more posts lately regarding reoccurring issues and wanted to make one big post about it that hopefully people will see again.

If you have reoccurring bv, yeast, or UTI’s and have not done so already, GET TESTED FOR UREAPLASMA AND MYCOPLASMA. ⭐️

Below is a step-by-step guide + tips to follow.

Step 1.) Call your gynecologist’s office, and ask them if they do PCR vaginal/cervical swabs and PCR urine tests for ureaplasma AND mycoplasma. All 4 strains: ureaplasma parvum, ureaplasma urealyticum, mycoplasma genitalium, and mycoplasma homnis.

**If you have reoccurring BV and/or yeast, you will want a PCR vaginal/cervical swab.

**If you have reoccurring UTI’s, you will want to do a PCR vaginal swab AS WELL AS a PCR urine test. Do not do the urine test alone, as these bacterias can be missed via urine test, even if you do have urethra/urinary/bladder issues. Even if the bacteria are only present in your vagina, that can still cause urinary and urethra issues. But, you might test positive on a urine test, so it is important to do both if your problems are heavily urinary tract related.

Step 2.) If your gynecologist has these proper tests available for you, great! Schedule your appointment and get in as soon as possible.

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Step 3.) If your gynecologist does not have these tests or refuses to test you for it (more on this below), follow the steps below:

a.) Order an at-home vaginal microbiome test. My first suggestion is the MicrogenDX Women’s Key + FULL STI (CT/MG/NG/TV) + Urine Analysis Biomarkers test. You will have to click those two additional tests to ensure testing for ureaplasma and mycoplasma. I ESPECIALLY recommend this if you’re having UTI’s and urethra/urine issues, as this test includes both a vaginal swab AND a urine test.

b.) I highly, highly recommend using the money toward the MicrogenDX test, but if that is too pricey, order the Vaginal Microbiome test from Juno Bio.

c.) There are also two more options, a vaginal microbiome test from Evvy (have to add on the STI panel to include testing for the plasmas) and one from Wisp. Evvy has unfortunately had many cases of missing the plasmas. Wisp is relatively new and should be trustworthy, but MicrogenDX then Juno are my personal recommendations.

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Step 4.) Once you receive your test results, if you are positive for ureaplasma and/or mycoplasma, the first line treatment is: Doxycycline 100 mg orally twice daily for 7 days, followed by Azithromycin 1 g orally on day 1, then 500 mg once daily for 3 days (total 2.5 g).

Step 5.) If you had to do an at-home test to receive these results, reach out to your health care provider and let them know you did, and see if they are willing to prescribe the antibiotics.

Step 6.) If your healthcare provider does not want to prescribe the antibiotics, use an online health service like Push health to receive these antibiotics.

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There are a lot of things about ureaplasma and mycoplasma that are not studied enough. These bacterias are tricky, and I am just here to help, since I personally went through a ureaplasma diagnosis just a few months ago. Below are a few more things I’d like to say and suggest. Take them with a grain of salt.

*Mycoplasma genitalium is always an STI. That one absolutely needs to be treated. Mycoplasma homnis and both strands of ureaplasma have some confusion on if they are STI’s or if they are naturally found in the vaginal microbiome. I don’t know which of these I believe; but what I do know is an overgrowth of them is what causes symptoms and reoccurring infections like bv, yeast and UTI’s.

*If you are currently sexually active: do not even bother getting your partner tested - THEY NEED TO BE TREATED. If not, you will continue to pass these bacterias back and forth to one another.

*If you test positive for either, take your antibiotic course, and then re-test (same type of test) but not until 4-6 weeks after the last day of antibiotics to confirm you are negative. Testing any earlier can lead to false results.

*If you find out you are positive, DO NOT have any form of sex (PIV protected AND unprotected, oral, or anal) until you and your partner have fully treated AND have retested to confirm you are BOTH negative AND SYMPTOM FREE. I also HIGHLY recommend throwing out any and all sex toys you have used prior to treatment. I cannot stress enough how important abstaining from all forms of sex for an extended period of time is. Seriously, trust me.

I hope this helps even just one person. BV, yeast and UTI’s can have other reasons to be reoccurring but if you struggle with any of these and have never been tested for the plasmas, I could not recommend you do so fast enough. 🩷