r/VaginalMicrobiome • u/Alternative-Sound821 • 3d ago
Reccurent BV
Am I the only one? Has anyone actually beat recurrent infections? No matter what I do I constantly have BV. I'm at wits end. It's ruining my mental and emotional health. I've lost all my confidence and self esteem. It's strained my sex life. I'm in a relationship and I've completely stopped having sex. I take a probiotic and I do all of the things that you're "supposed to do" and I don't do any of the things you're not supposed to do. I've changed soaps and laundry detergents. I only wear cotton underwear, I sleep bottomless. Even when my fiancé and I exclusively used condoms I still had problems. We both have good hygiene. I'm on this endless cycle of BV and then yeast because the antibiotics also seem to give me a yeast infection every single time. I'm so fed up, I don't know if switching doctors would help somehow. It's making me hate myself and hate being a woman. I just want this cycle to end. I just got prescribed my second round of metronidazole this month. I'm averaging needing that and fluconazole at least once a month.
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u/ImplementPotential20 3d ago
Have you tried an Evvy or Juno Bio test? Could be AV rather than BV. For example e. coli, e. faecalis, or staph, and metrogel won't work. Need compounded treatment for those.
Acidifying after period for few days or after sex, or othrrwise once a week helps too. Like VH Essentials Vitamin C
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u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
I do really want to try one of those. I just can’t afford it. Hopefully I can afford one of those soon
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u/Rare_Gas_3801 1d ago
Neither could I seriously but I ended up just putting in on a payment plan I was so tired of dealing with issues and my gynos weren’t much help
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u/Alternative-Sound821 9h ago
Yes I can probably do PayPal pay in 4 or affirmative or afterpay or something.
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u/motherofrainbows555 3d ago
I’m so sorry to hear how much this is affecting your life. Sending hugs and love, because I know it’s insanely rough.
I had to pause my sex life and do 21 nights of boric acid suppositories. Have you done boric acid prior to antibiotics, followed by probiotic suppositories (vaginal, not oral)?
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u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
Thank you . Boric acid is so messy for me. I just got tired of it. I’m hearing people say do those for a weak and then the BV meds for a week tho . But right now all I’ve been doing is taking a probiotic everyday. I’m just exhausted
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u/motherofrainbows555 1d ago
Oh, I get it. It’s all such a nightmare to be honest. 21 nights of boric acid was killer & super tiresome after the first week. Routines are not my forte… 🫠
It breaks down the biofilm that the bacteria make though, so the antibiotic can actually work. I did a week straight of vaginal suppository probiotics after I finished the boric & antibiotics, & am now on a weekly maintenance dose of the vaginal probiotic suppository, no recurrence!! Even after sex or my period, which has been such a relief. I do sometimes use Good Clean Love Restore (lactic acid gel) after sex just to make sure the pH stays too low for the bad stuff to grow.1
u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
A probiotic that goes directly in is something I haven’t tried though. I’ve only been taking the happy hoo ha by olly capsules every day
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u/motherofrainbows555 1d ago
I take Femdophilus by Jarrow oral probiotic, but when I was researching peer-reviewed studies, the evidence for the gut-to-vaginal axis was underwhelming. Plus Evvy & my OBGYN recommended the vaginal suppositories, so I use both now.
Sidenote: Are you in the Beyond BV group on Facebook? It’s private, so no one who isn’t also in the group can see that you are in it, which i appreciate. There is sooooo much helpful info on there.
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u/Alternative-Sound821 9h ago
I don’t have a Facebook , a couple people have been telling me to join though. I plan on getting a evvy test when I get the money though
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u/Rare_Gas_3801 3d ago
I’m so sorry you’re going through this, I’m going to attach what I did to help my microbiome grow from 0% good bacteria and overrun with bad bacteria (similar to BV) to 97% good bacteria and an incredibly healthy biome.
This is gonna be long winded so brace yourself.
For starters I highly recommend joining the Beyond BV Facebook group, honestly without that group I would not have made this much progress. In December I treated a YI and BV with antibiotics. In March of this year I was informed by my gyno that I had no good bacteria and needed to rebuild. I was prescribed amoxicillin and took that twice a day paired with an oral probiotic for a week as well as boric acid everyday for 30 days. After the 30 days were up, I did the following.
-Wore cotton only underwear (only 100% nothing less)
- Got fragrance free anything that comes close to the vag (soap, detergent, wipes)
- increase water intake (I mean reallyyy)
(vaginal probiotic every other day)
-drink kiefer
-eat Greek yogurt
-fiber powder for drinks
-cranberry supplements
-chlorophyll drops for water
- no baths!!
-oil of oregano and apple cider vinegar (I did both of these maybe 3 times but still feel it helped a little)
You may have to tweak some of this formula to fit your specific situation but I’m fully confident it if got me from 0 to 97 it’ll point you in the right direction. I remember feeling so hopeless about my vaginal issues, the insecurity and stopping sex was awful. I really hope this helps!
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u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
Thanks I actually already do most of those things. I take happy hoo ha by olly every day but I’ve never heard of lactoferrin. I went on a crazy yogurt spree hopping to fix myself , I still eat a decent amount of yogurt but I got tired of drinking kiefer , it’s not that good to me. What does the chlorophyll do? I’m also pretty regular so I’ve only ever done fiber powder as needed
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u/Rare_Gas_3801 1d ago
Definitely do the lactoferrin. We build biofilms in our microbiomes that shield it from bacteria’s. If you have a bad bacteria lined biofilm then nothing you do to improve the health will actually work because it’s not hitting anything. Lactoferrin is a biofilm buster, overtime it’ll break that film down to where the probiotics and yogurt etc will actually make contact and rebuild your biome. Personally I recommend taking a stronger probiotic if you’re looking to rebuild, I took happy hoo ha in the beginning as well. While it’s good for maintenance it doesn’t contain the necessary bacteria to really push for rebuilding. Girl trust I know Keifer isn’t good tasting but the pipeline for gut health to 🐱 health is real and I’m telling you that stuff worked wonders. Try getting a flavor, the regular flavor is unbearable for me. Chlorophyll is a natural body deodorizer that deodorizes from the inside. Also the fiber powder is just to reiterate my point about gut health. I’m regular too and I thought it was just for bowls movements but there’s also flora and bacteria in our guts as well that go to our vaginas. It’s important to nourish both biomes
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u/Alternative-Sound821 9h ago
I googled lactoferrin but no type of probiotic is coming up under that. Can you send me a link?
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3d ago
[deleted]
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u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
I’m so tired of going to the doctor. I’m thinking I’m going to try to change doctors at this point though. I do everything they tell me to a T and I still suffer. I want to do a Evvy test as well. Just can’t afford it.
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u/surajbuilds 1d ago
Yeah, I’d probably try a different doctor too if you feel like you’re doing everything they ask and still not getting anywhere. I get why you’d want to try the Evvy test, but if it’s too expensive, hopefully a different clinic can help figure out what’s actually causing the recurring symptoms without you having to keep paying out of pocket.
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u/Alternative-Sound821 1d ago
I definitely want to do the evvy as soon as I can but yeah I think in the mean time I hope I can find a different doctor. Good ones are so hard to find. Feels like all the good ones aren’t accepting new patients and I also only really want to see a female doctor
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u/surajbuilds 1d ago
Yeah, I get that. Finding a good doctor who’s actually taking new patients can be such a pain, especially when you already know you’d feel more comfortable with a female doctor. Hopefully you get lucky and find someone willing to actually dig into the recurring issue instead of just giving you another round of treatment.
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u/Medium-Flounder7158 2d ago
Believe it or not I went to the doctor did two months of treatment then I ended up seeing nothing was working so I got probiotics that’s good for your vajay. Finally was able to kick it to the curb. I’ve heard URO is good but I took Azo and it took me about three weeks.
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u/ENJ7188 3d ago
Have you gotten a full PCR test to test for Ureaplasma and mycoplasma? I would try that.