Top Natural Bacterial Vaginosis Remedies

Betadine for BV

Ladies,

I have suffered with this for years. Unfortunately I have never really been cured. The longest I have went is probably 6 months with no symptoms. I started a forum on a health board regarding peroxide for treatment 4 or 5 years ago that had 100's of posts to my surprise. That's when I discovered I wasn't alone.

If your BV is mild, don't do anything! Take your supplements and wait until after a period and see what happens. The more you mess around with changing the flora in your vagina the more you are going to get things totally out of whack. I learned the hard way. Peroxide worked for me, temporarily but always came back with a vengeance. The more you do, the worse it comes back. You are killing all the bacteria in your vagina and some things allow the good bacteria to bounce back quickly while keeping the bad at bay.

If you must treat it, add some Betadine to good distilled water (pH 7, city water with chlorine has a very high pH) douche with betadine for 7 days, You can even use the swabs to clean the vaginal walls. Do this in the morning because it takes 120 minutes for the flora to begin to bounce back. Lactobacillus first! At night use a good quality yogurt and a syringe and then insert a tampon to hold it in. Continue yogurt treatment for a few days. Take a good quality probiotic daily.

Also Vinegar seems to allow the Lactobacillus to survive douching while killing the bad bacteria. If your BV isn't too bad try the vinegar and the yogurt treatment, watch what you eat and try to boost your immune system. Wait it out, it takes time.

Drinking Goldenseal tea works!! That along wth taking massive amounts of vitamin supplements,plain yogurt,acidophilus, and oregano oil capsules twice a day, along with goldenseal tea, 2 cups a day. GUYS, no joke, I got the worse case of BV, e v e r....this went on NONSTOP for 3 months, Im talking, not sleeping at night, cuz of the persistant itching, burning agony, and swollen tissues, (it felt like a bowling ball up in there) it was AWFUL> I have ALWAYS struggled with yeast and vaginal infections, but this was hidious.(I havnt had sex in 3 months either, it was THAT BAD.

Heres what I did: I didnt really douche, because IT NEVER WORKS for me, it always makes things worse. I tried the hydrogen peroxide douche, and altho it did take away the odor, it came after a couple days, and it seemed to make things MORE irritated and infected. I did try coconut oil and castor oil inserted inside the vagina, overnight, and it did kinda help, but not really. I started really seeing results with the supplements, oregano oil and goldenseal tea. (be warned Goldenseal tea tastes like DIRT) very bitter, but it works!!Tried GPE, didnt really work.

In the morning after eating some raison bread, I would take my supplements and acidophilus and yogurt. Then after about 3-4 hours, would do the oregano oil with the tea. Then 3-4 hours later, I would do the tea and oregano oil again. The at bedtime, ALWAYS 2 hours after the tea and oregano, I would take folic acid, vitamin E and acidophilus again. Check my earlier post under supplements to see amounts of what I took. Good luck ladies.

First of all, thank you to all the women who have shared their stories about BV. I've been dealing with BV now for 3 years. At first I thought I had hygeine issues and I was actually disgusted with myself! I used to douche every day. When I was diagnosed with BV about 1 year ago, I was given metronidozol, and ended up with a horrible yeast infection. I prefer to do things in a more holistic way, so I tried the acidophilis orally every day for a week. I also tried the hydrogen peroxide douche twice during that time. I did experience some relief. A couple days ago, though, I came across an article that mentioned using diluted honey with distilled water as a douche to treat vaginal yeast infections. I tried that 3 days ago, and again last night. I am so fresh and no discharge, no odor. I have found my treatment of choice for my BV. I used about 3tbsp in a standard size douche bottle, and filled the rest of the bottle with warm distilled water. Shake shake shake, insert, squeeze! The honey I purchased is 100% pure, uncooked, unfiltered. No oozing, no stickiness, or seepage after the douche either. Look up the benefits of honey for more info.

I started having problems a few years ago. Went to the dr. got precribed the medicine, it healed, but then was back within 2 months. I have 4 teen daughters so we're a very 'in touch with our feminine side' household. Everyone knows how to wash, wipe etc. This was my first experience with an STD since I was a teen. I am also married so there's no multiple partners. On my second trip to the drs. where I was almost in tears I was so frustrated about being back in his office so soon he took the time to explain a bit more. He told me in medical circles BV is often known as the 'clean freaks disease' (!) He asked me a bit about my bathing habits. I shower every day and at that time was washing that area with shower gel. I was also ice-skating alot and taking long baths with bath oils afterwards to ease the sore muscles. Basically he explained some women's vagina's ph level is very sensitive - and almost anything can throw it off, which then opens it up to the bacteria to invade - in my case it was probably perfumed shower gel and bath oils, but also sanitary products etct! I dropped the washing my privates with perfumed stuff and only use water and sometimes 'simple' or sensitive soap with no perfume. A private midwife friend suggested using a tampon dipped in live bio yogurt, which I now do after periods, and for a few hours after sex as a preventitive - and so far it's worked.

I wrote a post on BV sometime last year. The acidophilous and folic acid worked temporarily, but then sometimes it had no effect at all, esp after sexual intercourse or after my period. Then, I really changed a lot of habits and so far so good.

Bottom line: REALLY had to change my lifestyle.

No alcohol, very little sugar in my diet (including sweet fruits), fresh organic foods, quit smoking, reduced coffee, wear less tight-fitting pants, keep lower body warm, switched to CLOTH sanitary pads, take acidophilous and folic acid every day.

Also! NO birth control pills or antibiotics!

I think this whole thing has a lot to do with contemporary lifestyle. Most of our foods are very processed unless you're extra conscious to make an effort to eat organic foods, and I heard from a guy who works at a cracker company that the additives they use in order to keep the food looking like new is very dangerous. For instance, they might use on ingredient to prevent decay, and something else to give it a certain flavor; okay separately, but toxic if taken together. They don't take this into consideration. I think it's called "chemical coctail effect," and it will cause an imbalance to your natural hormone level; even impotence or prenatal deformity.

Second, I was ill about 9 years ago and the hospital gave me a lot of antibiotics. This completely killed my immune system. This is important b/c the acidophilous is a PRObiotic, which is a natural substance that helps boost your body's own immune system, whereas antibiotics will lower your body's immune system and kill the external virus through the medication's strength. If you've taken a lot of cold medicines, allergy meds, acne creams/meds etc, your natural immune system will likely be very weak! Therefore, don't look for a quick fix. It will only take you a step back from all the hard work you put into the acidophilous and folic acid.

Also, birth control pills will cause BV, too.

Another thing, I saw this documentary that sanitary pads and esp tampons, panty liners etc are very toxic. The cotton is bleached. Second, they use a lot of chemicals to keep the pads or tampons "clean." Artificial fragrances, chemicals to absorb more liquid etc. The thinner the pad, the more toxic it is b/c the chemicals are more condensed on a smaller surface. They tested the amount of toxins that emit from the pads. At first, before menstral blood seeped into the pad was ok, but more and more toxins were emitted as time lapsed. These toxins go into your vag, pores and harm the uterus and ovaries. Also, this is a big reason why we get that rotton smell when we menstrate. It's not really the menstral blood that will cause such a smell, it's because the toxins mix with the blood and cause this, not to mentin cramps. Of course, tampons are worse because it's like you've corked yourself up. The smell, cramps, bloating will be worse than when using pads. I changed to organic cloth sanitary pads. They feel amazing! No sticking to skin, no scraping, cramps are almost nonexistent, smell is gone.

I've been away from my bf for a month and a half and the BV is gone. Don't know if it's b/c I'm taking better care of my diet or if it's b/c I'm not having sex. Maybe both. I will update again after I see my bf again.

Yes!! Vitamins are the number one key factor for teating BV. I was taking folic acid and a multi vitamin for a while and that seemed to work for about a year, but then I started getting them again. I reado somewhere your body can get used to vitamins and build a tolerance over time.

Super B complex!!!! B vitamins. I did A TON of reaearch, because, ever since I was 22, I HAVE SUFFERED with BV, and yeast infections, AND bladder infections. I read that many women prone to chronic yeast infections have a b vitamin defiency. I started adding a b vitamin complex to the regime, and also, I do the tea tree oil douche, and I take alot of raw garlic in my diet, (in cooking, etc) works great.

I have been dealing with I thought was a yeast infection then all of a sudden I noticed a foul smelling odor afterwards that was hard to get rid of, however; I just used the garlic gel pills that is 1,000 mg and inserted (2 pills) in my vagina for two days in between those days a discharged occurred but I guess it was normal for that to happen but I am now odor and discharge free. Why? did I do this because when you go to the doctor they give you pencillin and next to that if you can't afford the visit garlic is next in line to cure you. I read this site whereas everyone is using gel pills so I went home and inserted the garlic gel pills instead remind you I had this infection for about a good 3 months and it was getting worse now. I am cured. Just keep washing with dove unscented soap and keep a dry unscented pantiliner on day and night to keep yourself dry. Remember garlic eats yeast and purifies. I advise you all not to douche just keep your system flush with fluid because that vinegar/water douche by equate irritated me that caused this to happen.

BETTER BUT WITH SIDE EFFECTS

I have read pages and pages of posts on this site. A week ago I was checked, as a last resort, for a yeast infection (I was sick but nobody could figure out from what so the vag check was a last resort). I had no itching, burning, oder, discomfort, or discharge but the Dr. said I had a small amount of discharge but it was "up there". He swabbed me anyway and sent it off to the lab but gave me a Diflucan in the meantime-which I took immediately. Two days later his office called and said the labs came back and showed BV and they had already called in a Rx for Flagyl (which I filled but never took--WAY too many side effects and I was already sick). It has now been 8 days since I took the Diflucan and I never felt like I had a yeast infection in the first place. I've been taking 5 billion CFU, multi-strain, probiotics w/ nutraflora (200mg) 2xday, 1000 mg vitamin C, and 1000 mg garlic daily for a few days now. I check everytime I go to the bathroom and there has never been the tale-tale smell of BV. Today though, I started feeling achy in my abdomen and my sunshine started to itch on the outside. Doesn't hurt to pee but it's uncomfortable feeling on the surrounding area. So, now what? Is this yeast, BV, or a mystery? The only thing I haven't done is take the folic acid and insert a capsule. Garlic will treat bacterial and viral infections but I don't think I'm up for shoving one up there, ya know? I can buy plain yogurt and folic acid tomorrow if anyone thinks that might do it. Thoughts, opinions, suggestions definitely welcome! Fortunately, I am not used to getting these infections but my PH (and everything else) has been off lately due to a serious illness. Thanks for everything!!!! LOVE this site!!!!

WARNING!

It is SOOOOO important that you go to the doctor and get tested for BV or STDs!!!! I was going to Planned Parenthood for a very long time. I was getting exam after exam and every time I went in there, they told me I had BV and gave me meds that never worked. So finally I decided enough was enough and went to my Gyno doctor, where she told me I did not have BV but I have PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE! This can cause infertility and pregnancy complications that can cause death! Please please get to the doctor before you self medicate yourself! Some of the symptoms of BV are similiar to PID and if you have any pain what so ever, get to the doctor and get checked out!

It has been 5 days since I started taking 100mg of vitamin B6. The first 3 days I still had a yellowish discharge but the ammonia smell started going away. The 4th day same discharge, and still less of an ammonia smell. Today I haven't had any discharge yet and it's after 2:00 p.m. I have no odor whatsoever either! If I have to take vitamin B6 forever I will do it just to keep BV away! It sure beats having to insert stuff in your vagina all the time! Thank you all!

Hi all,

I had bv for a long time...n it was really bad.....but i am extremely happy to say that now its been completely cured... as i had read in a lot of articles that yogurt, curd, buttermilk contain probiotics that help body regain its natural microbial flora, I increased my daily buttermilk intake...thus, i recommend a glass of buttermilk, per day for getting rid of bv....

If you do not get ready buttermilk, you just have to take two spoons of yogurt, mix well and add drinking water to make a glass full of buttermilk..

This is really an effective way, rather than taking tablets and other medications.

Okay ladies, over the last 6 months I have been researching home cures for BV. I had my last try at getting rid of this life sucking monster via abx. So I came across this site, I had already tried the Acidophilus and the H2O2 (with no success), a few weeks ago I tried the 400 mcg of folic acid twice a day. It seemed to be working but I still had small amounts of discharge (wearing panty liners all the time-not a life) and I had to make sure I took the supplement at the same time twice a day.

My point ladies is this-

When I was trying to cure my BV with abx my gyn gave me a list of food items to alter my diet. She explained that my pH was out of balance (which make is easier for bacteria to flourish) and I needed to become more alkaline. Basically what it came down to was I needed to give up all of the good tasting foods in my life... NOPE, that is not the life I want to live. Many of the green leafy veg and other alkalizing foods are high in folic acid and B vitamins but I also noticed that Evening Primrose oil was on the list of alkaline foods. And so I began taking a supplement of 1000 mg twice a day without regard for timing and OMG!!! I am back to my old...LOVE BEING A WOMAN self!!

Just wanted you all to know about my results and what has worked for me. Good luck to all of you!!

Please add this remedy in the Vaginosis section :)

I have tried so many things for this terrible, frustrating, humiliating and irritating condition - including the Hydrogen peroxide, folic acid, and acidophilus cures. What *has* worked for me is the combination of povidone-iodine swabsticks & high doses of vitamin c. A few years ago, I saw a MD who also did alternative care (when I had a wicked case of candida). He suggested that I swab vaginally with 50% povidone-iodine and 50% water. This was a tremendous pain until I discovered povidone-iodine swabsticks (google them for retail sources). After months of an unrelenting vaginosis (complete with fishy smell), I decided to try the povidone-iodine swabsticks on that. It works!! The wicked smell and discharge is washed away immediately!! I think it's important to do this 2-3 times/day for the first few days, but after that, once seems adequate. Note that I am doing this once or twice a day now - and am unsure of how long I'll need to do it, but it's ridiculously easy so I'm totally cool with that! Also, it doesn't sting - *at all* even immediately after sex, which I definitely can't say about the hydrogen peroxide douche (ouch!).

Also - I have been diagnosed with cevical dysplasia and was looking for a treatment for that. In the Doctor Yourself website, this quote is made: "Dysplasia is a study in scurvy. In vitamin C deficiency disease, there is insufficient production of collagen, the strong, healthy glue that holds your cells together. Whether dysplasia is triggered by a virus, physical irritation or other cause, the fundamental problem is weak intercellular ground substance due to inadequate ascorbic acid." So - I decided to start taking 3-6 grams vitamin c daily. (If you're concerned about this check out the vitamin c foundation web pages & know that Linus Pauling took 6-18 grams daily!)

Since adding the vitamin c, the smell vanished! I'm playing it safe and not going more than a day without one swabbing, but it really doesn't seem necessary so.. I don't know - it's just so easy that I figure it's worth doing!

Best wishes to you all :)

UPDATE ON BACTERIAL VAGINOSIS: After using the metrogel twice a week for long term therapy, I got a nasty yeast infection. I was at the doctor's office once again in tears.... and yes, she got frustrated with me. She did test me for BV and it came back negative. Perhaps the last time I took flagyl worked. However, I am now treating BV naturallly with vitamins. I take 1600 mcg of folic acid, 2 acidophilus pills (refridgerated) and 2 Probiotics. I also take 1 oil of oregeno pill a day with warm water, 1 garlic pill, and eat 2 probiotics yogurts daily. I had sex twice this weekend and no smell. I'll test myself tomorrow with a screening kit and hopefully it will read 4.5.

Thank you, ladies, for your input. God bless us all. Thank you, Earth Clinic.

Golden seal cured BV for me.

I've been suffering from BV for 8 months and I've tried Folic Acid and Acidophellus (spell check) but neither worked, I douche with Peroxide and water which only lasted for 3 days but recently I tried finding boric acid and had no luck but I did have Golden Seal which cures most infections so I decided to insert it inside of the vaginal and the next morning I had no signs of BV so I did the same the next night and still no signs the next morning. The only thing is I have to wear a panty liner because it does leak out the next day.

Hi, im so so glad that i found this site. Im 20 years old and have been dealing with bv for only a year now. I am sexually active and have been with the same person for 5 years now and it all seemed to come about after my boyfriend ejaculated in me a year ago. It has been down hill since then.I have also been to the docter and been perscribed flagyl which only cured it for a few weeks. The smell is jus so embarrasing that i would stop in the middle of intercourse. I found this site 2 days ago and have been reading all the different remedies. I went out first thing this morning and brought 400mcg folic acid pills, 3% hydrogen peroxide, and 500 million cfu acidophilus. I have only taken 2 folic acid pills and 1 acido pill and will take another folic acid and acido pill tonite. Im sceptical about using the douche because ive heard it was not healthy. Hopefully the pills cure it, if not i will add the douche to my regimen. Im hoping and praying that it works cuz i have really been stressin myself about this lately. I will write back in a few days to tell of any success. Wish me luck!!!

I took Amoxicillin for 10 days and it helped. When I started the Amoxicillin, I immediately stopped inserting ANYTHING in my vagina (penises, fingers, tampons, toys, douches, applicators) and I shaved off all pubic hair for cleanliness. Then, EVERY DAY, I drank one glass of organic, plain Kefir; ate one cup of organic, plain yogurt; took one probiotic pill for vaginal support made by Renew Life; took 4 dried garlic pills by Kyolic; and took 150 mg of vitamin c in powder form. It's been 2 weeks and I feel great! I am going to continue to do all of these things every day for the rest of my life, though. It will be even more important when I resume intercourse, which may be a long time from now, but it's worth the wait.

I have been suffering for over two and a half months with something that seems to have some properties from both a yeast infection and BV. I have tried so many things from prescription creams to Canestin. I've even tried some apple cider vinegar, yogurt, salt baths, vinegar baths and anything else I could find already in this house (Luckily my parents had all this already).

Then I read online about Tea Tree oil and remembered luckily seeing a bottle of it in the cupbord. At first though, using it by itself made things a bit worse. It is a very strong antifungal, can sting and make any redness/itchyness a bit worse. So then back to the stuff that wasn't really working I went. After a bit more time though I despirately went back to the clinic to have the infection looked at again. I had a lot of redness/itching/discharge. I was prescribed Monistat and a vaginal douche to use with some plain white vinegar mixed with a litre of water. So far the douche is working decently but the Monistat treatment has been over for a couple days now and hasn't worked much. Anyway as soon as the Monistat treatment was over I had searched online again and saw that Tea Tree Oil was one of the most recommended remedies for yeast and BV but that it should be diluted with water. I hadn't noticed the diluted part before so I then went and put all of what was left, about 1 tablespoon, into a 500ml bottle and filled the rest with water and throughly shook it to mix it up.

Now I use the plain white vinegar douche for the internal part of the infection and the diluted Tea Tree Oil on a clean soft tissue as a topical to help with the external part of the infection and to help clear the itching/redness. I use the douche once a day before bed to clear all the junk out from the day and the diluted Tea Tree Oil at least 2-3 times a day after I go to the washroom and/or bathe, plus I use no soap. So far the infection is slowly going away and I am so happy about this.:)

I was searching like you all, because I'm desperate, I have this condition like 3 years and I go to 3 different doctors, (sorry if my english is not beter I'm not from United States and I not live there), and I am very happy to enter to this site because I feel alone in this world and I was thinking that I was the only one that have the problem that BV does not give away with the antibiotics. I will try all the remedies that you post it, because I tried a variety of different antibioticos (Flagyl, Metro-Gel, Cipro, Levaquin, Diflucan) and no one has long term results and I spend a lot of money because my medical insurance does not cover medicines. I am tired of this, this cause me depression, shame and ansiety disorder because I feel alone, now this site was like a support and give me hope, I read about some of you that has ten years with this condition uFFF! If some of this remedies work for me I will send you another message ok. I hope all can find something that gives away this nightmare.

This is in response to your blog, Rene...I know you are frustrated and just want to have a healthy sex life! BV is horrible! I have been suffering from it for over a year, and i have done countless experiments with several at home remedies. Let me tell you i'm almost better, not 100% yet, but almost! Here is why your bv comes back after sex...(this may be a bit long, but it will help you) This was confirmed by my new GYN just a couple weeks ago:

BV is caused by a change in the ph of your vagina. Your vagina should be in the ph range of 4.0-4.5, an acidic environment. If the ph goes higher than that range, this causes an overgrowth of the bad bacteria that exist in our vagina, and a depletion of the good bacteria (lactobacillus acidophilus). If the vagina is in the proper ph range, the lactobacilli should outnumber the bad bacteria and keep your vag. in the correct ph range. these good bacteria produce an acidic environment, and the acidic environment keep the good bacteria (this is a constant circle, so it is important to keep tabs on your ph). The reason the semen is causing your bv is likely because semen has a ph of about 7.0-8.0 (don't quote me on that, i don't know the exact number, but i know that semen has a significantly higher ph than the vagina calls for). When you have unprotected sex, the semen (ph of 7.0) interrupts the normal state of the vagina (ph of 4.0), thus causing a depletion of the lactobacilli and overgrowth of bad bacteria, causing bv.

This to me is BS, because our bodies were made to procreate, and how do you do that without semen, right? If I were you, I would keep tabs on your vaginal ph on a regular basis with one of those kits you can buy at the store (about $16, but VERY worth it and better than doctors bills!!). Also, after sex, you may want to douche with half organic apple cider vinegar/half distilled or previously boiled water. ACV has a ph level of 3.0-4.0, which is perfect for restoring the ph of the vagina. Be sure to take Lactobacillus Acidophilus supplements every day. You can do this orally, and if that is not enough, you can apply vaginally with plain yogurt or just putting a pill up there. The most important ingredient in the vagina is the lactobacilli, so if you have to pick one thing, i would choose that. I really hope this helps. You sound frustrated, and i don't blame you! And, remember that the doctors arent telling you the whole story most of the time, so you may want to continue doing some research on your own and experimenting with different home remdies. Everyone's body reacts differently so be sure to choose the correct remedy for your body.

Good luck!