Top Natural Bacterial Vaginosis Remedies

I DO encourage anyone suffering from this to do as much research as they can, but if you are not good at research or do not have the time, I think this post will be helpful to you.

First,my story/symptoms- i am 40 and have had yeast infections from time to time during my adulthood. Have always treated them with OTC treatment that has worked well for me. A few weeks ago I felt that unmistakable itch that has always, for me, signaled a yeast infection. I tried the usual OTC. Didn't work...hmmmmmmmm. tried it again, didn't work again. That's when I realized I'm dealing with something else this time. Begin with the research and reading- I'm 99.9% sure I have BV. Looked at the "official" info websites on the subject. They give great info on the causes but all treatment suggestions send you to your Dr, where they promptly give you a pelvic and a dose of antibiotics. After reading hundreds of posts from ladies that followed that course-went to Dr, got antibiotics, got temporary relief and BV keeps coming back; I decided to try and treat myself from the get-go. If you make that choice also, please do it carefully. I am NOT one of those folks who doesn't believe in going to the Dr. But after all I've read, it is my strong opinion that the general medical community has really dropped the ball on this problem. All they seem to do is throw antibiotics at you; which at best gives you temporary relief only to have BV return. At worst, temp relief of BV, but a lovely yeast infection in it's place.
OK, Off the soapbox and on with the info....

First I'm going to talk about the WHY. If you've been to other sites you may know this already, so skip it. If not read on.

The vagina is an interesting little ecosystem. Basically you have "good" bacteria that live there and keep everything happy. The environment of the vagina needs to be acidic (3.5-4.5) Just a little primer on the PH scale...0-14, 0 is extreme acidic, 14 is extreme alkaline. If your PH gets off and moves toward the higher end, your Good bacteria die and bad bacteria take over-thus BV. Or a yeast infection. Either one lives at the more alkaline. The acidity/good bacteria is a circle. The good bacteria help keep the acid right and the acid keeps the good bacteria alive. If you need more info on whether you have a bacterial infection or a yeast infection, that is pretty easy to find here and all over the web. My info is designed for gals that pretty much know they have BV.

OK...what now??? Another gal put the treatment process very succinctly and I'm basically repeating her thoughts.

1. Kill bad bacteria
2. Make environment in vagina more acidic.
3. Re-introduce good bacteria.
4. Find out what is causing yours and prevent. This is a mystery, I think there may be more to BV than what we currently know. There are Soooooo many ways your ph can become unbalanced and cause this. Educate yourself as much as possible and try to figure out your why.

The tools I have found that seem to work the best for the most people are these:
(I will tell you how to use each) You can find all of this at a health food store.

1.Hydrogen Peroxide
2.Folic Acid
3.Tea Tree Oil
4.Apple Cider Vinegar
5.Probiotics

1.Peroxide-Good all around cleasing agent. The bad bacteria are anaerobic, meaning they thrive in the absence of oxygen. The good bacteria are aerobic, the opposite. Peroxide floods the vagina with an environment that the bad stuff hates.
2.Folic Acid-I don't know why or really if this actually works, but a LOT of women swear by it and it can't hurt you-so why not.If anyone has more info on why Folic acid works please let me know.
3.Tea Tree Oil- This is a great natural TOPICAL antibiotic. There are others also, but Tea Tree is easy to come by and inexpensive and goes a long way.
4.Apple Cider Vinegar-This is a natural, inexpensive acid. Some gals insist on getting the kind with the "mother". You can find this at natural food stores.
5.Probiotics- I cannot (because this would be unbearibly long) go into all the details of the various strains of bacteria that should be living in your vagina. There is soooo much info out there to read on this(and I suggest you do)So I'm going to be VERY basic. Lactobacillus Acidolphis is one of the strains you need and can be easliy bought and administered.

OK, now for actual treatment. Other tools you will need other than the ones listed above are-
1. A small syringe. Get the type that has a bulb on the end. Designed for giving children medicine. Looks like a large eye dropper or a tiny turkey baster. Found mine at Wallgreens.
2. Tampons- get the kind that have different sizes. You will use the small tampon in the large applicator.

How to use these tools for treatment:
Take 800 mg of Folic Acid in the morning and 400mg at night.

You can rinse with the Peroxide first or anytime the discharge is bad. I found no problem with using it full strength. You can dilute if it bothers you. Draw it up into the syringe, insert as you would a tampon and squeeze it out while the syringe is inside. You can repeat this a couple of times.

Tea Tree Oil. This is where you use the tampons. Take out a small one and a large one, remove both tampons from their applicators. Throw out the small applicator and the large tampon. The reason you are doing this is(duh) a tampon swells when it is wet, so you have to get it saturated with oil THEN insert. Use the syringe to draw up some of the oil. saturate the small tampon with the oil. place the tampon in the large applicator and insert. leave in for up to 3 hrs. This is the A-Bomb for the bad bacteria! Take out and wait a few hours before the vinegar.

Vinegar. I found that the vinegar will burn if you do not dilute heavily. Find a level that is comfortable for you. You can either use your diluted mixture to rinse inside as you did with the peroxide or can saturate a tampon as you did with the oil. This will bring your Ph over to the acid side and make it a nice place for the good stuff to grow.

Acidophilus. This one has the most latitude. Probiotics come in capsules, tablets, "liquid", and in various foods. Most strains cannot migrate from your digestive tract to your vagina. Sooooo, the best way to adminiser these babies is to put them right where they need to be. i found that the capsules didn't disolve in the vagina as they would in the stomach, so I found an Acidophilus that is in a kind of liquid form. It actually looks like a runny yogurt. This is an easy method to get the little guys where they need to be. Use the syringe and insert a couple of teaspoons inside.

I found it best to use the Peroxide, Oil, and Vinegar during the day and the acidophilus in the evening before bed. That way it's not so messy (put on a pair of COTTON undies) also allows the whole night for them to multiply.
As for taking probiotics orally, certianly can't hurt and may help a lot. So take them orally in conjuction with vaginally.

I had results from this treatment plan in one day. I hope to get some feedback with others experiences. Sorry this was so long, but I hope it helps. This is such an awful problem and there aren't that many real answers out there.

a. tea tree oil and vitamin E on a tampon. The tea tree oil worked well and the Vitamin E kept me from drying out. I am peri-menopausal and do not need a dried out vagina.

b. eating lots of plain yogurt and taking acidophilus powder dissolved in water each day.

c. Wiping myself off with 3% hydrogen peroxide a few times a week. It nukes the bacteria brilliantly! e. I took cranberry tablets to help against bladder infections that often seem to accompany the b.v.

All these things worked fairly well, but then I stumbled upon cayenne pepper, and this seems to be the key ingredient- the cherry on the cake. Here is what helps me- I find the hottest chilipepper sauce that I can find- Tabasco or Sriracha sauce. I put about 2 tablespoons of the hotsauce, or even cayenne pepper powder, in a cup and add some hot water. I drink this about 3-4 times per day and eat a lot of chili peppers when I can. I have found that the addition of the chilies/chili sauce/cayenne pepper has been a marvelous tonic. It gives me a bit of a warm pepper 'rush', it alkalizes my blood and it helps against the burning and itching pain that always seems to be present. Chilies are great for the circulation and I suppose for that reason alone, it seems to get to the inflammation that always seems present with b.v

Oh yes- I blow dry myself each morning after a shower and I do not use soap anymore when washing the vaginal area.I use something like a non-soap, Ph balanced product. Just to keep the area moist, I use Vitamin E once a week as a vaginal lubricant. It is also important to cut down on sugar, as that feeds bacteria. I drink lots of water and cut down on coffee and alcohol. It helps to consider why you might be run down to the point of having this annoying infection. Be gentle on your self. These things have helped me immeasurably and I thank all the angels out there who offered up their remedies. One did not do the trick, but many have helped. Perhaps my remedies will help someone. Thanks Earth Clinic!

In Jan. 2008, I tried the 1:1 H20/ Hydrogen Peroxide douche + acidophilous (2 after each meal) + folic acid (3 800mcg/day). At first it worked wonders, but because I had done all three at once I didn't know which was working or not. I waited a few days and only took the vitamins. The odor and discharge came back so I knew that the Hydrogen Peroxide had been the quick fix. I douched again and the smell disappeared, but came back by the end of the day. Every other day I tried the douche for about 2 weeks and I found that the cure was losing its potency. I know douching is bad and this shouldn't be done regularly. I stopped and decided to wait if the vitamins alone would work. A week later and nothing. So I took one of the acidophilus pills and put it way in my vagina. This actually worked a lot better than the hydrogen peroxide. However, I noticed after a few times that this had lost its potency too. I was really desperate. The remedies here were my last hope.

Then, I decided to completely analyze my lifestyle. I'm from Korea and I came to NY about 2 yrs ago. I noticed that the bv became serious after I came to the states. 1. Quit using fabric softener in laundry - instead I use vinegar and some drops of essential oils. If you read up on fabric softener you'll find out that it's really bad. I'd hardly used fabric softener in Korea and simply ran the rinse cycle twice. Since fs was something I'd started in the states it had to do with my pH imbalance. Regular soaps/detergents are alkaline, which is what makes washed things rough. In order to get it soft you have to rebalance the pH. Vinegar will do this. I put about 1/4 cup of white vin with some drops of tea tree and lavender essential oils. (The oils are choice. You don't need them if don't have them). Laundry smells Wonderful and not cloying like fs. It's logical to use natural substance for your laundry, especially underwear! And very necessary to keep your clothes pH balanced. Vinegar smell disappears through drying; don't worry.

2. I bought a large batch of KIMCHI and started eating it everyday with my meals. There is a LOT of acidophilus and bifidus in kimchi and I'd had hardly any intake of those good bateria. (I hadn't eaten yogurt because I get skin blemishes with dairy.)

3. Skin trouble or not, I bought a yogurt maker and have been eating homemade yogurt once a day. This is a good way to insure that you have a steady diet of yogurt and after a few tries you'll find that it's cheaper and healthier than storebought.

4. Reduced intake of sugar. This was the Hardest thing to do. I love a good dessert, but I had to stop. I let myself eat a cookie about once a week.

5. I quit smoking. I just had 1 or 2 cigarettes a day, but still it's toxic and I knew I had to STOP.

6. THIS IS MOST IMPORTANT in my cure: I did an Eastern medical treatment called moxibustion. I really went back to my roots to cure myself. How moxibustion (or moxa cautery) works is there are these short paper-rolled stubs of wormwood that is stuck to a round clay foundation and their placed usually where the ailment is, and burned. You can picture a 1/4 inch cigarette butt sticking up from a teeny flowerpot; however it might look different because mine was sent to me by my mom and is for home use. Mind you, your skin isn't burned, simply warmed, but the wetness is dried up and toxins seep out through the burning process. If you're not Asian and don't know what I'm talking about go to an Asian medical specialist and tell them to do a moxibustion on your lower abdomen because you have an inflammation in the female area. In Eastern med, smelly discharge and all that women's trouble is said to be caused by a coldness in the lower body, and where there is wet, there is cold. You'll notice that the discharge keeps you cold in that area. You need to make your lower body warmed up again. I did the moxibustion and the discharge and smell was almost gone immediately. I did it a few more days (once a day) and it's COMPLETELY disappeared. Wow, all I had to do was go back to my roots.

Anyway, if you're unable to find an Asian medicine facility where you live... try some things to warm your lower ab. Don't wear jeans, especially tight jeans. Don't just sit down in cold areas - cold plastic subway seats are bad! If you have a hot water bottle, hold it against your lower belly. If you don't have a hot water bottle, use a heating pad or just put warm water into a PET bottle and use it. Drink lukewarm water and not cold refrigerated or ice water. However, I really recommend just a few times of Moxibustion. Everything else is a lifestyle change that should be kept up, but this is something that is direct.

But now I have another problem. I don't smell anymore, but my clothes and sheets still have that odor left in them. No amount of regular laundry will get rid of it. Do I have to get a new wardrobe or can someone help me rid of the stink?