Hydrogen Peroxide for Bacterial Vaginosis

Antibiotics - work, but makes you feel sick and I had a recurrence shortly after.

Probiotics (probably), but not immediately. I didn't have the patience to wait.

Some gels especially for BV - only some instant relieve of the symptoms - further not much change.

I wish I would have known about Hydrogen Peroxide from the start, but unfortunatelly you have to google a lot to find out such a simple cure. After only 3 days of treatment, as described here, and BV is completely gone. Now back to happy and confident - ME :)

I found this study on the US National Library of medicine's website. Read what it has to say about hydrogen peroxide! (Here's a link to the study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3458956/)

Hydrogen peroxide

We identified two non-controlled clinical trials that we excluded from this review [15, 16], and one randomised triple-blinded controlled trial in which the efficacy of vaginal hydrogen peroxide instillation in curing BV was assessed [17].

In a very well-designed triple-blinded randomised controlled trial, Chaithongwongwatthana et al. investigated the effectiveness and safety of a single hydrogen peroxide vaginal douche in treating bacterial vaginosis [17]. In this study, 142 patients with BV were enrolled in a Thai outpatient gynaecologic clinic. Diagnosis was made according to Amsel's criteria. Randomisation relied on computer-generated random number scheme and both subjects and investigators were blinded to treatment. In addition double dummies were used to ensure blinding. In the experimental treatment arm patients (n = 72) were treated with a single douche with 20 ml of a 3% hydrogen peroxide solution in lithotomy position for 3 minutes, whereas in the control arm patients (n = 70) received 4 tablets of 500 mg metronidazole. The dummy treatments consisted of a vaginal douche with clean water in the metronidazole group and of identical placebo tablets similar to the metronidazole tablets in the hydrogen peroxide group. Follow-up was performed at 2 weeks following treatment. Cure was defined as the absence of at least 3 Amsel criteria. Assessors were blinded for the treatment allocation. The cure rates were 62.5% in the hydrogen peroxide group and 78.6% in the metronidazole group (see Table 1). Patients in the metronidazole group had significantly more gastrointestinal side effects (48.6% versus 13.9%, p < 0.001), whereas patients in the hydrogen peroxide group had significantly more mild vaginal irritation (33.3% versus 14.3%, p = 0.008).

Also I'll tell you a secret I wish I knew all along... Hydrogen peroxide!!! Use as a douche or rinse it wet a tampon. Odor is gone immeadiatly, no matter how bad your infection is. So cheap, and a Godsend. I dont really have an infection now, been free for maybe 6 months after a mild one . Diet changes really helped there, now all I do is eaty healthy about 1/2 the time and eat yogurt weekly, then rinse with the peroxide anytime I feel I have an odor. Not even a fishy odor (its not that bad) just an off odor. Odor goes immediatly and stays gone for days. So really all you need is a healthy diet and perioxide. Save yourself some money. Trust me I tried everything out there, even making my own suppositories . Perioxide and a good diet is the way to go. My BV will come back if I go back to eating a lot of junk and sugar for too long.

I have had Bv for a couple of months, and have only realised that it actually is bv. Before going to the gyn I have decided to do the tampon hydrogen peroxide method. I've been doing it for 2 nights now, the first night was half HP half water solution, and left me feeling quite dry, but very little odour, I tried it again last night, but this time full HP solution. I did it just before bed, and fell asleep with it in by accident for 4 hours.. when I took it out, the inside of my vagina was swollen and felt a bit of discomfort, today, my vagina has been excreting a watery discharge that is a little yellow in colour, but no swollen discomfort or strong odour. Should I stop this method or keep trying? I only want to leave in the tampon for 20-30 minutes but last night was an accident

So on Saturday I started the tampon method. I soaked it in a tampon with the plastic applicator for a few minutes and inserted for 30 minutes. I did tht twice..... would u believe no smell or discharge all night and morning. BUT it came back but the smell was minor and the discharge was little to none. I did this for 3 days but withing 16 hrs the minor stench and discharge would return. So I did the douche method on the fourth day... IT FINISHED THE JOB immediately. I did it before I took my shower on the 4th and 5th day and I will do it for the last day today to make 7 days for treatment.. no discharge or odor since day 4. And I had sex on day 5 and no smell AT ALL ...i also inserted a bv cream as well to keep the freshness. If u havent tried it PLEASE DO IMMEDIATELY IT WORKS.

Found this site and got so excited that I did not fully read the douche instructions for Hydrogen peroxide. I did 30ml full strength in about 5 minutes standing up. Yes there was a slight sting afterwards for about a minute. But once that was over, I had Immediate relief. No itching, no smell just relief.

Now my second treatment will be tomorrow morning with half/half. I only wear cotton undies and go bare during sleep. Thank you thank you thank you for sharing this information. Will let you all know how I feel in the morning. Baby is fine moving her normal amount. No camping or out of ordinary sensations. Screaming Thank you, all of you for sharing your experiences!!!!

8 glasses of water/day (at least)

no fast food/processed food (meals from scratch)

greek yogurt (probiotics)

...At this point, things started to get better. But the itchiness and slight odor lingered.

1 part hydrogen peroxide to 3 parts water in a douche 1-2x per week

I guess I see this as an ongoing solution - not a permanent fix. I'm married and sex is a regular part of my life - sperm is also one of the triggers for my BV. Like other women, the relief was almost instant. Compared to regular doses of antibiotics, I'm totally good with something I can manage without medical help.

I've had BV on/off about 7-8 times a year for almost 5 years now. I've always taken Metronidazole(which gives me a yeast infection so I finish the week off with Diflucan) but this last time I took it, it did not work. I knew I had to do more research. So I did. I found that I just eat too much sugar. I feed the bad bacteria every single time I eat because I'm always eating bad foods. I hate home cooked food, fruits and veggies. Well, that has to change for it to go away so last month I did a SERIOUS cleanse. I'm tired of smelling like fish and I'm tired of not being able to comfortably have sex with my boyfriend.

I went out and bought a douche, hydrogen peroxide (3%) and some tampons. I douched for 3 days straight with half hydrogen peroxide and half water. I didn't hold it in - I just douched standing up. On the third day however, before I douched I soaked a tampon for about 5 mins in the solution and inserted it for 15 mins, THEN douched. Just to kill all the rest of the bacteria. Smell was gone on the FIRST day but my hoohah was irritated for the whole 3 days due to the hydrogen peroxide. NOTE: THIS WORKED THE SECOND TIME I DID IT, NOT THE FIRST.

The FIRST time I did not change my diet. It was filled with fast food, cookies, cakes, ice cream, pizza, pasta, burgers, quesadillas, and every bar menu food you can think of. No fruits or veggies, no whole foods. Guess what, it didn't work! SO I did research and learned that BV is simply too much bad bacteria. Bad foods = bad bacteria. So the second time around I cleaned up my diet. I ate only eggs, meat, veggies and fruit that I bought and prepared for an entire week (it was hell) and did the HP cleanse for 3 days again. Guess what? IT WORKED! I also took a probiotic everyday to encourage the good bacteria to grow. I still take it every morning now just to keep BV away since I can't keep my diet ALL the way clean 100% of the time. But I've been free of BV about a month now. Even after exercising everyday, sex with my boyfriend(omg its so much better when it's not funky), and my period.

Go for it! But clean your diet up too! Otherwise you'll just be wasting your time.

It's been exactly 1 month now and I've already had my period a week ago. No recurring BV! I followed the instructions for 5 days until the discharge and smell subsided and eventually disappeared. I did experience a bit of a burning sensation the first 2-3 days but that's ok.

I also had organic (non-conventional brand) kefir that I found at the health food store, supplemented with vitamin D3 (5000IU daily), folic acid and vitamin C (ascorbate not ascorbic acid).

The main reason this method works is that bad bacteria are anaerobic (they multiply in an environment where there's no oxygen), while good bacteria are aerobic (they need oxygen to thrive). Hydrogen peroxide has oxygen molecules and therefore it kills the bad bacteria while helping the good bacteria grow.

I'm glad I've tried this after almost a year of battling the symptoms. Please give it a try, just follow the instructions above! Good luck!

It became incredibly frustrating, until out of frantic internet searches I found this page and found my solution.

-I bought some hydrogen peroxide, douche and acidophilus tablets.
-Firstly, I created a 50/50 mix of hydrogen peroxide and water to fill the douche.
-I lay in the bath (or sat on the toilet) and inserted the mixture and held for 60 seconds.
-I then released the original liquid and then douched again with a small amount of water.
-After, I then inserted an acidophilus tablet into my vagina to encourage the 'friendly' bacteria.

I did this for 7 days, in the morning.
I saw immediate results, after day 2, there was no smell (throughout the day) and my discharge had returned completely to the state it was before BV.
It did feel a little crampy for the first 3 days of doing this, but after it was fine.

It has been nearly two weeks, I have had sex and my BV has NOT RETURNED! (although I did douche with the solution a few hours after sex as a scared precaution, because I'm terrified of it coming back! )

(I must add I have cut down on smoking which may have had some benefit)
BUT THIS SOLUTION IS GREAT AND I WISH I HAD FOUND IT SOONER.

I've had BV one time before. I know exactly why I got it and it's embarrassing. Back then I tried some lightweight natural remedies and while it lessened the symptoms, it didn't go away until I went to the doctor and got metro gel. That took it away completely. This second incident is now about three years after the first. I don't know how I got it though I suspect my partner had something to do with it because of a random comment he made about having not showered. Come on people let's be hygienic! As for my symptoms, I wouldn't say they were "severe". But I did have that abnormal discharge and probably the WORST most humiliating part, that bad smell after sex. :( Feeling mortified (and my gyno appointment being a month away) I decided to give natural remedies my all. I was just determined to feel like I could beat this the natural way and not have to use gross inserts or take strong antibiotics. I am very health conscious and don't like to go to the doctor or use strong medicines unless absolutely necessary. So after researching like mad, this is what I did:

1. I bit the bullet and bought a douching apparatus (I have NEVER used one before, I felt embarrassed having to even buy this), and I used 50/50 hydrogen peroxide and water douche once a day for seven days. Every day I prepared this fresh, about 2 oz of each. The hydrogen peroxide is the regular kind you can buy at the supermarket, the one in the brown bottle. I would lay on my back and raise my hips and legs up in the air so that part of me was more or less upside down, then completely fill myself up with solution and hold it in and count to 60. Then let it out in the tub. Repeat until the solution is gone. The first time as someone else reported, I did feel a bit crampy afterwards. Probably because of the infected tissue being cleaned off. But each day this lessened and after 3 days or so it doesn't feel like anything. Just nice and clean.

2. This might be equally important - I ate raw cloves of garlic every day for seven days. I read about and actually found a study that said ingesting raw garlic this way was about as effective as oral metro. But you have to make sure you do it RIGHT - you have to eat ENOUGH garlic (2 or 3 regular sliced cloves per day), make sure it is SLICED or CRUSHED, and make sure it's fresh garlic. The garlic pills will not work. Cooked garlic in your food will not work. It must be raw, freshly sliced garlic. There is a special compound that garlic releases as soon as it is sliced or crushed and that is where the healing properties are. Let me tell you, I adore garlic, but this was hell. Make sure you eat a bit afterwards or it will give you a stomachache. I sliced it into thin slices and swallowed it like that like one might swallow pills. It was far too spicy to chew!

3. Probiotics. Since you're killing bacteria, repopulate your lady bits with the good probiotic bacteria that help keep it healthy. I bought and drank 8 oz of plain kefir (tastes like plain yogurt) every day for seven days. I actually plan to keep drinking it because it's just so good for you.

4. Alkalize. This by itself I believe is more of a preventative method, but I wanted to do anything that would help. And around the time I caught this, I had been going through a phase where I'd been eating really poorly. Loads of salty and sweet cravings, eating loads of chips and cheese puffs :/ I don't feel that is mere coincidence. And apparently, when you have BV, the PH in your vagina has shifted to more acidic, which helps the nasty bacteria thrive. Every morning I already drink water with lemon first thing, but I also started drinking one glass of water with a teaspoon of apple cider vinegar every afternoon. I bought bottles of alkalized water (find this at Whole Foods etc.) and drank that during the day. I did my best to avoid the worst of the acid forming foods: meat, packaged sugary foods, white rice, fruit juice and sodas etc. I dug up some of my favorite healthy recipes and started eating those. This experience has bolstered my discipline to eat better and more alkaline every day.

Oh, and during this time, I did not have sex. And that's it! Honestly I was so afraid to stop douching, but I knew I had to see if it would return. I was so, so happy when it didn't. And now I know exactly what to do if, heaven forbid, it ever comes back again. I'm so excited to share this. I was so embarrassed and upset that I literally cried, so I know how horrible it can feel. I would be so happy if this can help anyone beat this thing.