The comments below reflect the personal experiences and opinions of readers and do not represent medical advice or the views of this website. The information shared has not been evaluated by the FDA and is not intended to diagnose, treat, or prevent any disease or health condition. Always consult a qualified healthcare professional for medical concerns.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Happygirl (Jacksonville Beach, Fl) on 10/02/2010
★★★★★
I am so thrilled that is site is out there!! Dealing with this has been hard, expensive and mostly embarrassing!! Thank goodness you women are so brave to put it out there :) I tried the peroxide and.... It worked immediately! 2 hours with a peroxide soaked tampon and the smell was gone! I just soaked a plastic applicator type tampon (still intact) for 15 mins. And then inserted it for 2 hours. There was not even a hint of scent on it, more importantly in me!! 24 hours and still everything is good, THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Adrian (Philadelphia, Pa, Usa) on 09/26/2010
★★★★★
I was reading all the comments on how using 1 part water and 3 parts hydrogen peroxide might get rid of bacterial vaginosis and NO LIE trying it just ONCE instanly relieved the itching and burning. I will keep doing it once a day until I think it is gone but WOW did this work. Thanks sooo much!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Neena (Bloomfield, Ct) on 09/02/2010
★★★★★
I am very pleased with the results of H2O2 for BV. I was skeptical but desperate because I am a soon to be bride and I do not want to present BV to my husband on honeymoon night. I tried H2O2 and it worked immediately. The next I checked frequently for odor... And there was none. Like others, months later there is still no odor or discomfort. I'm interested in what my PA (who prescribed $300 metronidazole) is going to say when I go back for my annual. My Testimony is true. I am no longer embarrassed or self-conscious with BV symptoms.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Rachel (Sydney, Nsw, Australia) on 05/25/2010
★★★★★
Thank you to everyone for all the information on dealing with BV.
I had a Mirena IUD inserted just over a year ago and it took till very recently to get a diagnosis of BV to explain the persistent discharge and the smell.
When the doctor handed me a prescription for Flagyll I decided to look for alternative treatments on the Internet and found this very helpful website.
I tried swallowing cranberry tablets and acidophilus capsules, as well as inserting yoghurt, Acijel and Boric acid capsules. Nothing worked for very long. The Boric acid didn't work at all. Eventually I decided to try what so many people said worked for them: douching with H2O2.
At first I used one part H2O2 to 3 parts bottled water in a sterilised syringe, once a day. After 4 days I moved on to two parts H2O2 to one part bottled water. The bubbling feeling inside was disconcerting but not too scary.
It took over 7 days for it to work, but eventually the discharge and the smell vanished. I've been free of all symptoms for about 6 weeks and hope they won't return.
Every morning I take a rounded teaspoon of Inulin and an acidophilus capsule just in case it helps maintain the balance of whatever bacteria I'm supposed to have. At least it can't hurt. Does anyone else take Inulin for this purpose?
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Daniellal (New York, New York) on 04/29/2010
★★★★★
I used hydrogen peroxide and it worked - yay! However - it is important to note that I dont have chronic BV, I just get it once in a while. It took about 12 days in total to clear up, and I changed my routine a little over the course of the 12 days. I started off with a 1 to 3 ratio of HP to water (regular tap water), and I used a squeeze bottle to squeeze it up my vaj. I did it right before bed. It stung like crazy, but it gave me relief for the night, but then by the next morning the itching was back. After 2-3 days I changed the dosage to a 1:4 ratio (slightly weaker), but then I started trying to hold it in for 5 minutes. After about 6-7 days of doing this it was definitely working and my symptoms were going away, but then they started to come back. So I started to hold it in for 15-20 minutes instead. This I did for about 4-5 days, and I think that's what cured it. I would recommend trying 1:3 ratio, if that stings too much then do a 1:4 ratio, but hold it in your vaj for 15 minutes minimum. Eventually I bought a 60-cc syringe from a medical supply store since the squeeze bottle was kind of annoying to use, and just blasted the HP right up into my vaj - I kept the syringe in place to block the liquid from pouring back out. I did feel a little silly laying on my back on a towel holding a syringe halfway in my vagina while a timer counted down 20 minutes, but hey, it worked. I think another key is to keep doing it for a day or two after your symptoms seem to be gone - sort of like antibiotics, where you feel better after a couple of days, but you are still supposed to keep taking them for the whole entire prescribed time. Good luck!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Anonymous (Ohio, USA) on 04/15/2010
★★★★★
I would like to say thank you to earthlinc.com & all of the wonderful ladies who have shared their stories & remedies for BV..I have suffered from this since I was 18 years old. I am now going to be 28 in June..I couldn't see myself accepting this problem because for one, I am a super clean person & I was not going to keep taking Flaygel (if that's how you spell it) because it simply doesn't cure BV! I was browsing several different websites for home remedies that could possibly cure BV when I came across this site...THANK GOD FOR THAT! After reading one lady's remedy I immediately wrote everything down and went straight to the store. I brought the peroxide, got some disposable douche just so I could use the bottles, I got folic acid 800 mg vitamins as well as acidophilus with 1 billion active cultures..I got home and this is what I did:
1/2 cup luke warm water
1/2 cup hydrogen peroxide
mixed the water & peroxide in my disposable douche bottle (make sure to empty the original douche mixture out and rinse out any remaining substance)
After mixing the water and peroxide together, give it a gentle shake to mix it together
I washed up as usual, washing my vagina area with only white soap
I douched till the bottle was empty. then, I took 2 cap fulls of the hydrogen peroxide and poured it down the middle of my vagina, as well as all of the external parts of my vagina. Then, I rinsed my vagina out with the shower water. OMG..I was soooo fresh and felt soooo clean! it was AMAZING! NO more smell!!! I only douche with the mixture twice monthly. Once after my period, and then in the middle of the month. I use the 2 cap full's of peroxide as I stated as a rinse in the shower daily! My sex life with my fiance is Soo good now!! Thanks again to all of the wonderful ladies for sharing your stories! Oh, before I forget..I only take 1 folic acid and 1 acidophilus vitamin once daily with a meal!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Taylor M. (Lancaster, California, Usa) on 11/23/2009
★★★★★
I started noticing a change in my body and a disgusting odor coming from down there, and it started getting worse over a course of a few days. I came to the conclusion it was BV. I started doing some research, and came upon this wonderful site (SOOOO thankful that I did!). I tried the tampon and 1/2 3% h2o2 and 1/2 water, soaked the tampon in the solution, and squeezed excess out, shoved it up there, left it in for about 2 hours, took it out and the smell was GONE!!! I couldn't believe it. I'm continuing to do this for atleast an hour a day, and am also taking 3 400mcg of Folic Acid daily, along with 100mg of b-6. Also, I heard that Apple Cider Vinegar works wonders for the body, so I made a little cocktail of 1 tbs of ACV and actual apple cider, you can't taste the vinegar at all!! I'm feeling very confident all these remedies will work. Hope this helped some of you! :)
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Kajundiva504 (Irving, Tx) on 11/16/2009
★★★★★
I would like to say first off, I SO LOVE THIS SITE!!!!!Now down to business. I too, suffer with BV. It is embarrasing because it just comes out of the blue. Today your fine and then the next day its like a fishy smell followed by this thick yet frothy discharge. I followed one persons suggestion with the tampon dipped in 3% hydrogen peroxide. I tried it and i'll be dangonit............it worked. I am a happy camper. Now i'll have to see how long it will last. Just to know I dont have to go the dr's office is great. No it didn't burn at all but i did feel it bubbling. Understand that each individual is different. As the 3% hydrogen peroxide dipped in the tampon worked for me, someone else a little more sensitive may have to add additional water to the peroxide.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Icantfly (Somewhere In, Nj, USA) on 11/12/2009
★★★★★
I started getting BV within a few months of seeing my now-fiance. For some reason I never got it before-- I have a feeling I'm allergic to semen because before him I never had vaginal contact with semen before. I thought he gave me an STI (I have trust issues), but then I found out from the gyno I had BV. She prescribed me antibiotics and that flagyl stuff (which tasted horrible). This didn't work--not even for a little while. The BV never went away. I started looking up cures and came upon this website.
I have to say I was at first reluctant to try hydrogen peroxide "down there" but I did some research on it, and it seemed fine (plus I was at the end of my wits). I used a douche of half hydrogen peroxide and half luke warm water at first. I also started taking a multivitamin that is folic acid fortified as well as one acidophilus capsule a day (I found them 2 bottles for $5 at the drug store). I never used a douche before and I have a feeling I was using it wrong because it only gave me temporary relief. I then decided to saturate a tampon first with luke warm water then with a bunch of hydrogen peroxide (I didn't really measure it, just made sure it was saturated and that the hydrogen peroxide was the second thing I poured on it). I then inserted it and waited 5-10 minutes. It tingled on the inside (but didn't hurt)and I heard it fizzing. On the outside it burned but I think it's because my BV had made my outer genitalia quite sensitive. The burning subsided after a little while however. When I pulled it out there was a lot of yellowish discharge on the tampon. I sniffed it (seems gross but it had to be done) and it didn't smell fishy or anything (BTW, my BV is weird, sometimes it smells funky and sometimes it doesn't, but at that time, it was DEF smelling funky before I inserted the tampon). So the peroxide got rid of the smell. That was a good start. I continued the tampon for 3 days, 2-3 times a day (at least once in the morning and once at night, sometimes once in the afternoon). I also wiped the outside of my genitalia occasionally with diluted hydrogen peroxide on a folded piece of toilet paper. The discharge was less and less each time and by the 4th day VOILA! No discharge! It was amazing! I'm very happy. I haven't had sex yet but I plan to use the peroxide saturated tampon to clean out down there after sex and I am also going to minimize my contact with hubby's semen. This is all very recent so I might update later with how it's working out, but as for now I'm very thrilled with the results.
Don't hesitate to try, and don't give up if it doesn't work the first day or two. It's like a regimen of medication, and you have to do it for a few days before you see the results!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Jane (London, England) on 11/04/2009
★★★★★
Recovered from BV
I got BV about 6 weeks ago. I'd been diagnosed with Thrush (yeast infection for the Americans) and was using Canesten cream internally. I stopped using it when I got my period and had noticed an improvement. I got BV for the first time as my period was ending - I have no idea if it was related to the Canesten but thought it was worth mentioning because it was the only thing that was different from usual. I noticed the smell at work and took ages to work out it was me - I ended up in the toilet with all my clothes off checking the armpits of my top and was horrified to discover it was coming from my knickers. I have to say I tried everything possible to get rid of this smell - it was horrific - I bought acidophilis, I ate some, I put one in my hoohoo and it felt really wrong and made no difference (but it was a powdery one - not the good ones I've read about here) and I took the antibiotics. I also took garlic tablets and folic acid (in the quantities on the jars) Over the week the smell reduced and then disappeared but I still had a constant feeling that I was cold and wet down there. Whenever I stood up I could feel it and was super paranoid that there was discharge in my knickers and that it would smell. In England we don't have enormous drug stores with all the things you need - I had to buy hydrogen peroxide from Ebay! By this time it was about 3 weeks from when I first smelt the terrible smell.
I took the advice from this site and took a large tampon with the plastic applicator and replaced it with a small tampon. I filled 1/2 a shot glass with 3% hydrogen peroxide solution and 1/2 with tap water. I soaked the tampon in this and left it inside me for 30 mins. I did this for 7 nights. On a couple of the nights I used the applicator as a funnel, rolled onto my shoulders and put the left over liquid inside me for a few minutes and let it out over the bath. I know this is very graphic but the descriptions on this site really helped me - you can't just buy a douche in England - not where I shop anyway, so it's hard to know how to make it work.
The cold and wet feeling went completely. It hasn't returned yet thank god.
I'm so grateful to this website. Everyone's experience helped me so much - but mostly it helped me to persevere when it didn't feel like it was working. For me it took quite a long time for the wet feeling to go completely. I am so happy now. I've been unlucky with my sexual health and suffer from cystitis and thrush a lot and the BV on top of that really upset me, but now that's cured and I can concentrate on sorting out the other two (have already bought Apple Cider Vinegar and Alka Selzer - I feel like I can take them all on now!!)
Thanks so much!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Sherray (Orlando, Florida) on 10/30/2009
★★★★★
I agree. I've been using hydrogen peroxide for 2 months now, and I have no smell, no discharge. You guys rock!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Kimd77 (Tahlequah, Ok) on 10/20/2009
★★★★★
Peroxide douche cured my Bacterial Vaginosis instantly! I used a clean douche bottle and filled with straight peroxide 3% solution and it worked instantly!
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Pahlee (Phila, Pa.) on 09/20/2009
★★★★★
YES IT IS A WONDER TREATMENT, ALL OF MY SYMPTONS HAVE GONE, I WAS DOUCHING TWICE A DAY FOR A WEEK AND THEN ONCE A WEEK THEREAFTER, USING A SUMMERS EVE DOUCH CONTAINER, AFTER USING H202 AND H20 MIXTURE, I DID FEEL A SLIGHT BURNING SENSATION, BUT THEN IT WENT AWAY, PREVIOUSLY I HAD TO USE PANTYLINERS, AS OF YESTERDAY SEPT. 19TH, I NOTICE NO DISCHARGE AND NO ODOR, BOY WHAT A RELIEF,GOD BLESS THIS SITE AND ALL OF THE ENTRIES THAT I HAVE READ.
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Aliasnan (Dallas, Tx) on 09/17/2009
★★★★★
OK ladies, I have read countless fourums on BV trying to find home reamedies. I started having that dreadful fishy odor with LOTS of white cheesey gunk....... the odor only got worse, to the point to where it smelled like reeking dead fish. I never have an unuasual odor, most of the time I am odorless, with occaisonal sweet or normal odor from excercise or arrousal. I shower twice a day, I use a mild soap like baby wash or dove on my vuvla and labia, then just squirt the shower water up as a water douche. This method works great for me and I never had any problems. Anyway, I started having the BV symptoms last Saturday. I tried the salt sitz bath, the vinegar douche, and tea tree oil, although they cut the odor down, it was still there. I also tried the plain yogurt on a tampon overnight, it did cut the odor down but not fully. My instinct was to use peroxide, and so I researched that and found a clinical study where 80% or so of the patients were cured with peroxide. This is what I did: Yesterday, I soaked a tampon in 3% hydrogen peroxide, full stregnth. It made the tampon swell, and it was kinda hard but I had to just shove it up there. I left it in about 30 minutes. Then I did the finger smell test. Wow!!! Only a faint smell of fish. Then, I used a douche of 1/4 perioxide, and 3/4 water. I was always told to never douche with anything but plain water .....I had several GYNS and midwifes say if I feel the need to douche, plain water is always fine, which is why I just use the shower head. Then, I filled a syringe without the needle with straight peroxide, and flushed it up there, twice. The past two nights I've used the yougurt on a tampon, it seems to help also. As of today, there is NO fishy odor, no odor at all! I will use the perioxide tampon method (because douching scares me) for today and tommorow, then maybe once a week for a month to make sure this is really gone. I'll also go ahead and use the yogurt overnight for at least tonight.....it did seem to help. So thats it ladies!! This is how it worked for me ........the yogurt drastically reduced odor over night, and the perioxide cut it out instantly. Good luck , I'll post more if this comes back. I heard alot of good things about ____, and its just so expensive, I hope I don't have to use it. But I'll say this, I will keep some on hand for after intimate moments or cycles so that the PH NEVER gets so thrown off again!!! What a horrendous, embarrasing infection!!!! (I'm pretty sure mine came from semen; after my boyfriend ejaculated inside me for the first time, I was having symptoms that night-if that ever happens again-afterwards I guess it will be time to "refresh".)
Hydrogen Peroxide
Posted by Vi_chick (St. Croix, Us) on 09/14/2009
★★★★★
So I tried the inserting of the acidophilus, yea that didn't Wk, so I tried the 1/2 peroxide 1/2 water and well can we get angels to sing!!!! It worked I took a measuring cup and measured 2/3 cup of peroxide and 2/3 cup of water (preferably warm) and douche away!!!! Thank u all for ur remedies and thank u so much for creatin this website!!!!! Oh I do take one acidophilus pill every morning.