- Interesting article... by #42412
19 y
5,463 4 Messages Shown
Blog: BV - Bacterial Vaginosis
I ran across an interesting article called: Douching and Bacterial Vaginosis: the cart or the horse?
Here is the link, but the most important part of the medical mumbo-jumbo is the last paragraph, copied below.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/452423
Sort of the same question I asked regarding sexually active women vs. younger girls. (Do sexually active women have BV more often or do they just go to the GYN more often?)
The question below is Do women who douche get BV more often or do women who have BV douche more often in an attempt to cover the odor?
Compelling question because if you think about it I don't think most women ever think about douching until there's a reason to, unless their mother taught them to or they are just really self conscious. What the article states is that, in this particular study, a medicated douche containing 0.30% povidone-iodine solution was effective in reducing total bacteria counts and the first bacteria to recover were the "good bacteria".
This is a good point - because in other entries I have mentioned a dilute hydrogen peroxide douche - but if douching is bad? well... then what?
I'm sure it really all depends on what you douche with, maybe something that's full of perfumes and who knows what else is not a good choice but something medicated might be alright? It's hard to decide because they've pounded into my head for so many years that douching is bad. I think I may go and see if I can find a douche with this particular ingredient and give it a try.
Investigators have proposed that douching predisposes to these disease entities by disrupting the normal vaginal flora; yet no microbiologic evidence is introduced to substantiate this hypothesis. What little data exist would argue against this theory. Onderdonk and associates (Obstet Gynecol. 1992;80:333-338) demonstrated that different results occurred when different types of douching products were evaluated. Vinegar douches caused a transient reduction in total bacterial count, mostly attributable to a washing-out effect, whereas a 0.30% povidone-iodine preparation caused a significant reduction in total bacterial counts, compared with a physiologic saline solution in the same subjects. Monif and colleagues (Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1980;137:432-438) had documented a similar phenomenon. In addition, these investigators demonstrated that the first bacteria to recover were constituents of the normal vaginal flora. They postulated that the efficacy of a 2-week course of povidone-iodine gel in achieving a microbiologic cure was caused by a greater effect on abnormal bacterial constituents, which, in time, led to the quantitative buildup of 1 or more governing normal constituents of the vaginal bacterial flora, to the point of effective inhibition of Gardnerella vaginalis and other anaerobic bacteria.
A powerful epidemiologic argument that douching does not cause BV is to be found in the cited publication by Ness and coworkers. They found that women who reportedly douched before or after sex did not have an increased risk of IVF or BV. This group of women reported a statistically higher frequency of sexua| intercourse, on average, than other women in the study.
Does douching cause BV or do women with BV douche more frequently? Better attempts at a definitive answer are merited.
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- There is Hope by BVGirl
17 y
2,322
Hi Everybody
You dont know how happy i am to have found this site. I have not tried any of the methods yet but at least it gives me hope. I went to a chinese herbal shop because i was sick of the doctors response that there was nothing they could do except give me more drugs but i was put off by the "doctor" in the shop as they were telling me that it was not a bacterial infection but that there was something wrong with my ovaries!! I must admit that i did think the problem may be resulting from somewhere else in my body ie my gut but to say i had problems with my ovaries just seemed like a scare tactic - especially when there treatment of herbal teas, washes and acupuncture cost over £200!
I also believe that antibiotics have only exacerbated the problem. I was first diagnosed 10 years ago and always rushed to get treated for it (metronidazole or clindamycin) but now i have found that the BV is returning much more frequently like twice a month at least and i think this is coz the drugs have totally wiped out my bodys ability to fight the infection itself because it just gets rid of all my bacteria good or bad. Sometimes i remind myself that i am not dying or anything and ther are people out there worse off than me but it still does not help when i sit down or stand up and get this disgusting whiff like something has crawled in my vagina and died. Yuck! Gross!
I will be trying the Vit C treatment(?) first and see how that goes. I also believe that i need a total body cleanse because i have the worst diet in history and believe that there are a lot of things living in my gut which should not be there. Wish me luck.
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BVGirl
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- Re: There is Hope by #42412
17 y
2,789
| For an immediate odor relief treatment, try a wash of hydrogen peroxide. It shouldn't burn or sting or anything and sometimes the Vitamin C will if you've been suffering with this for awhile. See if you can find some chewable Lactobacillus tablets like L.reuteri or L. acidophilus (I use a lemon chewable L. Reuteri from Nature's sunshine) and insert that, that helps to restore good bacteria. After that you might want to do Vitamin C to help restore acidity, it takes time and experimentation, though.. Good Luck!
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- Re: There is Hope by healing_2008
16 y
2,432
Hello,
I was browsing through on the internet and came across this site and your message blog. Upon reading your message, I discovered that we possibly share the same problems and concerns. I, too, have to worry with being self-conscious when getting up or even sitting down. I have been struggling with BV for a long time and have not found a cure for it. The doctors are completely clueless, thereby, they prescribe antibiotics. I have been on the search for natural cures. I have recently heard about apple cider vinegar and oregeno oil on this website. Have you tried it? If so, does it work? Hope to hear from you soon...
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healing_2008
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