When you’re pregnant you pay attention to every little thing that you do and analyze whether or not it will affect the baby. This is a natural response of good mothering.

Safety During Pregnancy Involves Analyzing What You Eat

For example, every time you sit down to a meal, you’ll wonder if the fish, French fries, coffee, coca cola, or burger is going to properly nourish your baby or whether it will cause birth defects or problems with the birthing process. The answer, of course is that any processed food or food high in sugar can potentially interfere with the baby’s genes and health.

In adults, eating processed foods turns on genes that cause diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Many health experts believe that eating processed foods has the potential to turn on genes for disease in your baby even before he or she is born.

Safety During Pregnancy Involves Analyzing Habits

Wondering about what is safe and what is not extends to personal habits as well. You know that drinking alcohol, even occasionally can harm the baby. So can smoking. And by far, the worst habit is recreational drugs of any kind.

But what about personal habits such as inserting a tampon or inserting a tampon that is soaked in yogurt for bacterial vaginosis?

Interestingly enough, clicking on the tampon safety page at the website Kotex.com gives an error message that the page cannot be found.

The website, BabyMed.com reports that tampons don’t have any impact on a pregnancy and that miscarriages are caused from chromosome problems, not tampons.

How Do You Know For Sure?

To sort out the truth, let’s use common sense and first consider if a tampon is safe at all.

Research has shown that tampons cause micro ulcerations of the vaginal tissues. If you are pregnant, the micro ulcerations could potentially get infected and cause a problem with your baby.

A problem about tampons was quite scandalous years ago regarding how the tampons were made. Manufacturers were using super absorbent cotton in the tampons that made it easy for harmful Staphylococcus bacteria to reproduce quickly. Hundreds of women ended up with Toxic Shock Syndrome and some of them died as a result.

Further investigations discovered that tampons contained high levels of dioxin and bleach as well. Dioxin is a known carcinogen and teratogen, which is a substance that can harm your developing baby. A lawsuit ensued and companies were forced to change their evil ways and lower dioxin levels. Of course, there was a big cover-up in the process. Companies didn’t want to divulge that they were putting these chemicals into the tampons. No one could answer the question of why it was so important to use chemicals in tampons.

To this day, there still is no accountability for tampon ingredients. Whether or not the dioxin or other substituted harmful chemicals are still used remains a mystery to everyone.

Smart health practitioners recommend that women do not use tampons at all. Why take a risk that your female organs will be exposed to chemicals that aren’t revealed to the public for 20 years? And if you’re pregnant, why take any risk at all with the tampons?

What About Tampon Safety for Pregnant Women with BV?

Most women use tampons in between their periods to absorb a discharge. This is true with pregnant women as well. However, using common sense, we have to consider why there is a discharge in the first place. Is it because there is some type of infection or an imbalance of flora as is seen in bacterial vaginosis? If so, then the discharge needs to be addressed. If it’s due to bacterial vaginosis, then it’s important to clear that up because BV can harm the developing baby and you. One of the easiest way to do this is by incorporating yogurt in your diet.

Women with BV have discovered that inserting a tampon soaked in yogurt can also be a quick way to eliminate the symptoms of BV and restore the balance. In pregnancy, you have to weigh the risks. Do you want your baby exposed to the chemicals in the tampon? Certainly the yogurt live bacteria is helpful but at what risk, even if it’s small.

Some women may believe that because the tampon is only going to be in the vagina for a few hours and that reduces exposure so it’s no risk. However, there’s something else that you should know about tampons: they are not sterile.

The longer you have had your tampons, the higher the bacterial count in them, even though they were wrapped in a wrapper.

So now make your decision. Do you still want to insert that tampon – even though it is soaked in the good bacteria from yogurt that your vagina needs – when you’re pregnant?

Good mothers will say NO. They won’t take a risk at all. Instead they will eat yogurt and take probiotics capsules.

It’s a safer way to live and protective for your baby.

When you have bacterial vaginosis, your medical physician will most likely send you home with a prescription medication that he believes will eliminate it and get you better in no time. One of the prescriptions commonly used for bacterial vaginosis is called Clindamycin.

Every medication has side effects. With Clindamycin, there are several different side effects that you should know about before you start taking the prescription. With knowledge, you’re always in a position of power. By knowing potential side effects before they occur, you can easily avoid disaster!

By knowing potential side effects before they occur, you are able to spot problems before they become life-threatening. It’s a lot easier to research something before it goes into your mouth than while you’re writhing in pain with diarrhea on the toilet! How can you get onto the internet then? It just doesn’t happen!

So with this in mind along with your ultimate preservation of health, let’s go through these top symptoms.

Diarrhea

If you notice you’re in the bathroom a lot more frequently than before with loose, runny stools that are not formed, you have identified diarrhea. Diarrhea is not just increased bowel movements; it’s loose, runny stools that are not formed. It’s not due to what you ate or your nerves. If you’re taking Clindamycin, it’s a side effect.

Nausea and Vomiting

If you start noticing that your stomach feels queasy, it’s not the vitamins that you’ve been taking for several months or the probiotics. You’re not on a ship so it’s not seasickness. This is nausea and if you’re taking Clindamycin, then it’s from the drug.

If you have actually had some episodes where you felt queasy and then threw up, identify this as nausea and vomiting associated with Clindamycin.

Genital Itching and Burning

Bacterial vaginosis is bad enough to cause itching and burning but when you get more itching and burning after taking Clindamycin, then you are experiencing a side effect of the medication. When this side effect shows up, it is a signal that your body’s flora is out of balance even more than it was before. The burning and itching is indicating that the proper flora have been killed by the medication and now one of the hardy strains of pathogenic bacteria that cause disease is trying to take over. This needs to be stopped immediately so call or visit your doctor.

Pain

When you’re on an antibiotic, you should never have more pain. You should only have less pain. If you have more pain, then it indicates that the proper strain of bacteria or microbe causing your illness is not being killed. Pain is a red flag indicating that the proper flora have been killed and a hardy strain of disease-causing bacteria is being established. You will need medical attention. Don’t go another day without getting in to see your doctor.

Vaginal Discharge

You probably already had a vaginal discharge with bacterial vaginosis. If you develop a new discharge, this indicates that you are having a side effect from Clindamycin for the same reason as in the 2 points above.

Hives, Difficulty Breathing, Chest Tightness,Swelling of the Mouth or Face

If you ever have any of these symptoms, it’s an indication that you are allergic to the prescription medication you are taking. Don’t mess around with these symptoms; call the doctor. If he’s not in, you may consider having a friend or family member take you to an emergency room or ambulatory care center. Allergy reactions can be life-threatening. Don’t take a chance. And don’t take another dose of Clindamycin before you go.

Headache

Headache is one of the mild side effects from Clindamycin, but nevertheless, it still is real. If you suffered frequently from headaches before, the headaches you get now may actually be increased as a result of Clindamycin.

Side effects can be frightening. A drug is supposed to cure a problem, not cause another, right?

Remember that there are always options for treating bacterial vaginosis. You don’t have to put up with symptoms while you are overcoming bacterial vaginosis. Try natural remedies and you may just be amazed at their lack of side effects.

Some of them include these:

• What have you been eating?
• Too many sweets and processed foods?
• Not enough greens?
• How often have you been bathing?
• Do you take showers or baths?
• How often do you sanitize the tub?
• What type of feminine sanitary products have you been using?
• What type of underwear have you been wearing?
• Do they have cotton lining or are they made of nylon?

Women are always commenting that the underwear they wear contributes to their bacterial vaginosis reoccurrences. They say that if the underwear does not have a cotton crotch or is not made of cotton, it causes a flare-up of the BV symptoms. They say that when they wear underwear made of anything other than cotton that they have problems.

Many women believe that all these habits related to daily living are factors in bacterial vaginosis flare-ups and re-occurrences. The way to monitor yourself on these personal habits is to keep a record of the habits and also your bacterial vaginosis symptoms. This way you can track how each of these habits affect you.

One of the most important things to track for your underwear is what pair of underwear you wore for the day.

For example, did you wear a thong?

Did you wear bikini style or high cut style?

Some health care providers have stated that wearing a thong is actually not recommended for any woman, without even considering those with bacterial vaginosis. They say that a thong is a health risk.

A thong rubs tight against the vagina and anus and has the potential to transmit bacteria from the anus to the vagina better than bikini style or high cut underwear. By doing this, the bacteria can cause a vaginal infection that lowers the amount of Lactobacillus bacteria in the vagina. This would precipitate a re-occurrence of bacterial vaginosis.

When you track your underwear, also write down what type of fabric the underwear is made from. Just look on the label; you may need a magnifying glass but the fabric will be listed. You can also track your underwear based on its color or pattern. For example, the smiley face underwear might be tracked with the words smiley face and the red lace underwear might be tracked with the words red lace.

The scientific community has actually researched the effects of different habits on bacterial vaginosis. One study called Personal Hygienic Behaviors and Bacterial Vaginosis followed the habits of 3620 women and then analyzed the data with regression analysis. By the sheer number of participants in the study, you know there is enough to not raise a red flag about the study. Research studies with ten or less subjects are just not large enough to make any valid conclusions.

In this study, you may be surprised to find out that they did not find a correlation between nylon underwear and bacterial vaginosis. Instead, they found a correlation between vaginal douching and incidence of bacterial vaginosis.

The problem with the studies is that unless we go directly to the researchers and specifically ask them what exactly was studied, we don’t get the whole truth. For example, was the douche made from synthetic chemicals or was it hydrogen peroxide, apple cider vinegar or yogurt?

Was the underwear strictly cotton or nylon or did some women wear rayon/nylon?

Was the underwear that was worn bikini style or thongs?

In research studies, we need all the details to make the final conclusion. It could be that the study was performed properly but the conclusion reached was in error. In this study, we just don’t have enough data to go on.

Your best answer to the question of whether or not you should wear nylon or cotton underwear is to try it yourself. Many women have found a correlation between wearing cotton underwear and an improvement in symptoms from Candida yeast infections. Does that connection hold for bacterial vaginosis?

Only you can find out. Don’t take someone’s word for it. Check it out. Wear cotton underwear one month, then nylon the next month. Then evaluate what occurred.

Be your own scientist.

When you have BV, it’s the bad odor that is truly upsetting. Because the odor comes from such a private part of your body, it’s embarrassing and limits what you want to do. You don’t want to go out in public because you’re afraid that someone will smell you.

You don’t want to hang around people at work in the break room for the same reason. And when it comes to the bedroom, you’re afraid of what your man will say when he notices the smell.

Because the best defense is always offense, your best strategy is to talk to your man and tell him the truth about what is occurring. There are several points you will want to make in a non-threatening way.

Below is a list of them.

1. BV is not spread sexually and he won’t get it.
2. BV acts up during sex and the odor increases.
3. Washing with soap and water doesn’t really help decrease the odor.
4. BV is caused by an imbalance in the vaginal flora, not a sexually-transmitted organism.
5. You’re working on natural ways to eliminate it and they’re showing real progress.

Your conversation might go something like this:

“Honey, I found out that I have BV and that’s why there’s been that funny smell coming from my vagina recently.”

“Is it contagious?” he asks.

“No, it is not. It’s caused by an imbalance of the flora in the vagina. The good bacteria can be killed if I eat processed foods, candy, skip good meals, that kind of stuff.”

“Okay, that means no more chocolate for Valentine’s Day for you! I want to make love to you every day! I’ll help you keep your diet clean. I’ll be the enforcer,” he says.

“That could help but guess what else I learned… If I use probiotics or yogurt with live cultures in it, this can restore the flora and take the odor away pretty quickly!”

“Well in that case, I will always make sure you have plenty of yogurt and probiotics capsules. I’ve been reading up on them for myself lately and was going to start taking them for my heartburn,” he says.

“I always feel embarrassed when I get that smell. I don’t want you to think I’m dirty or worse yet, that I’ve been seeing someone else.”

“So what you’re saying is that BV is just something that happens to the body when it’s out of balance, kind of like … candida infections?”

“Yes, that’s right. Even virgins can get BV.”

“Wow! Who would have thought that? … Anything else I can do to help you?” he asks, since most men are solution-oriented.

“Not that I can think of. Just keeping the probiotics and yogurt in the refrigerator will help a lot. I’ll let you know though if I think of anything else…”

“Oh, when you get the yogurt,” you continue, “Just make sure that it’s a few billion live cultures and it isn’t flavored.”

(smiling) “I was looking forward to tasting raspberry when we were making love…” he says.

See how easy the conversation goes when you just lay out the facts?

Remember that men will always want to know how they can help so before you start the conversation, make sure you have something in mind that they can do for you.

What is folic acid and why is it recommended for bacterial vaginosis?

How much should be taken daily for it to be effective?

Folic acid is one of the B vitamins. Most of the B vitamins – B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B12 are known by their B vitamin name but a few – biotin, folic acid, choline, PABA and inositol are known by their word names.

Folic acid is one of the most important vitamins needed for pregnancy. Without adequate folic acid, babies are born with neural tube defects, disorders of the development of the brain and spinal cord. The most common neural tube defect is spina bifida or opening of the spine. Another problem that can occur in those with folic acid deficiency is cleft palate.

The scientists at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences at the National Institutes of Health discovered that a supplement of 400 mcg per day reduced the incidence of cleft palate by 33%. (Source)

Other research studies have determined that a high percentage of pregnant ladies and even adults are deficient in folic acid (National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 1988-91). It takes four months for deficiency signs and symptoms to show up.

Deficiency symptoms include the following:

• headache
• difficulty focusing
• heart palpitations
• fatigue
• weakness
• red painful tongue
• diarrhea
• anemia

How Folic Acid Works In The Body

Folic acid works in DNA during cell division. The vitamin repairs DNA, synthesizes DNA, is necessary to create red blood cells, anemia. Folic acid is very important for times when there is rapid cell division and this occurs regarding the bacteria in your intestinal tract as well as during pregnancy.

What Foods Are High In Folic Acid?

Foods that are high in folic acid include liver, green leafy vegetables, citrus fruits, juice, dried beans and legumes, and fortified cereals, flours, pasta, bread and rice.

What Destroys Folic Acid?

Folic acid is destroyed by heat. If you have malabsorption problems (celiac disease, IBS), then it’s possible that you are unable to absorb this important B vitamin. Alcohol interferes with the metabolism of folic acid. And other deficiencies such as vitamin B2, B3, B12 and zinc also affect folic acid absorption.

Connection to Bacterial Vaginosis

Healthcare practitioners don’t really know what specifically it is about folic acid that helps in cases of bacterial vaginosis. Most likely, the vitamin increases the replication of Lactobacillus acidophilus strains in your vaginal tract. This then helps restore the pH of the vagina, which in turn results in a decrease in harmful bacteria. The Lactobacillus bacteria also produce lactic acid, which feeds the tissues of the female reproductive tract, keeping it healthy.

Troubling Finding About Folic Acid Supplements

Scientists are a little perplexed to find out that those who take folic acid supplements are more prone to different kinds of cancer. The reason for this could be simple – most folic acid supplements may not be manufactured in a way that agrees with the body. Folic acid is a vitamin that is absolutely essential for the body and when food sources that are eaten in high quantity, there is no increase in cancer rates.

This tells us that there is definitely something about the supplements themselves and their manufacturing that is not totally correct. It could also be a problem because B vitamins are only found in nature together with other B vitamins; taking one B vitamin without the others can create new deficiencies.

What to Do About Folic Acid

Folic acid is most likely okay in supplement form for short periods of time such as for a week or two. Amounts of 800 mcg daily up to 4000 mcg daily have been recommended by health care practitioners. However, it makes more sense that someone with bacterial vaginosis takes a supplement of about 800 mcg daily in addition to a B complex as well. In the meantime, don’t forget your probiotics!

There are a lot of misconceptions about female vaginal health. One of them is that women should not douche and if they do, they should fear what will happen to their vaginal bacteria.

Is Bacterial Vaginosis An STD?

Another misconception is that bacterial vaginosis is an actual infection. Non-health professionals can think of bacterial vaginosis as an infection; however, bacterial vaginosis is really just an imbalance of the vaginal flora. When the imbalance occurs, then certain anaerobic bacteria such as Gardnerella bacteria increase their numbers. This causes symptoms such as a gray discharge, vaginal irritation and also a fishy odor that worsens after sexual intercourse.

Vaginitis vs. Vaginosis

The term vaginitis usually refers to an infection whereas vaginosis is an imbalance of flora. Usually, in medical terminology, the –itis at the end of a word means inflammation of.

And in the case of vaginitis, there is usually an inflammation of the vaginal tissues.

Is Bacterial Vaginosis A Sexually Transmitted Disease?

Another misconception is that bacterial vaginosis is a sexually transmitted disease. There has been a debate about this in the past, mostly amongst lay people. Health professionals know that the imbalance of flora in those with bacterial vaginosis can be found in virgins!  And because this is the case, then it really cannot be counted as a sexually-transmitted disease, one transmitted through the act of sexual intercourse.

Studies do find that if a woman has three or four sexual partners, she has a higher risk of developing bacterial vaginosis. It’s possible that higher numbers of bacteria could potentially be transferred from males to females but this hasn’t actually been proven in the research studies yet. Men are not generally treated when his partner has bacterial vaginosis. Even so, health professionals recommend that women stay loyal to their partner and not have multiple sex partners. Bacterial vaginosis can be associated with having a new partner.

Health professionals also recommend abstinence as a way to prevent bacterial vaginosis or its recurrence.

Bacterial Vaginosis vs Trichomonas

Another reason that people don’t understand that bacterial vaginosis is not a sexually transmitted disease is because bacterial vaginosis is treated with Flagyl, which is also used to treat the sexually transmitted disease called Trichomonas.

The difference is that Trichomonas has a green, frothy discharge whereas the discharge in bacterial vaginosis is grayish. There’s a fishy odor to the vaginal secretions in bacterial vaginosis but not in Trichomonas.

Bacterial Vaginosis vs Yeast Infection

A yeast infection is similar to bacterial vaginosis in that it is usually an imbalance of flora. Yeast normally grow amongst the normal flora in the vagina and in the intestine. It’s only when our immune system is suppressed, when we take an antibiotic, when we are exceptionally stressed for long periods of time, when we eat processed foods and sugary foods for long periods of time, or when we have accumulations of heavy metals that we are most prone to develop yeast infections.

In yeast infections, the discharge is white like cottage cheese. In bacterial vaginosis, the discharge is grayish. There is usually not an odor to yeast infections.

Did you know that bacterial vaginosis is not considered a sexually-transmitted disease? It’s really an imbalance of the delicate flora in the vagina.

Effects of Bacterial Vaginosis On Pregnancy

Did you know that if left untreated, the imbalance of flora in bacterial vaginosis can actually prevent pregnancy?

Well, this is true, and it doesn’t prevent pregnancy in a good way.

Instead, bacterial vaginosis that is out of control can end up costing you your fallopian tubes by causing pelvic inflammatory disease. It’s a human tragedy when this occurs.

The process by which this occurs is a three–step process:

1. The bad bacteria that is increased in bacterial vaginosis such as Gardnerella or Staph or Streptococcus or other anaerobic bacteria multiply to high numbers.
2. Looking for new tissues to colonize, the bacteria move upwards into the female reproductive tissues and can spread into the pelvic cavity. When they find a new place that hasn’t been colonized yet, they take over like terrorists, killing the good flora that is protecting these tissues.
3. Next the microbes start to cause destruction of the tissues. If the fallopian tubes are damaged by the bacteria, the woman cannot get pregnant the usual way which occurs using the fallopian tubes. The problem, however, is that the tubes may be damaged for good and never recover, leaving the woman infertile. This is what is meant by the phrase that bacterial vaginosis doesn’t prevent pregnancy in a good way.
4. If the microbes infiltrate the pelvic area, then it’s easy for them to cause Pelvic Inflammatory Disease or PID. An infection in the pelvic can damage any of the organs or tissues in that area.

Who would have thought that a simple imbalance of flora could become so harmful?

According to the American Pregnancy Association, the number of pregnant women that have bacterial vaginosis is 10-30%. When bacterial vaginosis occurs in a pregnant woman, it can potentially cause problems with the fetus.

For example, a baby can be born pre-term or not grow as fast as it should in the uterus that is infected with organisms that cause bacterial vaginosis. There are countless cases where these babies are born with a low birth weight, which causes them to be at risk for many health problems in life.

A pregnant woman with bacterial vaginosis is also at a higher risk for miscarriages.

Protect Your Flora

It’s important for every woman to protect her flora.

The easiest way to do this is to eat yogurt as part of your regular diet. Yogurt contains the bacteria called Lactobacillus which is the exact same bacteria that your vagina needs to maintain normal flora. By eating the microbe, it gets distributed to the areas that need it most through the blood.

If you are lactose intolerant, you can still benefit from yogurt by soaking your tampon in yogurt for about five minutes, then inserting it into the vagina. This is a good way to reintroduce the helpful flora. Another way is to insert a capsule of Probiotics with the Lactobacillus bacteria into the vagina.

These are measures that can be done on a regular monthly basis. They’re an excellent way to protect your flora from a natural alternative perspective.

There are several ways to get an infection. If you’ve ever watched action movies about biological weapons, they all have a similar theme:  the biological bad boy germ is released into the air of a confined area in mass quantity and people become ill. That’s one way to get an infection–breathe it in, in high quantity.

Another theme in these action-packed high drama movie is to ingest the bad boy germ in high quantities.

The movies have to be dramatic so they’ve left out the third way to get an infection; get the microbe into the body through a cut or open wound in small amounts. This is the mode of action for how a rose gardener can get ill–the bacteria enters through a small cut from a rosebush.

In bacterial vaginosis infection, the microbes that are predominant are most often Gardenerella, Staphylococcus or Streptococcus. These microbes will be reproducing in high numbers inside the vaginal secretions and they will cause a fishy odor smell.

How Can Bacterial Vaginosis Be Contagious?

So how is bacterial vaginosis contagious?

To answer this question, think of how infections are spread. Obviously, someone won’t be breathing it in, or will they? Well, if they are having oral sex with the vagina of a woman who has bacterial vaginosis, then it’s possible to be breathing it in–in high quantities through the mouth and nose. When this occurs, the person now has large amounts of the microbe in his or her mouth, throat and possibly nose.

If some vaginal secretions are swallowed, the microbe is now in the intestinal tract. This isn’t really a method for transmission of bacterial vaginosis primarily because the stomach acid may possibly kill it.

The third way that infections are transferred is certainly possible with bacterial vaginosis–through an open cut. If two women for example are having oral sex, or in a kinkier situation with three women when only one woman has bacterial vaginosis, the other two women can contract it from the infected woman.

Tampons cause microulcerations in the vaginal tissue, and when a mouth adds the microbe to the vagina of the woman with the microulcerations, in essence she transports them directly to those microulcerations. The microbes then begin to multiply. You’ll have to imagine the kinky details yourself.

To reduce the risk of contracting bacterial vaginosis, here are three suggestions:

• Reduce your dependence on tampons and switch over to sanitary pads. This one habit could save you the microulcerations that leave you prone to infections.
• Use the seat paper protectants in the rest rooms. This can potentially limit the transfer of large amounts of microbes to your skin.
• Make sure you have adequate protein and essential fats in your diet. Going vegetarian with little high-quality protein (fish, chicken, turkey, beef, pork, wild meats, eggs, milk, dairy products) or eating like Jack Sprat who ate no fat is not healthy. Adequate protein in the diet keeps your skin healthy and resistant to invasion of microbes in small skin abrasions and allows your body to make antibodies to ward off bacteria. Essential fats keep the cell wall strong and resistant to infections.

Is Douching Safe?

Many people believe that douching is harmful because it washes away the flora in the vagina. In fact, many physicians have stayed with the old feminine hygiene rule to not douche and recommend this to their patients.

In 2003, two doctors, Dr. Martens and Dr. Monif tried to set the record straight and published their findings about douching in the journal called Infectious Diseases in Obstetrics and Gynecology. In their study, they found that douching has little effect on the microbial flora.

Another physician, Dr. Mustaf, had previously proven that the vaginal bacteria counts after a vinegar and water douche were only temporarily decreased and these decreases did not lead to vaginosis or upset of the vaginal flora.

This is good news to women, because douching does leave a woman with the feeling of internal cleanness and freshness.

The Hydrogen Peroxide Douche

Besides the vinegar and water douche, there’s another way you can douche, and that’s with hydrogen peroxide. Researchers found that 89% of women with bacterial vaginosis had no fishy odor for three full months during the study. The method that they used in the study was a nightly douche with 2 tablespoons 3% hydrogen peroxide solution in water. They repeated this once daily for 7 days.  It’s such a simple cure with such a simple and natural type of solution.

What’s the Alternative to Douching?

In fact, when you examine the current medical treatments prescribed by gynecologists, every one of them results in a high percentage of recurrent bacterial vaginosis.

Clindamycin and Flagyl are the two most commonly prescribed antibiotic treatments for bacterial vaginosis. Clindamycin is available as a vaginal suppository that is taken for three nights or for seven days as a vaginal cream. Because this antibiotic can cause serious diarrhea and possibly Clostridium infection in the intestines that becomes life-threatening, it should not be taken orally. These side effects do not occur in the cream or suppository forms.

Clindamycin cream can also cause antibiotic resistance.

Flagyl is also prescribed for bacterial vaginosis, at an oral dose of 500 mg twice daily for 7 days. This medication should not be taken during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Here’s the major problem with the treatments mentioned above:  After each of these prescriptions were used for one week, the cure rate was 83% but a month later, 25% of those cured will have a recurrence. In studies that follow women’s cure rates even longer, the cure rates fall even lower.

There are other problems with these medications:

• Clindamycin will kill healthy Lactobacillus bacteria in the vagina.
• Flagyl gel isn’t clinically proven although the Lactobacillus bacteria remain intact.
• Clindamycin can damage condoms.
• Treatment can get pricey. Clindamycin vaginal suppository treatment is about $50 while the vaginal creams are up to $70. Flagyl taken by mouth is less than $20.
• Flagyl taken orally can cause nausea, abdominal pain and vomiting.
• Women who combined probiotics capsules taken twice daily for 30 days along with oral Flagyl prescription medication had twice the cure rate as those who only received Flagyl by itself.
• Clindamycin cream treatment is associated with antibiotic resistance of the vaginal anaerobic bacteria in 53% of those who take it. The resistance lasted more than 90 days after treatment.
• When antibiotic resistance occurs from Clindamycin, the resistance usually includes the antibiotics erythromycin, clarithromycin and azithromycin. These are in a group of antibiotics called macrolides. The problem that occurs is that if a Group B Streptococcus bacterial infection occurs, these antibiotics won’t work, which can be a major issue in women during late pregnancy.

Dangerous Vaginal Infections

In a recent Gallup poll about vaginal infections, the poll asked women if they were familiar with the three most common types of vaginal infections:

• yeast infections,
• bacterial vaginosis
• Trichomonas vaginalis

The women had heard of and were very familiar with yeast infections; a whopping 95% could describe them and knew some basic facts about them.

But only about one-third of the women knew about bacterial vaginosis and about 37% knew about Trichomonas infections. Yet these two can cause permanent health problems.

There is much education that is needed to teach women about vaginal infections!

The sooner this can occur, the better women’s overall health could become.

The Second Most Common Vaginal Infection -

Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial vaginosis is the most common, and many women don’t even have a clue about it. Bacterial vaginosis is found in those that have sex, those that don’t and even in virgins. You may be wondering how a woman could be a virgin and still get an infection.

The answer is that if her diet is wrong and she’s eating a lot of processed foods and sugary foods, these foods change the pH of the vaginal secretions. Before too long, the good bacteria of the vaginal flora are killed off, and the disease-causing bacteria start to grow in number. The woman feels irritation and the vaginal discharge becomes grayish and starts to smell fishy. Stress can cause similar changes; and high amounts of stress can actually cause a re-occurrence of bacterial vaginosis in women that have already had it before.

Bacterial vaginosis is not the type of infection we usually think about that is associated with the word infection, where an organism invades the tissue from the outside. In bacterial vaginosis, the infection comes from within because it’s an imbalance of the flora.

The Second Most Common Vaginal Infection – Yeast Infection

A yeast infection is the second most common vaginal infection. Yeast cells are part of the normal flora in the intestinal tract, the vagina and in the mouth. But when the pH of the vagina changes, it’s easy for an overgrowth of yeast cells to occur. The use of antibiotics, depressed immune system and diabetes can also cause an overgrowth as will some different toxicities such as mercury and possibly lead or arsenic.

In a yeast infection, the discharge is white, similar to the appearance of cottage cheese. There’s usually no odor but there may be a pretty intense itching sensation at the vagina.

The Third Most Common Vaginal Infection – Trichomonas Vaginalis

The third most common vaginal infection is a Trichomonas vaginalis infection. This one is a sexually-transmitted disease and can open the door for Chlamydia and gonorrhea infections.

Research scientists find Trichomonas in 50-75% of prostitutes and anywhere from 5 to 15% in women that aren’t prostitutes.

This infection is much different from the other two infections because the discharge is yellowish and even can have a greenish, frothy type of appearance. Itching accompanies it and there is pain with intercourse.

Consequences of Untreated Vaginal Infections

It’s always important to obtain treatment for any type of infection!

Untreated infections become problematic in many ways. Microbes produce toxins and once the toxins accumulate in the blood, you can have low level (or high level) toxemia. This would result in symptoms of tiredness at the least.

Untreated bacterial vaginosis and trichomonas infection can cause problems if you are pregnant and affect your baby. It’s possible that they may also lead to pelvic inflammatory disease or cervical inflammation. Keep your female organs healthy!

Although many women use successful home remedies for the treatment of bacterial vaginosis, what’s important is that you obtain at least a diagnosis! It doesn’t make sense to use home remedies for a supposed infection when in reality you have a completely different type of infection.

Get a bacterial vaginosis diagnosis. You can always decide what to do afterwards.