[sassy]

Joanna--I'm glad it worked for you, but I know several girls on here used it with no results whatsoever. Someone also found out that the company itself has been in trouble (I don't remember why...it was a million pages ago in this thread) and that they are a bit shady. I personaly think boric acid would work just as well and it's super cheap.

[Joanna]

I also went out and bought the b6 yesterday. I am going to try taking that once a day along with the BA for 14 days. I am still curious about Enzara. Has anyone tried it? I bought it off of ebay but have not received it yet.

I bought it. it works great for me. It has changed my life. I hate to sound like a drama queen but it's true. But if I stop taking it I smell again.

[Joanna]

I also went out and bought the b6 yesterday. I am going to try taking that once a day along with the BA for 14 days. I am still curious about Enzara. Has anyone tried it? I bought it off of ebay but have not received it yet.

I bought Enzara about 3 months ago, i started suffering from bv about 5 years ago. It has truly helped me out. I have to swallow 4 pills a day but it's worth it. Sometimes i smell but nothing compared to before. I can come home from work and have sex and not have to worry because I don't smell anymore. I have eliminated sugar from my diet cause as you know bacteria feeds of of sugar. I notice that when I eat alot of sweets I smell. Another reason for the smell is cause of yeast. It grows in your body and is very hard to kill. it also makes you smell. I have tried my best not to eat anything with alot of sugar and combined with Enzara it's almost unreal. You do not have to have a yeast infection to have yeast in you. Normally when you suffer from bv you also suffer from a yeast overgrowth. I also take probiotics on a regular basis. I believe that Enzara is just to treat bv not to cure bv.

[Morphia]

UPDATE:

I've done 12 nights of the 14 nights of Cleocin and my symptoms are still the EXACT SAME. It has done jack shit. I'm just has burny and red and inflamed as I was in the beginning. Its as if I never used the shit. It looks like I need to rule out herpes next...

[j4sonl33]

Here's the piece of that article that has me convinced that B6 is the answer:

"Vitamin B6 must be obtained from the diet because humans cannot synthesize it. PLP plays a vital role in the function of approximately 100 enzymes that catalyze essential chemical reactions in the human body."

Enlightening, isn't it?

[j4sonl33]

Hey girls, here's some more great info on B6:

http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/vitamins/vitaminB6/

Looks like the FDA has set a tolerable upper limit of 100mg per day and further research shows that going beyond that amount has no added benefit, either. I would just stick to 100mg a day (with water and a multivitamin). Bear in mind that my case study consists of exactly ONE person, but she had chronic BV for 7 years straight and now it's gone (it looks like arj75 may be a success story also).

Sure beats yogurt and rat poison ;-)

Best wishes,
Jason

[arj75]

[quote name='6efox' date='Jul 22 2007, 06:35 AM' post='162623']
I am now convinced that the anti-depressants has been the culprit.... I do want to go off it but probably not a good idea to do it right now. I need to take them for at least 6 months for it to be effective or something...? It's now been 6 months.. maybe I need it for a month or two.. my mum thinks they'll do me more damage than good but I think they are helping... I get nasty side effects when I forget to take them for a day or two though.....

Anyway.. I'm definitely going to have trouble with "A"....

arj75 - how long have you been taking the B-complex tablets for...? And is it absorbed better if you take them that way...?? (I've always wondered why and how that worked..)

6efox

I have been taking B-complex since the day I joined this forum...I don't remember when that was though. lol But, in the very beginning..I was only taking 1 tab a day...which wasn't doing jack-shit. Furthermore, when I did decide to increase my supplements....I still wasn't taking them with a full glass of water. However, I do drink a whole hell alot of water. I think, that for some women...100 mg..might not be enough..depending on your stress level. I take 800 mgs daily. I decided to go to sublingual because i have digestive problems as well, and I thought I would benefit more from sublingual because it's liquid or can be in found in louzenes (sp lol) too. And I thought it would easier for my body to absorb. I switched from tabs to sublingual ONE WEEK ago.

[6efox]

If Jason is correct, and I believe he is!
Do you all think that if we really want to get better we need to
A. quit drinking (it stops vitamin B absorbtion)
B. Quit taking birth control (it effects B absorbtion)
C. Quit smoking (loss of vitamin B"s)
D Maybe quit taking the anti-depressants (they effect vitamin absorbtion, and alter our chemistry...(the only reason I was on antidepressants was BECAUSE of BV..if that is not the reason any were taking them in the first place..then obviously, not a good choice to stop.
Everything he has said..adds up..for me, I know.
Since I have been taking sublingual B-complex....I have been able to sleep (lack of B = insomnia)
Since I have taking sublingual B - my chest pains and heart palpitations have almost disappeared
Since I have been taking sublingual B- I have not had an asthma attack
Since I have been taking sublingual B- my anxiety has been lifted GREATLY
Since I have been taking B Complex- I have not been stinking, nor any discharge.

I have the feeling the mini blog will need to be posted very shortly.

I am now convinced that the anti-depressants has been the culprit.... I do want to go off it but probably not a good idea to do it right now. I need to take them for at least 6 months for it to be effective or something...? It's now been 6 months.. maybe I need it for a month or two.. my mum thinks they'll do me more damage than good but I think they are helping... I get nasty side effects when I forget to take them for a day or two though.....

Anyway.. I'm definitely going to have trouble with "A"....

arj75 - how long have you been taking the B-complex tablets for...? And is it absorbed better if you take them that way...?? (I've always wondered why and how that worked..)

J4son - You are seriously a saviour to us all. Thanks for all your work and advice!!

[arj75]

If Jason is correct, and I believe he is!
Do you all think that if we really want to get better we need to
A. quit drinking (it stops vitamin B absorbtion)
B. Quit taking birth control (it effects B absorbtion)
C. Quit smoking (loss of vitamin B"s)
D Maybe quit taking the anti-depressants (they effect vitamin absorbtion, and alter our chemistry...(the only reason I was on antidepressants was BECAUSE of BV..if that is not the reason any were taking them in the first place..then obviously, not a good choice to stop.
Everything he has said..adds up..for me, I know.
Since I have been taking sublingual B-complex....I have been able to sleep (lack of B = insomnia)
Since I have taking sublingual B - my chest pains and heart palpitations have almost disappeared
Since I have been taking sublingual B- I have not had an asthma attack
Since I have been taking sublingual B- my anxiety has been lifted GREATLY
Since I have been taking B Complex- I have not been stinking, nor any discharge.

I have the feeling the mini blog will need to be posted very shortly.

[sassy]

Enzara doesn't work... Several girls, including myself, have tried it. It is a scam.

[i'vehadenough]

I also went out and bought the b6 yesterday. I am going to try taking that once a day along with the BA for 14 days. I am still curious about Enzara. Has anyone tried it? I bought it off of ebay but have not received it yet.

[j4sonl33]

6efox,
To answer your question about taking b6 with a b vitamin complex....Truth is, I don't really know. What I DO know is that my wife just takes 100mg of b6 with a good multivitamin (and a FULL bottle of water, key thing) and it works great. The key is LOTS of b6 and since it is water soluable, you MUST drink the water. 100mg of b6 is about 5000% of the recommended daily dose. There is a risk of b6 overdose, but only when you get up around 2000mg, so it's perfectly safe at the 100mg level.

BTW, good shopping tip, all those expensive hormone balancers on the shelf at the store are nothing more than a multivitamin with anywhere between 50-100mg of b6. Nothing else. Yeah, it all makes sense now, doesn't it? B6 is the key to hormonal harmony. Check it out for yourself. So don't waste your money. Just get a good One-a-day, some bottled water, and load up on the B6.

Hope that helps.

Please let me know how things work out for you.

Your friend,
Jason

[arj75]

I'd be playing the banjo right now if i knew how....b vitamins..asthma? anxiety? heart problems? ezema? BV?

Guess I need some fiddle lessons..maybe my sugar daddy pay for it. lol

[neverending]

WELL DONE/SAID JASON! BRAVO

[6efox]

Hi, accidentally found this place whilst looking up jama sticks.. wondering what the hell they were and whether they were safe to use. But from what i gather from your posts, they can really dry you up...? I've always had too much natural discharge (prior to BV) since I was little so maybe this might not be much of an issue for me....? Sorry, it's 3.26am here and I have not been able to read too many previous posts so I haven't been able to work out the answer for myself.

Anyways.. a little about me, 27 and far away in the land of Oz... or Aus in the real world. Had one episode of BV for a couple of months and took Flagyl (3 tablets a day for 7 days.. why the difference in script...? Diff country, perhaps?) which made the smell disappear but the light yellowish discharge didn't completely go away. Then I had my period and four days after the period ended, I think it's starting to smell a little suspicious again.. not too sure though due to becoming accustomed to the strong fishy odour (can't remember what it used to smell like). I've also been diagnosed with HPV in my PAP smear early last year.. the same abnormality in cells was not detected in the next PAP though.

In any case, VERY EXCITED to have found this thread and all of you here!!! Just from reading four pages of posts, I'm beginning to feel as though you've all become my sisters! :^)

Enduring through BV for a couple of months was a nightmare.. i had no desire to have sex, felt too conscious to let my boyf do anything on me, could smell in sitting and standing, my pants reeked (is this the right spelling..?) of the foul odour and had to wash everyday, etc etc.. very very stressful. Truly feel for you guys and minutely comprehend why some of you tend to not even think about sex anymore..... you guys are such fighters. Seriously inspirational.

JASON - You are a SUPERSTAR CHAMPION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Your wife is a very lucky woman!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will go out and buy B6 tablets, first thing on Monday (too lazy to go out on a weekend). One question though, the helpful article that you linked up to your post said something about having to take B Complex together with B6 as some type of vitamin B activates the substance in B6.... since you definitely know more stuff than any Doctor or person around me, please answer this question: do you think it would be even better to follow the advice in the article? Or just B6 would do??

I really do think that you are right.. it all makes sense.. at least in my case anyway. I've experienced a lot of stress for the past year anad have been on anti-depressants (Effexor-R.. 75mg? I think) since January this year. Since ongoing depression is linked to a malfunction(?) in the brain and hormones, it's not surprising that BV might be a side effect either of the initial imbalance in hormones or the balancing act of the anti-depressant. I have also gained about 5 pounds in the last month or so for no clear reason, which may also be indicative of a hormonal imbalance in my body.

Phew...... so that was just "a little" about me. I'm sorry I wrote so much..... please read it ALL in your spare time.... lol

[chantelhugo]

Jason- Great research...That takes a real man to do something like that.
I'm off to buy those B6 Vitamins today!

[lapis]

Wow, Jason that's a totally interesting tale of healing. I don't have bv now but did for years on end and believe what you are saying. Americans tend to be deficient in the bvitamins, and inositol, a b vitamin, has cured my polycystic ovaries. It is wild to think that something so simple could make such drastic changes--hope it works for those who try it!!
It also seems like there's some logic to it because of the whole hormone b vitamin connection--for example, women on the pill tend to be deficient in folic acid, another b. And it would link up with the stress/bv hypotheses sinces bs are always helpful for stress...

Just throwing out some other examples of how this could make sense as a treatment...Since lots of folks seem to suffer from it postpartum, bv's back on my radar...

[j4sonl33]

Dear ladies,
My name is Jason. I am the husband of a woman that had suffered from BV for 7 years. She developed it shortly after giving birth to our son in August of 1999. It is an absolutely frustrating condition. Our relationship became uneasy and stressed because of it. We were getting nowhere with treatments and lost faith in the doctors. So, I took it upon myself to find out the answer to this condition and make her better myself. I love her and I couldn't stand to see her suffer through this any longer. I have devoted literally hundreds of hours of research to finding what causes BV. And I am happy to say that in February of this year, I made her BV disappear, and it hasn't returned. I'm almost positive that I have identified the CAUSE of BV and it can be corrected. I want to share my discovery with you.

I felt it was important to join in on this thread and share my information with you because your 40 plus pages of posts helped me in my quest to beat this condition. I am grateful to all of you and I am anxious to help you in return.

Before I go any further, I want to assure you that this is not a joke. Her BV is gone. No smell. No discharge. Nothing. This is not another "fad" cure that everyone jumps on with the promise of getting better. This really works because it treats the source of the condition, not justs the symptoms. I will take the time to explain how and why it works, and I will also explain why everything else DOESN'T work. You deserve to know exactly what is going on in your body. I have probably done more research on this subject in the last 2 years than anyone else in the country. I will try to share my discoveries with you as briefly as possible, but I also want you all to be fully informed, so this could get a little long-winded. I apologize in advance.

First, I want you to know what treatments we went through. We tried:

Metronidazole oral
Metronidazole vaginal
Clyndamiacin
Vitamin C suppositories
hydrogen peroxide douches
lactobacilli acidophilus pro-biotics
iodine douche
iodine/hydrogen peroxide douche
abstinence

Nothing worked. I was treated with Metronidazole to make absolutely sure it wasn't me. I had to scream at the doctor to prescribe it to me. He said it wasn't caused by sexual contact so I didn't need to be treated. So I asked him, "Well, then what DOES cause it, smart ass?" He had no answer. I picked up my prescription on the way home.

Still nothing worked. We pretty much stuck with the h2o2 douches for the instant relief when we wanted sex or when the smell became overbearing, but nothing made it completely go away. That's when I became obsessed with figuring this thing out. I knew the medical community wasn't on my side (after all, if you all keep coming back to the doctor, they keep charging you, don't they? An easy cure is not in their best interest, financially). And so the research began.

I can't tell you how many articles and medical reviews I've read about BV. It must have been thousands of pages worth of information, but they all said the same thing........"the cause of BV is not clear." Gee, thanks for the insight.

I spoke with several OB/GYN's and even went as far as calling the head of the OB/GYN department at Baylor Medical in Houston (my brother went to med school there, so he hooked me up). But still I got nothing.

Early on, it didn't take me long to realize that virtually every one of the supposed "fixes" were merely treating symptoms, not the cause, which is obvious since the cause is not known. What else can you treat but symptoms? I was determined for my wife's sake to find and treat the CAUSE.

Now, I know that this is probably not necessary in this forum, but let's recap what we DO know about BV:

It occurs in women of child-bearing age
It is an imbalance of the vaginal flora
It occurs more frequently in women who have had multiple sexual partners
It can be acute and chronic
It can occur in women who have NEVER had sex
It is NOT an infection
It is characterized by a strong fishy odor and a milky discharge
It is an overgrowth of the Gardnerella bacteria
It is not an STD

Ok, now let's look at some of the traditional (and not so traditional) treatments:

Antibiotics (kills everything)
Hydrogen Peroxide (an antiseptic)
Probiotics (adds more "good" bacteria)
Iodine (another antiseptic)
Vitamin C (an acid)
Yogurt (another acid)
Boracic Acid (yet another acid)

These treatments don't work because they try to mimic what your body chemistry SHOULD be doing naturally. Once you stop the treatment and rely on your body chemistry again, guess what? The BV is back. The bottom line with these treatments is this---even when BV is present, the vaginal chemistry is composed of the same acids and organisms that occur in a normal vaginal flora (even the gardnerella bacteria is present in normal flora). So what are you trying to get rid of with these treatments?? The focus should be to change the chemical proportions of the vaginal flora at the source: your own body's chemistry. You don't need to "get rid" of anything, just change the recipe. Then I figured it out.

What is it that dictates body chemistry??? HORMONES. They give the body a chemical blueprint. Hormones dictate PH levels. Hormones regulate bacterial growth. Hormones are what make you menstruate. Hormones are in charge of maintaining the vaginal flora. Hormones define what is "normal". If your hormones are a little off, your chemistry will be a little off. If you douche with yogurt to get rid of the smell but do nothing to change your hormonal balance, your BV comes back. If you kill off your entire vaginal flora with Flagyl and rely on your imbalanced hormones to rebuild it, your BV comes back. If you shove Vitamin C tablets inside of you at night to promote acidity but ultimately leave your messed up hormones in charge, your BV comes back. You have to treat your hormones to make it go away. The treatments are temporary. When you stop them, ultimately your body will go back to what it thinks is "normal". But in the case of chronic BV, "normal" is wrong. So let's look again at what we know about BV and it's close relationship to hormones:

It occurs in women of child-bearing age (women of child-bearing age go through a hormonal change)
It is an imbalance of the vaginal flora (which is dictated by hormones)
It occurs more frequently in women who have had multiple sexual partners (my research indicates that most women with BV absolutely LOVE sex. I know my wife does. You could say that she's a "pack of raging hormones")
It can be acute and chronic (because the treatments don't address the cause, only the symptoms)
It can occur in women who have NEVER had sex (again, hormonal change brings it on)
It is NOT an infection (it is a hormonal fluctuation that produces a chemical imbalance)
It is characterized by a strong fishy odor and a milky discharge (but no foreign biotics are present in BV. It's all percentages)
It is an overgrowth of the Gardnerella bacteria (which occurs even in normal vaginal flora, there's just too much of it)
It is not an STD (there is no difference in the chemical composition of the vaginal flora, only a proportional difference)

So, armed with this knowledge, you begin to see why the treatments don't work. They do nothing to correct your hormonal malfunction. As long as your hormones are out of whack, your BV will be present because your body will continue to metabolize your vaginal ph level incorrectly, causing BV to occur over and over again. The simple answer is that something in your life caused a hormonal change (fertility, pregnancy,whatever) that altered your chemical recipe, and until that recipe is corrected you will have BV regardless of what you do.

Great!! So how do you change your hormonal balance?? That was my next adventure. I'm not going to go into the agonizing details about how I discovered the answer, just read the first few sentences in this article

http://www.anyvitamins.com/vitamin-b6-pyridoxine-info.htm

Vitamin B6 is by far the prevailing ingredient in virtually every "hormonal harmony and balance" pill on your pharmacists shelf. It balances hormones. It treats the CAUSE of BV, not the annoying symptoms. I nearly jumped out of my skin when I read what it does. I rushed right out to the store and bought a $3.00 bottle of 100mg B6 tablets and told my wife to take one every morning. Three days later her BV was gone and it hasn't come back since. So, there's your answer:

One 100mg tablet of B6 daily with a full glass of water = No more BV.

Now, I don't know if she'll have to take the B6 until menopause or not, but for now we're happy. I'm certain that all of you will have the same result. Please email me at j4sonl33@sbcglobal.net and let me know how it turns out for you. You are all very brave and wonderful women, and I thank you for the invaluable information that you have shared on this forum. This is my gift to you for your help. God bless you all.

[i'vehadenough]

Hi Everyone I am SO happy that I just found this site. I have had reoccurring BV for the last few wears. I have seen my midwife a million times and she has no answers. I do have an appointment with a specialist next month that is a believer of BA. I have tried a bunch of creams and none of them work. The Flagyl does work but I just don't feel comfortable about taking it over and over since it is only a temp fix.
So here is the situation. It may sound crazy but it is what it is and I just need advise from someone! I had an IUD put in 5 years ago after my son was born. I had my first case of BV shortly after it was put in and then did not have it again until about 2 years ago. At first I thought it was the IUD so I had that taken out about 6 months ago. I did not have another case until about a month ago and my mw called in a script for me. It knocked it out and then a few days after I was done with the treatment it came back. Ok, now I have to back track. My husband and I have another sexual partner (this is the crazy part). We have been sexually active with her for close to 2 years. She is my best friend so we have very good communication and she knows about my problem. Through all of this she has never had any symptoms of BV. When my BV came back this last time I started putting 2 and 2 together. The last time that we had all been together was the day after I had finished the Flagyl and then my BV started coming back 2 days later. There are times when my husband will have actual intercourse with just her, just me or sometimes both. This last time the 3 of us were together he had had sex with both of us (me after her). After my symptoms came back I started thinking that maybe when her body fluids are mixed with mine, it causes the BV. Could it be that some how my body is reacting to her even though she doesn't have symptoms of BV? I haven't called my mw yet and asked her but I have NO idea how I would even begin to tell her about this.

I was going to call my mw tomorrow to get another script, but I am thinking of tying other things. I picked up some BA and put it into an empty capsule. I am going to put that in before I go to bed and do it twice a day for the 2 weeks. I also purchased Enzara. Does anyone have experience with that?

Any comments/suggestions will be appreciated!!

Thanks!!

"i'vehadenough"

[mfc10]

Hello everyone!

I'm not trying to cause a big "probiotic scare" here (I'm actually on the pep squad for them), but I found some information at Wikipedia regarding a strain of bacteria that is in the fem' pros' some of us are taking...

I think it was the L rhamnosus strain...it has been discovered in some certain circumstances to be pathogenic. However, it didn't state what the circumstances were. Does anyone know anything about this? I think we should be aware of what was discovered.

The strain of L. rhamnosus in question was the "GG" strain. The one in Fem-Dophilus, Ombe, etc. is L. rhamnosus GR-1, developed by Dr. Gregor Reid.

I will try to contact him regarding this to see what he says.

Maggie