[CanCan]

Check out this presentation by the creators of Fem-dophilus. In Chapter 8, he says that BV can be CURED by inserting 2 capsules of the pill daily for 5 days. WOW!!!!!!!!!!! He lines it up next to Metro results and FemD's results are better!!!!! I am amazed. I'm on my first bottle right now so I am hopeful, but like I said I've had success with Acidophilus in the past.

http://www.jarrow.com/Dr-Reid-Start

(BTW, I do not work for Jarrow, I'm just a sufferer like you and have spent probably 100 hours reseraching cures on the internet).

Thanks for the link Carrie. No kidding you don't work for Jarrow. Too bad. Maybe if you did you could get us a discount! All this stuff I need to buy for my cute little infection is beginning to get expensive. Dr. Reid seems to know what he is talking about. Just listened to him now. I have been taking Femdophilus for 7 months now and it seems to be working for me (take one cap before bedtime with a glass of distilled water). I insert it vaginally as well, but I do not use the whole capsule. When I first tried it, I thought better to be cautious and see how I react to it. But women have tried putting yogurt up there, so how much different can this be. My concern was that the probiotic is dry, which probably wouldn't be as effective as a live active culture. You would need to use the live version, just like yogurt is the live version of regular acidophilus. But I haven't found a live version of rhamnosus or reuteri. The kind that you can buy like yogurt. Because I bet that if you found a live stuff - and then inserted a little bit of it vaginally - some women would be cured. Stonyfield Farm yogurt is the only one that seems to have reuteri added that I can find so far. But their yogurt isn't reuteri and/or rhamnosus, it's reuteri only plus 5 other strains of acidophlilus. They also have a version with rhamnosus, plus 5 other strains. I can't seem to find it in stores though, even though I know it exists - it's on their website.

[mg86]

Hi Carrie - not to be too blunt, but I just kinda stuck 'em up there. lol... I have stopped going to the doctor after almost a year of treatment...I was on Metro Gel a few times, I much prefer it to taking Flagyl - that stuff is so nasty!That's good that you are doing better. I am almost out of my Femdopholus because I was taking 2 a day..I'm cutting it down to 1 a day for this last week, to give me time to order some more. I figure I should be on it at least a month before I judge its effectiveness. It seems a little bit better but it is hard to tell. Lately I have had itching, which isn't pleasant at all. And I agree about the cleanliness thing - it just gets ridiculous sometimes!!

[CarrieBradshaw]

One more thing -- how did you insert them???? I was using a tampon applicator but got pretty sick of wasting expensive tampons!!!!

[CarrieBradshaw]

I've only been using for a week now. I went through 2 doses of MetroGel over the past month and a half and immediately started with the FemD. Honestly, I feel like it took a long time to get everything cleaned out down there and went through a bazillion different stages of slight odor (i never had a strong odor) and discharge. Who knows what's going on now. I don't want to jinx myself, but I don't feel sick anymore. My gyno said "It could take awhile to get to feeling normal again." No kidding!!!

I inserted the FemD once/day for 4-5 days after my period, but now I'm just taking one/day. I plan to just take one/day from now on and maybe insert one pill a couple days after my period to help balance things. Frustrating and depressing. One thing I don't get now -- all of us here are probably the CLEANEST down there now than most people because we take so many precautions, but how do we still keep getting sick. GRRRR.

[mg86]

Carrie - Well, I am glad that I am not the only one who has done it..I was a little apprehensive since I have never "inserted" anything in there before...lol..I did smell the inside of the bottle but couldn't smell much..I know what you mean though, sometimes bottles of vitamins have an odor..the smell seems to have subsided now..I have no idea what it is but, everyone is different I guess. How long have you been using them? I was just worried I had done some internal damage or something.

[CarrieBradshaw]

mg86 -- I think I might know what you're talking about. Try smelling inside the bottle of Fem-Dophilus. Is that the same smell? FemD has a.........."different" smell. I notice that when I use them vaginally, I have a very VERY slight odor that is the same as the way the bottle smells. It's way better than nasty gunky discharge!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Maybe that's it???

[mg86]

ugh..so embarassed!! Well I have been taking 2 Fem-Dopholus pills daily a little under 2 weeks. A few days ago someone posted here a link to one of the doctors talking about Fem-Dopholus and the cultures...this doctor said that inserting one capsule twice a day also worked. I decided to try this, I inserted one yesterday morning and yesterday night..Well now there is this very strange smell, like some kind of food, it's really weird and gross! I can smell it which makes me very self-conscious! I've decided I'm not going to insert them anymore...but what do you think it is from? No weird discharge or anything...( a little of the usual this morning )

[becca_h]

Has anyone else had this problem? I personally do not itch (i just have to deal with the terrible odor), but my boyfriend breaks out and itches for days everytime we have sex. He uses an antifungal cream and it goes away but it always comes back after sleeping with me. It is so humilating for me, I dont know what else to do.

[yme30]

Hi all. I am glad to see we have a lot of newcomers, the more the better the more the merrier. I have yet another doctor's appointment tomorrow and I am off to the health store to get the jarrow and a few other vitamins to try and keep my ph in check while I am taking the meds. Hope u all have a good day I will post again soon. Be Good.

[jewelscando]

Anyone here heard of or tried Relagard?? Its supposed to be a vaginal acidifier.

By the way, the tea tree oil worked for about the first week then the burning came back and now 3 days after being off the smell is back and the burning is back worse. DUMB!

Morphia, I'm so sorry that the tea tree oil didn't work for you, but MUST THANK YOU, for giving me the idea. Mine is gone, thanks to the Tea Tree oil. Had sex again this weekend, and still no b.v. I won't use a tea tree oil for a couple of days on this one, because I'm hurting down there from my guy being a little too rough. But, it's working incredibly for me.


Welcome all the newbies. Check out LORI'S BLOG!! Lots of great info, and you won't have to go through all the posts reading!

[yme30]

I ran across the website for Jarrows formulas and decided to try out their Fem-dophilus, which actually was reported to work better for some women that had chronic and re-occuring bv...I read that taking the antibiotics actually killed all of the bacteria in the va..and that to have a healthy va..there needs to be good bacteria present to support your flora. I went out and bought it today at my local health food and vitamin shop...took one cap about an hour ago..so I will let you guys know how it turns out...Of course I will go to the doc if i dont get better but i was looking for a quick fix in the meantime. If anyone has tried the fem-dophilus I would really appreciate it if u could share your outcome and experience with it...Once again ladies..so glad to talk with you and I can't say thank you enough for making me feel like I'm not alone anymore...if it weren't for your posts..I don't know what I would have done and how much more hopeless I would have felt about battling this monster!


Hi Angdjones.

You sound exactly like me, at one point I totally let my recurrent BV take charge of my life. I dropped out of school and I was so embarrassed to be around anyone. Now I am just taking it one day at a time. I just came off flagyl with very little success now I have another appointment with the doc on Tuesday to see what is next. I am really considering checking out the Jarrow thing myself, I mean like tomorrow. If it can restore anything inside of me than I need to give it a try. Some women do feel a little or a lot weird about going to the doctor concerning BV so you are surely not alone. I get so nervous that my blood pressure really shoots up there when they take the reading but once the examination is over and I get my script and walk out the door I'm like "Yes its over, thanku God". So imagine if that one trip to the doctor can result in you being BV free wouldn't it be worth it? Keep us posted on the Jarrow I will be getting mine tomorrow, take care.

[angdjones]

Hi Ladies!! I'm new here and I can't express how much relief overcame me when I found this site! Finally, I don't feel like I'm alone anymore! A little bit about myself..I'm 25 and have been in a relationship for a little over a year now. I have been tormented with my va-j-jay problems for about a year and a half and it started out with a smell during intercourse..like something was burnt on the stove. I figured it was due to my poor diet, stress, lack of excersise, and heavy alcohol consumption. I didn't have a mother or girl friends to discuss this with and was really confused about what was going on. I didn't have insurance and thought about going to the free clinics to get care but could not overcome my fear of people probing and proding my body. The issues that I had were from childhood abuse and lack of vital information that every female should know about their bodies. I actually thought that the discharge was normal and didn't know that it could be a sign of some major health problems. I became very self-concious when the smell turned from a burnt odor to a dead fish, ageless garbage, pungent, and sickening smell. I ended a relationship, became quite of a recluse, and was almost petrified and very reluctant to be around people at all. My social life went from great to nothing. I was a full-time college student and I would have to keep my distance from people in the classroom. It started to make me so self-concious that I dropped out of school and lost my job just because I could not handle being around people anymore. At the same time I found the love of my life, my best friend and soulmate. He and I developed a great relationship by being friends at first because I was hesitant to become intimate with him because of my condition. I tried douches, vitamin supplements, washing 3 or 4 times a day, etc. It was very painful and as our relationship grew he was wondering why I was still keeping my distance. After 2 months, I gave in and became intimate. If i would have slept with him before he got to like me as a person, he probably would have left because I STUNK! I am so thankful that he is so understanding..he is the one who suggested to me after awhile that I may have a yeast infection or some other type of infection. I did not really know about these things because no one had ever really informed me about the womans body. Thankfully, he knew..I know it sounds bad but a guy informed me of what goes on with our bodies and the different types of infections we can get.......after I snapped out of the horror and disgust i felt......I started to seek out remedies to cure my symptoms along with his help. I purchased the Monistat 1 day treatment ovuole..even though the package said not to use it if you had never been diagnosed with a yeast infection from a doctor, I still used it. It got rid of the discharge, which I know knew was irregular and when we had sex he said there was a slight..almost normal smell....no more dead fish!!...I felt great and after a couple of days I felt like my old, confident self again..........Until a couple of days ago..we had sex and the odor was back....I had been taking acidophilus caps 2 times a day but the smell was back!....What a confidence crusher....I started to think it was BV instead since I have more of those symptoms...I should go to the ob doc I know, I'm working on that..but I still haven't overcome all of my issues from beingsexually abused andraped..so please don't be critical about me not seeing the gyno..I was reading other posts and thinking about combining the acidophilus with the folic acid.but then I ran across the website for Jarrows formulas and decided to try out their Fem-dophilus, which actually was reported to work better for some women that had chronic and re-occuring bv...I read that taking the antibiotics actually killed all of the bacteria in the va..and that to have a healthy va..there needs to be good bacteria present to support your flora. I went out and bought it today at my local health food and vitamin shop...took one cap about an hour ago..so I will let you guys know how it turns out...Of course I will go to the doc if i dont get better but i was looking for a quick fix in the meantime. If anyone has tried the fem-dophilus I would really appreciate it if u could share your outcome and experience with it...Once again ladies..so glad to talk with you and I can't say thank you enough for making me feel like I'm not alone anymore...if it weren't for your posts..I don't know what I would have done and how much more hopeless I would have felt about battling this monster!

[ACPink]

question-
I'm new to this site. so i don't know if this has already been discussed... but i Have BV again, i can't even count how many times I've gotten it, and a friend told me it could be from the birth contol pills i'm taking. Is that true? I'm taking tri-sprintec which is the same as ortho tri cyclen.

[Eralc Alegna]

Hello Again!

Some of you may or may not remember me from almost a year ago, but I was a frequent poster with a persistent infection. I finally was cleared up with two weeks of clindamiacin (sp?) and being treated for a yeast infection that was either new or no other doctor had detected previously. I was keeping up with the new posts for a while, but stopped to try to put the whole BV thing past me.

Fast forward to about 2 months ago and It's Baaack! I've been to the doctor three times. 1st time- clindamiacin for 10 days, 3x a day. 2nd time- clindamiacin vaginally for a week. Since yesterday I have now been prescribed metronidazol orally for 2 weeks and given a 'script for metrogel to use 2x a week after that for preventative treatment. *sigh*

So I'm back here to share a bit of info that hopefully may help some of you
First of all I think I have pinpointed what causes my infections to come about. Semen. I only have had infections with 2 particular men, and the guy I saw in between I never had a problem with. My boyfriend always pulls out even though I have an IUD because we know that semen will lower the PH and possibly cause an infection. Well about 2 months ago in the heat of passion he doesn't. I reach for my Aci-jel and it's empty, and I get an infection. go figure 'eh?

Secondly, I thought finding and getting the aci-jel would be the answer to all of our prayers. I used it occasionally and successfully since curing the last case of BV. But when I was at the Doc yesterday, she looked some things up online to help find an answer to my chronic infections. Mostly nothing I hadn't already found on my own (I even had to explain to her how to use to Boric Acid!) but she did cite a study that was done showing that aci-jel apparently has had no effect on lowering PH or eradicating infections.
Take that as you may, but I'm going to keep at it. Can't hurt, might help right? Also clindamiacin supposedly isn't useful for prolonged use in chronic cases.

ANYWAY... hope this helps, sorry for the long post, a welcome as well as my condolences to all the new ladies, and USE CONDOMS OR MAKE YOUR MAN PULL OUT!

-Angela

[Morphia]

Anyone here heard of or tried Relagard?? Its supposed to be a vaginal acidifier.

By the way, the tea tree oil worked for about the first week then the burning came back and now 3 days after being off the smell is back and the burning is back worse. DUMB!

[konphusion26]

Many congrats and well wishes to Jularee and Jewelscando, and everyone else who has been having success keeping the bv beast at bay. Continued wishes of success ladies! Keep us in your prayers!

[jularee]

Hi Ladies! Just wanted to give a quick update. Things are still going really well for me since using the "yellow flagyl" from easy.md. I really haven't been doing much prevention wise just to see how long the BV actually stays away this time. A couple of weeks ago I used a boric acid capsule dipped in tea tree oil after sex just to make sure things were kept balanced. Last night I inserted a femdophilus capsule after sex so the good amoebas could flourish again. I'm so happy. No smell, nice clear discharge. I do have slight itching every now and then but I think it might be from the fabric softener we just switched to. Hope all is going well with you guys. Have a great weekend!

[konphusion26]

Konphusion: Yay! You got a picture!!! Or did you have that all along? Just thought I’d let you know that I can’t sleep at all anymore!! It’s like my hormone imbalance is getting worse. Well at the drug store tonight (another midnight run for my little squirt) I was reading again about these tablets called ESTROVEN. I mistakenly thought they were called ESTROGEN last time. Well anyway the main thing it’s supposed to help with, besides balancing the hormones, is to help prevent NIGHT SWEATS and hot flashes. I remember you said you had a problem with that? I am so close to buying this because of the hormone balancing and although I don’t have the sweating yet at night I feel it will probably come next. The saddest thing is that it’s kinda marketed for women dealing with menopause. I’m like……….great! ok I’m 23 and I’m buying stuff for old ladies. I still feel balancing out the hormones is the answer for the girls experiencing a majority of the symptoms I had listed last week. Also Neverendings success story keeps me positive simply because her symptoms were like mine were/are to be by the end of next week.

HAHA hey sweetie! Yeah i just put that pic up yesterday and it is actually me LOL I've never thought of taking the estroven. Thats a good idea cuz I have to take so many showers from sweating so bad at night. And with my period being so irregular the way it is, that stuff just might work for me. Maybe that'll be my next experiment. Tea tree oil, estroven, and fem-dophilus. I just hate taking a bunch of dang pills. BLEHHH!!

I just did a search on the estroven.. and they were talking about menopause and perimenopause - and unfortunately I have alot of symptoms of the perimenopause or pre-menopause; I've been tested for polycystic ovary syndrome, but they havent found any evidence to indicate PCOS. So, there's gotta be an explanation. Maybe i'm just messed up lol Who knows. Thanks for the suggestion Sprinkles!

[SpRiNkLeS]

Konphusion: Yay! You got a picture!!! Or did you have that all along? Just thought I’d let you know that I can’t sleep at all anymore!! It’s like my hormone imbalance is getting worse. Well at the drug store tonight (another midnight run for my little squirt) I was reading again about these tablets called ESTROVEN. I mistakenly thought they were called ESTROGEN last time. Well anyway the main thing it’s supposed to help with, besides balancing the hormones, is to help prevent NIGHT SWEATS and hot flashes. I remember you said you had a problem with that? I am so close to buying this because of the hormone balancing and although I don’t have the sweating yet at night I feel it will probably come next. The saddest thing is that it’s kinda marketed for women dealing with menopause. I’m like……….great! ok I’m 23 and I’m buying stuff for old ladies. I still feel balancing out the hormones is the answer for the girls experiencing a majority of the symptoms I had listed last week. Also Neverendings success story keeps me positive simply because her symptoms were like mine were/are to be by the end of next week.

[SpRiNkLeS]

This has been the most awesome week EVER!!! I feel as if I have been set free from the hell I’ve been suffering through for so long. NO ODOR AT ALL. I actually feel normal again! Yeah, it’s like so weird. I’ve been busy, busy, busy just enjoying life again and it has been so great. HOWEVER my period comes next week so the chances of my BV coming back are VERY high. I have been taking acidophilus like crazy this time so hopefully this might make the difference coupled with my new BC. Oh and btw, I am a very big fan of what works for ME and what works for me is metrogel. I don’t know how many times Jewelscando has stated to everybody that what works for one person might not work for another. I guess I will have to repeat that tonight. We all have different bodies so obviously our bodies react differently to certain antibiotics or over the counter remedies. Like hmm…for example here, boric acid doesn’t do shit for me. So obviously I take what DOES work for me. If a doctor routinely prescribes a medication it is because the success rate for that particular medication is high. BUT that doesn’t mean it will work for you. Now since I am a recurrent BV sufferer the doctors really don’t know what to do with me anymore. I usually am the one offering up ideas to THEM or just simply to use them for something I need written out. OR for therapy visits.

AND I have wonderful insurance. Not much comes out of my pocket for prescriptions or doctor visits. As for the health store…………..well dang I probably help pay for their electricity! I’ve tried just about everything that has been suggested here in this thread plus some alternatives I have just tried on a whim. Although it sucks to keep dishing out money I can’t say I regret putting out money on something that could possibly end this hell for me.