vaginapagina | Can a hydrogen peroxide douche treat both BV and YI?

Hello VPers! I've been dealing with chronic BV since February and also had a really bad YI that lasted a few of months. The YI was finally treated with fluconazole (diflucan) but metronidazole (flagyl) hasn't been able to completely rid me of my BV. It always comes back a couple of days after the end of my period. I've had good luck treating it with hydrogen peroxide the last time but I'm wondering if it would also treat a YI? I ask because as what is now usual for me, a couple of days after the end of my period, I started getting the same burning feeling in my vagina and my labia is bright red as in the past with my BV infections. The one difference is that this time the discharge is more "creamy" and slightly gooey, which resembles more a YI. I also looked at my vagina with a mirror and I can see some slight discharges around the opening on the inside. Now I don't know if this might have something to do with my extra hot weather we've been having here this last 2 weeks or not.

I am being followed by a gynaecologist for my chronic BV issue but there is no chance of me being able to see him for 2 weeks. He did prescribed me flagystatin (metronidazole in a vaginal cream format) last time I saw him but I'm hesitant to use it since I'm not a 100% sure I have a BV this time and I know it's strong medication. I also have a package of fluconazole (diflucan) left but again I don't want to take without being sure since I'm afraid it might give me an infection.

So my question (and hope) is that does anyone where know if a hydrogen peroxide douche works for treating both BV and YI? If not, if I try to treat myself with plain yougurt but don't have a YI, will it causes the BV to get worse? Thank you!

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I don't *think* that using home remedies for yeast infections can make the BV worse. I know people use boric acid to treat BV & yeast but I'm not sure about hydrogen peroxide. If it is BV and not yeast, I'm not sure the hydrogen peroxide will make it much worse. I definitely don't think it would be as bad as using, say, the Diflucan or an OTC yeast remedy like Monistat, though.

I would try to get my hands on some boric acid. That definitely treats both, and works like a charm, typically.

I've been nervous/scarred of using boric acid but I just came back from the drug store and the awesome pharmacist there guessed right away why I was asking for boric acid. She ordered for me some gel capsules so hopefully on Monday I'll start treatment.

Yay!

Its really not as scary as it sounds, promise. :)

Don't douche if you think you have a vaginal infection. You risk pushing the infection up into your uterus which will cause pelvic inflammatory disease and you'll end up in the hospital.

What's more, H2O2 is extremely harsh, even when watered down, and will only end up causing more problems because it will dry out the skin there and you can't just kill something without replacing it with something else. You also can't use harsh chemicals on your vagina because it'll only cause more problems (that's why gyns suggest Monistat 3 or 7 instead of 1).

My suggestion would be to get some probiotics (the ones meant for women are the best!) and mix the contents of a capsule with some warm water. Use an ear dropper or some such thing to inject the solution into your vagina and lay down for a little while to let it work its magic. The probiotics will help to encourage the good flora in your vagina, and eat the bad flora. It'll start to help right away, but will also take some time for everything to get back to normal. You can use something like tea tree oil EXTERNALLY (and in small amounts) to treat either BV or YI, since tea tree oil is anti-microbial and gentle.

Actually, if she's suffering from BV, putting MORE bacteria up there is the last thing she would want to do. That is great for yeast, but not BV.
If she's suffering from both, a Dr. is best, otherwise a douche with boric acid to re-adjust things to the proper pH and hopefull get things back on track is the way to go.
As an aside, tea tree oil is NOT gentle! It will burn, and do so badly, if used full strength. It's best left for topical applications around the labia, and even the thought of putting it around my bits after it's been diluted 50:50 with something like almond oil still makes me cringe...

Thanks for the comments and information! I've been trying to re-balance my flora by taking pro-biotic capsules but it's been a month now and it hasn't seem to help. I'll be seeing my doctor again as soon as I can but he's big on recommending prescription drugs and not the homoeopathic route. Anyway, I met an awesome pharmacist today who guessed exactly why I wanted boric acid. She's ordered capsules for me so I can insert it vaginally and printed out guidelines as to how to do it. She said she just read article recently how the high success rate of treatment with boric acid so I'm cautiously hopeful it will work.

TTO isn't that bad actually... I was afraid to use it for a yeastie a few months ago, but it actually was a kind of cooling sensation. I put it on garlic and stuff the whole clove up there.

"As a midwife, I've become very enthusiastic about vaginal washes with hydrogen peroxide for yeast or anything pathogenic going on in the vagina, particularly because it's much safer than pharmaceuticals during pregnancy, even the over-the-counter kind. Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) is very safe, breaking down into water (H2O) very quickly; as it does so, an oxygen atom is liberated, which oxidizes organic matter it comes in contact with on the surface of the vaginal mucous lining. It literally washes out and kills pathogenic organisms, including yeast, group B strep, and a variety of other vaginal pathogens. Hydrogen peroxide is normally produced as a byproduct of acidophilus metabolism, which is why acidophilus is a "friendly" vaginal bacteria - it provides a continual bath of hydrogen peroxide to keep those yeasty beasties and other pathogens from developing an overgrowth. "

http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/vagInfections.html

Thanks for the link! I've decided to go down the boric acid route this time but it's good to know.

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Thanks for the info! I've decided to try out boric acid. Since I posted this, it seems like my infection was a YI finally so I'm hoping the boric acid readjusts the pH in my vagina once and for all.

Can a hydrogen peroxide douche treat both BV and YI?

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