BV- How will I know when it's gone?

[boltedshut.livejournal.com]

I have come to accept that I have been battling BV for years. I just went to the doc because I had a gnarly yeast that wouldn't go away, but she also told me I had a case of BV. Didn't even know I had it again... Great.

I don't do traditional treatments because they make me nervous, she suggested: cleocin and metrogel. No thanks!
I'm going to do a round of boric acid pills for 2-3 weeks to kill the BV.
My question is- how will I know when it's gone? Especially since I'm so used to having an angry vagina. Should I just go back to the doc to check in a month? I'm worried she'll try to pressure me into more medicine- I won't take it but still.

Edit: Would love to know if there are any holistic gynos in the Minneapolis area that might help me as well

Comments

[patchworkorange]

2-3 wks may in fact be overkill. I've heard of secondary problems happening from irritation from the powder.

I've always heard that 5-10 days is good for a full blown infection. What I did though was to use the Metrogel twice a day for 5 days to completely kill the bacteria, then went on a regime of one boric acid capsule twice a week to keep bacteria at bay. You do not have to do this, however...my doc just suggested it because I had battled BV for almost three years.

That's all I had to do. Nowadays if I'm smelling a little funky, I'll pop one in and it freshens it up. The way I know? I smell "normal" for me....the discharge is really my only symptom so if that's gone and I'm smelling good, I'm good :)

[boltedshut.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've heard different things on how long to do the boric acid pills but the way my doc was talking about it, it seems like I have a serious case of bv that hasn't been treated for long enough.
Boric acid worked for me in the past, or so I thought. I don't have a fishy smell... Even the doc was surprised that I turned up BV bcs she said "certainly doesn't smell like BV", I laughed at that.
The metrogel didn't work for me. It kept things at bay for a bit, and then boom, bv again. Did you have any metrogel side effects?

[patchworkorange]

Oh sure, metrogel always gave me the nasty, tissuey discharge. Just nasty...I got SO sick of it so to hear my doc want me to do it one last time with TWICE a day really disheartened me.

But she knew what she was talking about! :)

[helpme11111.livejournal.com]

Did you ever try cleocin? I hated metrogel, and I swear by cleocin now. FINALLY kicked the BV with the cream you insert for 7 days.

[boltedshut.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the support, BV is a nasty thing.
So here's the full shot of what I'm doing:
I'm pairing the boric capsules with peroxide "douching". I basically fill a medicinal syringe (no needle, I got it free from the target pharmacy) with a mix of peroxide and water. I do it in the shower some times, and sometimes I just lay on my back and insert it, I let it foam and lay there for a while before getting up and cleaning up. I'm also using coconut oil and tea tree oil bcs I think my external yeast hasn't totally gone away but I love the soothing coolness of the mixture anyway.

[patchworkorange]

I did the peroxide too...heck, I think I tried everything out of desperation before my doc suggested the boric acid. Even going so far as to order one of those 50 dollar ebooks!

Hope you stars get it worked out :) There is an end in sight!