Bacterial Vaginosis

Bacterial Vaginosis General Information

Bacterial Vaginosis Symptoms

Bacterial Vaginosis Treatment

As any other infection, Bacterial Vaginosis needs to be treated. If not, it can reach to the fallopian tubes and to the uterus where it can cause more severe infections and with an adequate treatment, you can easily reduce the risk of some other major health problems. In pregnant women, the right treatment is very important because the situation is already more serious. When a woman will come to the healthcare specialist professional questioning about vaginal discharge, the doctor may believe at some other diagnosis, such as trichomoniasis (trichomonas vaginalis) or yeast infection or a thrush (candidiasis). To differentiate Bacterial Vaginosis from these two other conditions, some few simple tests will be done. The gynecologist carries out a speculum exam of your vagina and with a swab of cotton gets a sample of the discharge that will be tested. After the testing, it may result a characteristic smell (a “fishy” odor), “clue cells” (named like this because they indicate the reason of the discharge) and a loss of acidity (a healthy vagina is slightly acidic, with a pH from 3 to 4.5 that controls any bacteria). These results show positive when the pH is over 4.5 and the epithelial cells (“clue cells”) are coated with the bacterium.

Very good news for you, if you have Bacterial Vaginosis, is that this disease has an efficient and simple treatment, only if the diagnosis is right. Also, you can choose what treatment you follow because Bacterial Vaginosis disposes of a big variety of methods to be treated. What it is very important is that you use and administrate the medicine exactly as you were being told by the doctor. This is because although the symptoms are gone before the treatment is finished, Bacterial Vaginosis could reappear so that it is important to complete the therapy as the physician told you. The health care provider can prescribe you a gel (or cream) to put in your vagina or some pills that must be taken orally, by mouth. The main treatment is the one with Cleocin 2% vaginal cream that must be used from four to eight nights, as your doctor advised you to do. The length of time will be prescribed by your doctor and depends of the stage of the infection. The oral antibiotics are available if you ask your doctor to prescribe it to you. You must precise that if you take metronidazole or other oral medicines, you must not drink alcohol while you take it or for 24 hours afterward. You must be very careful because if you combine these two, you will get severe nausea and vomiting. These conditions are caused even if you consume a small amount of alcohol found in cough syrups. Until the treatment is completed, you should abstain from sexual contacts. It is also necessary that your doctor know about any other medication you follow. Usually, women experience recurrences of this disease but how and why these recurrences appear remain question without an answer. You should try to avoid getting infected in the first place by keeping the vulva clean and dry, avoiding harsh soaps, tight jeans or feminine hygiene sprays.