BV and the pill

Be careful with antibiotics, it wipes out your good bacteria along with the bad but I do understand that the symptoms can be so bad that you just want it gone. If you can use maybe balance activ gel or something like that until the probiotics begin to work then that is the best option. Taking antibiotics have ruined my life for over 1 year now. It has affected my digestive system to the point where I have given up work and cannot exercise and I'm

Practically housebound and unless I am dying I will never take antibiotics again. Please anyone reading this, do your research on antibiotics and use other methods wherever possible. Good luck to everyone

I agree about the antibotics, the BV goes away for about a week and comes back twice as bad.  The probiotics have definately helped with yeast infections, I used to get one every time I finished the antibiotics haven't had one in months : )

Hello ladies.....have been doing the regime we spoke of and started  using vitamin c tablets inserted into the vagina....just finished my period and everything is back....started using the vitamin c again today....think stress could be paying a big part in the BV coming back.....I did start the pill last month.....my periods were getting crazy....10 days very heavy.....this month it was only 4 days long....hoping that helps with the ph factor....just wanted to send you an update...fingers crossed this ends soon

To address your original question: No, I'm not on birth control pills to help my BV. But I do know that low progesterone is connected to either vaginal pH or BV (can't remember which). So, combination pills can help because you're getting a certain amount of progesterone everyday. You can get your blood tested for progesterone levels to see if this could be part of your problem.

Additionally, if you have heavy/long periods, your vaginal environment is exposed to the high pH of menses for longer. So, birth control could shorten and lighten your periods to hopefully reduce the amount of time/severity your vagina is exposed to the higher pH.

So, based on those two things you can decide if going on birth control would be worth it to you. I can also say that I am on a combination pill for a number of other reasons and I still have BV issues (was on the combination pill for years before BV became an issue for me).

Additionally, I'm curious about your diet. There was a study that linked saturated and monounsaturated fats to BV. Women that had more saturated fat in their diet had not only a higher chance of having BV, but also higher fat intake correlated with more severe infections.

Also, sugar intake....sugar is bacteria food. No bacteria food = no bacteria. I started a low sugar low fat diet a couple weeks ago and have noticed a difference. Gonna stick with this for a while and see what happens.

And check the probiotics you take. L. reuteri has specifically been seen to reduce the size of G. vaginalis biofilms. And L. acidophilus is not great at making it to the vagina via the GI tract. So ensure your probiotic has many other lactobacillus strains, especially L. reuteri.

Personally, I used to take a total of 10-15 billion (my pills are 5 billion, one in the morning, one in the evening and one during the day if I'm by my refrigerator). I just found a new brand that has 50 billion per pill. The company does JUST probiotics and designs them based on research. I didn't realize I could take that much daily so I just upped my probiotic game to 10 of my old pills per day. Once I finish the old pills (should be tomorrow lol 10 is a lot!) I'm switching to 1 50 billion per day. (it's a vaginal support pill with a bunch of Lactobacilli).

I've recently just got cured for bv and a slight yeast infection. I was on the depo shot then started a very high dosage of bc pills about a month on a half later ,which is when I started experiencing symptoms. I didn't have itching but after sex there was a very strong fish smell, and some what thick white flecks that didn't disappear when you rubbed them off. It had to be the very high dosage of birth control that caused it because I was fine before I started bc pills and the shot. So personally I don't think bc pills can help with bv, but can help cause it if put on a high dosage like I was. Birth control already messed with your estrogen levels so I knew I was completely off and that there was more bad bacteria than good. I never douche or use scented perfumes or body washes, I shower daily so there was no reason. To sum it all up , I personally do not recommend getting on bc pills for this, just get treated with Flagyl and you should be fine

So I stopped taking my birth control and got BV every month during my period.  I started back taking the pill and I stopped getting BV.  I was already taking probitoics, vitamin D and multi vitamins and none of that worked.

I never had bv up until this past year.  I went on BC pills, and the dosage was too low and I had breakthrough bleeding.  So they upped the pill...I wanted to be on continuous to avoid periods, so i kept taking them, and then the doc told me it wasnt healthy to give myself a period , and it was a MONSTER They made me take mid level pills 4 doses at a time to get it to stop, then 2 pills a dayfor a month.  Follow that with , taking a bath and using body wash and getting a uti, antibiotics over and over, having sex after 8 years, and i was a walking BV manufacturer.  I went off the pill....I took several doses of metronidazole, always came back...clindamycin cured it, but it came back...so I started folic acid, vitamin c, 50b probiotics, and guess what, today it came back.  ive done everything.  Im going to talk to my doc about boric acid suppositories and do another clindamycin round with all the other stuff...i just can't kick this.  She wants to send me to a vulvar specialist....I start Birth control pills the 1st of July.  The only thing I can think of is...all the hormonal changes with the 4 pills a day and 2 pils a day then none messed up my hormones, and antibiotics killed off the bacteria...so maybe something will work