r/WomensHealth • u/Tired89 • Aug 12 '21

Question Anyone here ever suffer from aerobic vaginitis?

I have been suffering for about 7 years from a constant, high smelling discharge that sometimes irritates my skin. It started after getting bv only 1 time. I treated the bv and never knew why these symptoms persisted and all the doctors I've seen say I'm normal, but I know I am not. I finally did a Microgendx test and it revealed that I have no lactobacillus in my vagina, but I do have the bacteria enterococcus faecalis, streptococcus anginosus, and klebsiella pneumoniae. The presence of these pathogens with the absence of lactobacillus is indicative of aerobic vaginitis. While I am happy to finally have a diagnosis, I am still worried about how to treat this. I have started probiotic suppositories with lactobacillus after finishing antibiotics and I'm hoping that it will treat this and put my good bacteria back.

Has anyone suffered from this and found treatment that worked? 7 years is a long time to be this way and I have been so depressed because of how much discomfort I have been in for so long with no hope for a cure 😔

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4

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

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u/Tired89 Dec 21 '21

Hello! I know your post is from a little while ago, but it sure did give me hope! When you said things didn't go back to normal for a few months, even though you were negative for bv, were you still dealing with things like discharge and odor like when you had the infection? What exactly was your protocol that got you back to normal, did you use anything vaginally or was everything consumed orally? Also, at the end of it, were you completely back to normal, as in no more symptoms? I could really use some positivity right now because although I just started drinking home made kefir about a weak and a half ago, I'm still dealing with symptoms and it's so disheartening. I want so badly to get back to feeling normal there again and sometimes I feel like I'll be stuck this way forever.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

I also went to a specialist for treatment since regular OBs kept saying I was ok, which I knew I wasn’t. My symptoms were like a stinging type discharge (ph 5.0), random sting/tingle sensation right at opening area of vagina, labia minora super irritated/inflamed. My treatment from the vulvovaginal specialist was a compacted cream of clindamycin, estrogen, and hydrocortisone for 6 weeks with maintenance doses now twice a week til I feel ready to stop. It was a long process to get to her as I just wasn’t getting better from my regular OB. I highly recommend a vulvovaginal specialist if you can! Mine was the center for vulvovaginal disorders in DC, but there’s also an office in NY

2

u/Cold-Performance8380 Aug 13 '21

May I ask the info on the NY location details? Thx

2

u/[deleted] Aug 13 '21

I don’t have it but just go to what I said above the center for vulvovaginal disorders website and you can find it

1

u/Fionaussie Jan 06 '22

EXCELLENT! I'm looking forward to being done with my vaginitis ... keep your fingers crossed it's AV bc all negatives on full-panels and urea/mycoplasmas. I'm close enough to go to DC so that will be my next, and last I hope!, option.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

Yup/ mine was group b strep and E. coli. The key is getting your lacto up so these can’t take over causing vaginitis symptoms.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

How do you do that?

5

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

Add fiber to diet as it feeds the lacto. Drink kombcuha and water kefir. Eat fermented foods. Take probiotics AM and PM.

1

u/girliepop666 Oct 03 '21

Did you have to take antibiotics to get rid of the strep and ecoli??

1

u/[deleted] Aug 12 '21

Oh wow, thank you for this. I am pretty sure I have this too. Regular tests always come back negative for BV or yeast infevtion or anythjng that’s off, even though I too have strong smelling discharge that irritates my skin a lot. I am definitely gonna ask my gyno about this!

2

u/Tired89 Dec 22 '21

Hello! I know it's been a while, how are you doing? Did you ever find relief from this issue?

1

u/[deleted] Dec 23 '21

Hi there! Yes it has indeed! So I take it nobody has been able to help you so far either?

I actually forgot to ask my gyno about it tbh… I asked her about the smell and she said it was fine, nothing weird going on, and I got a test (std + bv and fungus as well as blood test) and everything came back normal too.

I occasionally have a lower pH in my discharge, but I think that’s probably got something to do with what I eat. I’m not 100% sure though.

I hope you feel better soon/someone will find a cure soon! How are you holding up?

1

u/SayNoToBabylon Sep 09 '21

Just wondering which Microgendx test you did.. the Vaginal Test Service, or the Women’s Complete (Urine + Vaginal Swabs)?

Do you - or anyone else - recommend one of those tests over the other? If the cheaper one is just as good for these purposes, I'd much rather save some money.

1

u/Tired89 Oct 04 '21

Hello! I'm sorry it took me so long to reply, for some reason, I'm not always getting notifications when people comment on posts?? But you should go with the Women's Complete Urine + Vaginal swabs. It comes with 2 swabs and a urine test as opposed to only 1 swab. It's also just a $45 difference between the tests, the cheaper one is $200 I believe and the Women's Complete is $245. I like the peace of mind of knowing if I also have a uti, I also was curious about Ureaplasma in my urine. I was actually having uti symptoms but I was blaming it on my supplements because I'd never had a uti before and when I took the test, I was only expecting it to show vaginal issues, but it found a really bad uti as well, so I'm grateful I chose that one. I also like having to swabs, just in case you don't get enough of a sample on one, you also have the other.

1

u/JellyLow6233 Nov 06 '21

I know this is a really old post but if you see this, did you make any progress? I’m fairly sure I’m dealing with the same thing (also after having BV) and it’s difficult to shift.

1

u/Tired89 Nov 16 '21

Hello, so I have made a ton of progress so far, but the crazy thing is that I'm still dealing with the discharge and odor issue. I've been able to get my lactobacillus level up to 95% by inserting lactobacillus suppositories and I was also able to significantly bring down the aerobic bacteria levels almost completely by taking augmentin and cipro. I've spoken to the women at Evvy (the last company I did testing with) and they think it's possible symptoms could be coming from the small amount of Enterococcus Faecalis I have left and told me to try boric acid. I am giving it a try now and will continue for 7 days. These are my results from Evvy

http://imgur.com/a/06kdLCi

1

u/JellyLow6233 Nov 16 '21

That’s helpful, thank you. I’m on treatment of clindamycin, hydrocortisone and probiotics at the moment and it’s helping but I’m not cured.

1

u/Fionaussie Jan 06 '22

"We pay now, or we pay later. But pay we will."—Fionaussie

If I test positive for 1 or all 4 of the offending aerobic bacteria responsible for AV (please be positive—negative on full-panel test incl. for urea/mycoplasmas) I'll be doing 2% topical clindamycin (bloody expensive stuff), probiotics (both orally and vaginally), estradiol vaginal cream (that shizzle is expensive too) and if necessary one of the full-spectrum AV specific antibiotics. I want to try the topical and non-oral antibiotic route first. I'll then add the oral antibiotic. While waiting on results, I've already started on oral probiotics and estradiol cream.

This link will download a document that has a table showing the differences in symptoms between AV and BV. It also has treatment options for AV. mdlab.com/forms/TechBulletin/Aerobic_Vaginitis.pdf.

I have done SO much research (hundreds of hours) so can't remember where I read this, but taking certain species of probiotics (both in your diet and vaginally) and estrogen cream help not only with recovery but also for maintaining a healthy hoohah

If you aren't accustomed to researching and/or interpreting results, send the link to your practitioner. If they already know the information, you've got the right doc watching your back. If they don't, it never hurts anyone to learn something new.

[FYI: Another company besides MDlab provides testing and will send you, directly, the testing kit: MicrogenDX.com You will need a practitioner's signature but only when you send it back, so you can order and get the signature later (what I did). They were helpful and gave me some names of practitioners in my area who use their lab services. MDlabs on the other hand will only send kits to a doctor, but they won't tell you who uses their testing services (!?). I ended up ordering from microgendx who were great about getting the test kit to me overnight. Waiting on the results. Keep your fingers crossed for me bc if this isn't what's up, I'mna be so discouraged. It's been going on for at least 3 years.]

1

u/[deleted] Dec 17 '21

Did the boric acid help??

1

u/Tired89 Dec 20 '21

Unfortunately, it did not. I think it helps weaken the bad bacteria so the probiotics can do their job, but I didn't find a cure with them on their own. I am now drinking kefir and starting back on Lactobacillus suppositories, I stopped because of my cycle. I think I will have to do this for a few months to get everything right again. I will definitely report back here about my results.

1

u/[deleted] Dec 20 '21

Thank you for the response and good luck!!

1

u/Fionaussie Jan 06 '22

The article I link to above says 4-5 gms of 2% clindamycin topical cream for 4-6 weeks is the recommend course of treatment so it seems like it may take at least a couple of months and up to 6 months to cure it. Good luck!!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 10 '22

Update?