It is the nature of bacterial vaginosis that it is frequently seen to recur in a lot of women, which is known as recurrent or recurring bacterial vaginosis. Because of this recurrent nature of the infection, more extended and aggressive treatment may be required to try and prevent the reappearance.

Why treatment for recurring bacterial vaginosis is important

The symptoms of BV can be embarrassing and uncomfortable: the fishy, malodorous discharge itself may be problem enough, causing self esteem and relationship issues for some women. The discharge may be thin and grayish and can be more obvious after sex.

Recurring Bacterial VaginosisHowever there is also the problem of certain complications occurring as a result of the infection and that is another reason to get the condition treated.

Risk of certain obstetric complications and gynecological complications is seen to rise due to the presence of BV.

The risk of HIV transmission is also seen to rise because of this which is why the condition is important to try and eradicate.

Some treatment protocols used for recurring bacterial vaginosis

Antibiotics – These may be administered orally or they may be applied by gel or cream topically and the antibiotics generally used are metronidazole and clindamycin.

Both types of antibiotics are seen to be as effective for treating BV, but clindamycin is usually tolerated well since metronidazole is known to cause side effects such as nausea, a metallic taste in the mouth and so on.

Studies have shown that a treatment protocol that uses antibiotics as the principal treatment for recurring bacterial vaginosis along with other supplementary treatment such as probiotics may be successful.

When the infection was seen to keep coming back, long term metronidazole gel was seen to help in preventing recurrence. Applying the gel over several months twice a week was seen to prevent the recurrence of the infection to some extent.

Metronidazole suppositories when used over a longer duration are known to help in managing the recurring infection.

Probiotics treatments – Some significant amount of success has been seen when boric acid was used to restore the pH balance of the vaginal area.

The problem that results in recurring bacterial vaginosis is depletion of certain friendly bacteria from the woman’s reproductive tract. Restoring these friendly bacteria by oral as well as topical use of probiotics is seen to be effective particularly when used in conjunction with antibiotic treatment.

Douching – Though douching is often one of the causes for bacterial vaginosis certain compositions of douches can help to prevent or treat the infection. In particular women find that a hydrogen peroxide solution for douching can help to get rid of the symptoms, particularly foul smell of the discharge. Similarly vinegar is also thought to help restore the vaginal pH balance and may help.

Other remedies for recurring bacterial vaginosis – Eating yoghurt with live cultures, inserting vitamin c tablets into the vagina, herbal remedies such as Goldenseal and folic acid supplements are all seen to meet with moderate success in controlling symptoms, but recurrence is very high with these treatments.