Bacterial vaginosis was, up until recently, known as Gardnerella, or Gardnerella Vaginitis, after one of kinds of bacteria that cause it. If you’re doing a search for information on Gardnerella, make sure to also check the term Gardenella, which is a common misspelling. I’m going to use both versions in this article, to ensure that it can be found either way by people looking for information on symptoms and treatments for bacterial vaginosis or gardnerella/gardenella.
For a very long time, we didn’t know what caused bacterial vaginosis/gardnerella. It was thought that it might be an STD (which it isn’t) or that it might happen because of unsanitary habits (also not true – in fact washing too much, especially with scented products, can actually make it worse.) Now, all signs point to bacterial vaginosis being caused by an imbalance in the pH levels of the vagina, which in turn impedes the growth of ‘good’ bacteria and allows ‘bad’ bacteria to overgrow.
Symptoms of bacterial vaginosis/gardenella (wrong spelling, remember?) include an unpleasant, fishy odor and a thin, watery whitish-grey discharge. Some women may also experience painful itching and burning. There are several tests that a doctor can perform to confirm a diagnosis of bacterial vaginosis/gardnerella (right spelling!), including a pH test (anything above 4.5 indicates BV) a whiff test, or a clue test where they look for cells under a microscope.
The standard course of treatment for bacterial vaginosis/gardenella is a round of antibiotics, typically clindamycin or metronidazole. In recent years, it has come to light that this may not be an effective or lasting treatment. Reoccurrence is very high with antibiotic treatment. This happens because antibiotics kill off all the bacteria, both good and bad, but does not address the underlying cause of the imbalance; because of this, when the bacteria repopulate, the imbalance is still there, and the bacterial vaginosis/gardnerella reoccurs.
Natural and holistic treatments for bacterial vaginosis have become more popular in recent years because they address the root issue of the bacterial and pH imbalance. In particular, taking probiotic supplements seems to work the best, long term, for curing and preventing reoccurrence. They may, however, require that you keep taking them to remain symptom-free. Probiotic supplements repopulate the vagina with the ‘good’ bacteria that keep the ‘bad’ bacteria from overgrowing and causing bacterial vaginosis/gardenella.
It may take a while for you to find a treatment that works for bacterial vaginosis/gardnerella. Each woman responds differently to treatment, and no one solution seems to work for anyone. Universal advice that will help everybody is to switch to cotton underwear that breathe, and to stop using all scented soaps, lotions, body washes, and detergents. These can be an irritant, and can only aggravate your bacterial vaginosis or make it worse.
