Bacterial vaginosis is an infection of the vagina. It is mostly common in women between the ages of 15-44. It is a common infection among women and is not at all harmful, though it might make a lot of women quite uncomfortable. If it becomes more severe, it leads to a disease called vaginitis. If a woman with bacterial vaginosis is pregnant, it might lead to premature birth of the child.
The symptoms include vaginal discharge that is often smelly. The normal discharge is never smelly and its amount varies with the menstrual cycle. The discharge during bacterial vaginosis has a "fishy" smell. It can be thick and viscous or it can be thin liquid, mostly white or grey in color. In some cases you might experience itching, swelling, irritation and burning around the vaginal area. It might also cause extreme pain in the stomach.
There are a lot of bacteria that occur naturally in our body. Bacterial vaginosis occurs due to an imbalance in the amount of bacteria that naturally occurs in the vagina. Lactobacillus is a normally occurring bacterium. If its amount becomes less, other bacteria start growing. These bacteria are the major cause of bacterial vaginosis. Other causes include pH imbalance.
As the infection is basically caused by bacteria, so the treatment includes using things that have an anti bacterial effect. Here are a few solutions to the problem -
1. Garlic can be used as a natural treatment to the problem. It has strong anti bacterial properties that help fight against the bacteria causing bacterial vaginosis. You can take garlic orally in your regular diet or you can use garlic capsules once or twice a day.
2. Goldenseal commonly called orange root is an herb that has antimicrobial properties and is used as remedy for a lot of problems. It has a specific chemical that gives it these anti microbial properties thus making it useful against bacterial vaginosis. The normal dosage that you should take is 500 mg capsules once or twice a day.
3. Tracheal is also an herb that can be used as a natural treatment for bacterial vaginosis. There are two ways to take it. One you can soak it in hot water and drink it before bedtime or you can take two 500 mg capsules before bedtime daily.
4. Olive leaf extracts are also very helpful. They not only help in the natural treatment of bacterial vaginosis, but they also help in preventing it. They are also available in the form of capsules. The dosage taken depends upon the severity of the infection.
5. Massaging the vaginal area with a mixture of tea tree oil and olive oil is also very helpful in clearing the bacteria present.
6. Oil of Wild Oregano also has anti microbial and anti fungal properties. So it can also be helpful in treating the problem.
A healthy diet helps you over come a lot of problems, diseases and infections. To get rid of bacterial vaginosis permanently, include in your diet fresh vegetables and fruits, grains, linseed oil and meat. Take in a lot of water and avoid all the processed foods because they are developed using chemical fertilizers that can cause pH imbalance that leads to this problem.
