1. Treatment if you are not Pregnant
If your vaginal walls are coated with thin, white discharge with a fishy odor that has been confirmed by your physician as symptomatic of bacterial vaginosis, go in for treatment at once. The benefits include relief from vaginal symptoms and infections. Treatment may decrease the risk for infection (HIV and other STDs) and complications after abortion or hysterectomy. Your doctor may prescribe antibiotics, such as metronidazole taken orally or metronidazole gel that you could apply into the vagina. You can also try clindamycin cream, two percent, one full applicator (5 g) intravaginally at bedtime for seven days. Alcohol is a strict no-go for 24 hours following treatment with metronidazole. Intravaginal metronidazole gel 0.75 percent once daily can lead to symptom relief in a month. If you are allergic to metronidazole your doctor can prescribe you clindamycin 300 mg orally or clindamycin ovules 100 mg intravaginally.
2. Treat it Even if you are Pregnant
If you are diagnosed with symptoms of bacterial vaginosis while pregnant, treatment is inevitable, if only to avoid any complications. Oral metronidazole 500 mg twice daily is as good as metronidazole gel, with cure rates of 70 percent. Your doctor may recommend metronidazole 500 mg orally, metronidazole 250 mg orally or clindamycin 300 mg orally. However, intravaginal clindamycin cream should not be used during the second half of pregnancy to prevent any complications of low birth weight or infections. You might want to pay another visit to your doctor a month after the treatment completion just so you and your doctor know that the therapy did work. If symptoms appear again, your physician might try a different treatment approach than the original one.
3. Treating HIV-Positive Cases
If you are infected with bacterial vaginosis as well as HIV, there should be no difference in treatment from those who are HIV negative. Bacterial vaginosis might seem more stubborn in HIV-positive women, though. In fact, your bacterial vaginosis infection can raise your chances of getting other sexually transmitted diseases, such as chlamydia, gonorrhea and HIV. Getting treated promptly and effectively may go a long way in keeping other infections at bay.
