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Avatar universal

Rotten tampon discharge smell?

My period was about 3 weeks ago, I was taking penicillin for strep at the time, then used apple cider vinegar for the resulting yeast infection, now my boyfriend has a yeast infection (he's not circumsized), but I don't... what I do have however is a smelly white discharge (it smells like I left a tampon in too long), I've had BV before, but the smell isn't fishy, just rotten (and no there isn't a tampon stuck in my vagina), I tried going to an STI clinic today, but they were too busy and I don't have time to go till next week, I'm just wondering what this could be? Is it just bad bacteria? Could I use garlic cloves like I did with BV (the antibiotics prescribed never worked, it was recurrent till I used garlic, it's been 2 years since my last BV infection). I do have some slight abdominal pain.
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134578 tn?1693250592
COMMUNITY LEADER
Your partner should also take the same treatment at the same time, or he can pass BV back to you.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
so I'm bubbleRad (forgot the email for that account) and sure enough it was BV, went to my appointment, doctor said it wasn't too bad and prescribed me Metronidazole, but she also recommended trying Allicin capsules, which apparently works better than garlic cloves (bc there's more of the active ingredient), luckily I got a doctor that was open to discussing other treatments.

I'm holding off on using the Metronidazole, the garlic cloves worked a bit, but didn't totally get rid of the infection, the sweet thing is though I got some the garlic capsules from a coworker for free (saved me 30$) because she was using it for a yeast infection and didn't need it anymore.

Also http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4166107/

gives me hope, I'm on day two of taking the capsules and I don't smell anything bad down there anymore, so I'm going to finish the pack and cross my fingers it worked, if not I'll take the metronidazole and deal with the side effects.
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
Yes, antibiotics also wash out all bacteria, good and bad.  Good bacteria combats bad, so if gone . . .   well, there you go.  

Good luck at your appointment.  Let us know how it goes.  
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
That's unfortunate, personally I think that when I take antibiotics it kills all the good and bad bacteria, but the bad bacteria recolonizes faster, last time I had BV I was taking antibiotics for a UTI, seems to be a correlation. Did try the garlic last night, rotten smell seems to be gone, I'll do it again for two more nights just to be on the safe side, Allicin from crushed/ broken garlic seems to have strong antibacterial properties. I have an appointment for Wednesday so I'll know if it worked or not fairly soon (or if it's something else)
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Okay so this happened to me once and I flipped! Turns out I had left a tampon in overnight and got busy in my sleep. So no visible string. When I read online the smell could be from that I got really freaked out and couldn't relax my muscles to get it out myself. My man had to come home from work and force me to relax so he could go pretty far inside with his hands and he found the tampon! Just sayin you might want to double check before you pay the doctor
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
I do want to reiterate though that douching is unwise and against what doctors now recommend.  It changes the PH and makes it ripe for further yeast infections.  I would not recommend that anyone douche.  good luck
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
Okay.  I will say that those are self medicating things and pretty harmless so you could try them anyway until you see a doctor.  good luck
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
My yeast infections are recurrent, have been for years now, ACV is the only thing that works instantly, the antibiotics I took were for a bad throat infection (unlucky for me I think it might be back), I tried diflucan and monistat for the yeast it never works and it started getting expensive after a bit.

I'm pretty sure it's BV now, I remember telling the doctor last time that the smell started like it was old tampon smell, this morning it's already starting to get a little fishy smell, so annoyed thought I was finally rid of this, I'm going to try garlic and probiotics first, it worked well for me last time. :( I just need a doctor to confirm it for me.  
Helpful - 0
973741 tn?1342342773
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi there.  First, It sounds like you douched with the apple cidar vinegar?  Never douche hon.  It compounds the problems. Douching is something doctors do not recommend.  So, this smell.  What is the discharge like?  Honestly, I think you DO need to see the doctor to have it swabbed.  Sure you didn't leave a tampon in?  That can happen to the best of us!  But otherwise, yes.  That is a bacterial smell.  You'll likely need antibiotics if that is the case.  See if you can get to the doctor sooner than next week . . .  I guess you can try garlic in the mean time but there is no true science for that.

BTW, it isn't antibiotics that are given for yeast infections.  That is fungal and antibiotics actually compound it (the drug kills bad bacteria AND good bacteria, then yeast grows).  Eat probiotic yogurt or take a probiotic supplement.  Diflucan does work really well if the otc meds didn't work for you.  

So, you really DO need to see a doctor. Let us know how it goes.  good luck
Helpful - 0
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