reocurring vaginal infection

[3boysmom]

Please help me or direct me in the way to go. my husband and I have been married for 4 years. (no chance of other sex partners) The problem..We have sex and I then will notice my urine is very strong in smell, usally ends up being a bac. vag. infection.  My husband takes alot of vitamins and has had prostate infections.  I feel he is the one who is keeping this infection going. Can his sperm be infected? This has been an on going thing... and it is driving me crazy! I have changed doctors and all they do is write a prescription and then we are back the next month again. My husband has never had his sperm checked. Should he? Please tell me how to prevent this, and are their others out there with the same problem.






















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[allyx2]

OMG! I have been having the same problems after two kids as well and even the tearing is the same.......? I went to the doctor and she said I had alot of white blood cells and gave me antibiotics for a possible infection in my cervix! i think this solution is too easy and that i am in for a long haul I dont know how our hubbys do it because mine is great about this too i am in too much pain for any contact especially sex but i am gonna try the antibiotics and go from there!

[cmbhelp]

ok....well I have been experiencing some of the same things.  However, my situation has been running on a little longer (hopefully this doesn't discourage you, but I need some help from someone!) cause for the past two years I have been going through similar problems.  After having my second child (both by ceasarian) I felt like I was having cronic yeast infections.  My obgyn checked my\e out and thought it was lichen schlerosis, so I was put on meds for that but it kept coming back.  My syptoms were severe itching, burning and tearing of the vagina and anus area.  It did not go away with the meds.  Now the thing is, it happened sometimes with sex (which was painful) but also around my period.  So he sent me to a specialist and she said it was the same, but they did a biopsy to make sure.  Was on meds again and when the results came back, it said no for ls, so she told me to remove any sort of "soap" product out of my regime.  At the same time she did a swab.  Did all that and still not better, and now an added bad discharge was happening.  The test for the swab came back as b.v.  So, now I was on a different med to get rid of that.  The discharge went away, but I still have the itching, burning, and tearing.  This has been two years of seeing obgyns/specialist, countless meds and still no better than when I started.  I'm not sure what to do at this point.  I'm waiting to hear back from my specialist today, but this is the most frustrating thing.  My husband thank goodness is quite good with all this, but I am out of ideas, so if anyone has anything to add to help me out, I would greatly appreciate it!

[HHH,MD]

This sounds like recurrent/persistent bacterial vaginosis (BV).  BV is often called sexually "associated" but not sexually "transmitted".  There is no evidence of acquisition of infection from a partner, although some theories are that semen exposure sometimes may trigger it.  Almost certainly there are multiple causes, most of which remain unknown. Pretty intensive research is underway, and with luck better answers will come over the next few years.

Presumably you have discussed it with your health care provider. If not, you need to see someone to be sure of the diagnosis.  Another option is to seek the advice of an ObG with particular expertise in infectious diseases; most large communities have such people, especially in academic medical centers.  Although no single treatment always works, with the help of a specialist, many women can find a regimen (e.g., periodic brief courses of antibiotic) that can keep BV in control.

In the meantime, you can try consistently using condoms to see if it makes a difference--not necessarily permanently, but you could try it for 2-3 months just to learn whether it is helpful.  Whether through antibiotics or consistent condom use, if there is improvement, over time your vaginal bacterial balance may correct itself and the problem will spontaneously resolve or become less severe or less frequent.

Whatever else you do, don't be tempted to douche, regardless of discharge or odor.  Douching always makes BV worse over the long run (it further depletes the vagina of healthful bacteria that help combat BV).  And do not be tempted by advice about yogurt, lactobacillus treatments, and stuff like that.  There is no evidence of efficacy.   And with apology to star queen, failure to wash or other hygiene issues definitely have no relationship to BV.  (I also have concerns about some of her other statements.  For example, I don't know what it means to say sperm has no contact with the prostate.  Prostate gland secretions are the primary fluids in semen.)

Good luck--  HHH, MD

[star queen]

Vaginal infections can be from several things, but the most common is not washing.  Men especially don't wash their hands before going to the bathroom and who knows what their hands have been in.  Few men wash before and after they pee.  If you have intercourse without protection and he hasn't washed, then he is putting stuff inside you that you may be sensitive to.  Washing before sex can be stimulating and fun.  Another thing to watch out for is the soap hubby uses.  If he showers or uses antibacterial soap (always a bad idea) on his penis before sex, he is putting that inside, too.  Your good bacteria may be killed off leaving you more suseptible to infection. Those fun sprays and scented gels, candy undies and other fun things can also be infectants.  Prostate problems don't contribute to vaginal infections, and the sperm is not infected. Sperm is actually in sterile seminal fluid until ejaculation.  It never comes into contact with the prostate.

[alwaysumthin']

You could be sensitive to his sperm, it is true.  You could do a few things - 1) not have sex until you are both done with your medications, 2) use a condom for a month and allow yourself to "re-adjust" to his body 3)eat yogurt which has good cultures for healthy pH balance in your vagina and do one of the other two recommendations.  Also, you could try a new doctor and not mention the b.v. and let them do a culture and see if there is another infection on top of the b.v. - it is possible they are treating one infection and you have another smaller one lingering that they haven't detected or tested for.
Not to be disgusting, but if you have engaged in oral sex, he could have given you a strep infection "down there" if he ever had a sore throat, and it has the same symptoms as b.v.

Hope that helps!

[no_va]

i had a severe bv because of lack of lactobacilli,so i had to order a medication from germany which contains dry ones.so now everything is fine with me but it was quite difficult to make them "come back".anyway ,no harm checking your husband's sperm for bacteria,what you usually hear is that bv is not sexually transmitted,but probably at times it's better to make sure your partner is ok.