Foul fishy vaginal odor can cause a major physical and psychological concern for women with bacterial vaginosis. The psychological and emotional impact of this symptom is so overwhelming. Many women who have BV often broke into tears and felt like they were living in hell because of the stinky, fishy vaginal smell.
It is certainly difficult for an ordinary person to understand the despair of women with BV. Because of the fishy vaginal smell, many women couldn’t help but put a stop to doing things or going places they used to enjoy. Many women chose to avoid sexual intimacy due to the fear that their sex partner will be offended by the foul odor. It can cause stress and tension not only to the women, but also to their husband or boyfriend. How many times of rejection can your partner tolerate?
And while sharing an elevator with colleagues, or sitting in a friend’s car, you are always sure that they could smell it, and worse still, know that the unpleasant odor is coming from you! You just want to become invisible because you have lost self-confidence to face the world.
If you didn’t already know, the culprit behind the fishy vaginal smell in BV is the naturally occurring anaerobic bacteria in the vagina. The fisy odor originates from amine-containing compounds produced by the anaerobic bacteria.
Get rid of the fishy vaginal odor, please!
So, the first thing you need to do if you want to get rid of the fishy vaginal odor is to see your doctor and have your bacterial vaginosis treated. When the medical condition is cured, the awful smell will disappear too. Of course, there are always natural means that you can apply to get rid of fish vaginal odor.
In bacterial vaginosis, the number of the ‘good’ bacteria lactobacilli is significantly reduced and the pH of the vaginal surrounding is increased to more than 4 point 5. Naturally, you can cure BV if you encourage lactobacilli to grow again and keep the vagina at its acidic pH.
So, first of all, you would want to avoid contact with chemical irritants (such as in douches and feminine hygiene products) or taking antibiotics (for no good reason) that may upset the growth of lactobacilli.
Also avoid sugar, milk and yeast from your diet. Taking cider vinegar tablet after meal is also one of the ways to stop fishy vaginal odor.
To restore the naturally acidic vaginal pH, you can soak in a tub of water added with pure apple cider vinegar.
To promote a beneficial vaginal surrounding for the good lactobacilli bacteria to flourish, a yogurt tampon (tampon covered with plain yogurt) is a traditional but effective method. This technique can create quite a mess though. However, do not use this method if you are applying antibiotic vaginal cream because you do not want to interfere with the antibiotic action.
Apart from the natural remedies mentioned, it is vital to practice good personal hygiene, such as maintaining the cleanliness of the genital area at all times, changing into dry clothes immediately after swimming, avoiding tight clothing and underwear made of synthetic fabric, wiping from front to back after passing.