Still itchy after BV cleared? It may be cytolytic vaginosis

Author: Aunt Vadge
Qualified Naturopath | BHSc(N)

Last reviewed: July 2, 2026

Hi Aunt Vadge,

I’ve had recurrent vaginal problems for about 18 months. It started after a new partner — itching after our first time, which I thought was yeast, but the doctor said strep B and gave me amoxicillin. That didn’t work, and ever since I’ve battled BV.

I’ve been on every antibiotic, prescribed oestrogen and probiotic creams; then BV came back negative but ureaplasma and strep B positive. I’d been inserting Jarrow probiotic for about 10 days before that. I took doxycycline for the ureaplasma, nothing for strep B.

My latest results: everything negative — full STD panel, yeast, BV, ureaplasma, mycoplasma, all clear. But I still have odd discharge — it’s very dry, and when I rub my fingers together it rolls up and sheds off. I’m still itchy and irritated, with weird clumps of white discharge.

Could this be the strep B, or cytolytic vaginosis? I’m desperate for relief.

Best,
M.
Age 23, United States

Hey M,

I think you’ve cracked it yourself. Everything you describe points to cytolytic vaginosis (CV), and it’s the single most missed diagnosis in this whole area, so well done for even knowing the term. It fits you almost perfectly.

CV is essentially the opposite of BV: instead of too few lactobacilli you have too many, so the vagina becomes overly acidic and that acid irritates the tissue — giving you exactly your symptoms, the itching, irritation, dryness and clumpy white discharge that rolls and sheds off your fingers.

And look at how you got here: months of antibiotics, oestrogen cream, probiotic creams, and inserting probiotics — a recipe for overgrowing lactobacilli. Every test comes back negative because there’s no infection to find; it’s an overgrowth of your good bacteria.

That’s why the merry-go-round never ended: CV gets mistaken for recurrent yeast or BV and treated with more antimicrobials and probiotics, which is precisely the wrong direction and makes it worse.

Confirm it cheaply first: grab some vaginal pH strips (cheap online). CV is acidic — a low pH, under about 4.5 — while BV is the opposite, alkaline and high, so a low reading plus your symptoms strongly supports CV and tells you you’re aiming the right way.

Then, what actually helps: stop all probiotics and acidifying products so the overgrowth settles rather than being fed; gently raise the pH with baking soda, the simplest and safest way being a sodium bicarbonate sitz bath — a couple of tablespoons in a shallow warm bath, sit and soak 10–15 minutes, a couple of times a week and no more, since you don’t want to over-correct and swing toward BV; and give it time, because as the pH normalises and your natural cycle does its thing, CV symptoms usually ease over a few weeks.

If it doesn’t settle, or you’d like it confirmed and a proper plan (including sorting out that dryness, which all those antibiotics won’t have helped), you can book an appointment with one of our practitioners. After 18 months you deserve the answer that finally fits — and I think you’ve found it.

Tell me how you go.

Best,
Aunt Vadge

This is general information based on current research and our clinical experience, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.