A little stinging or burning can be normal at the start of treatments, and fine, as long is it’s not severe or prolonged. You are the best judge of what’s tolerable and what’s not, so listen to your body. It usually makes things pretty clear!
If a Killing BV vaginal treatment burns a LOT, your vaginal mucosa may not be able to tolerate that particular treatment at the moment, but there are a couple of ways to tell if it’s ok to keep going with some mods, or if you should stop.
Determine the level of burning
If you feel a little warmth, tingle and slight burning sensation when you first insert the capsule, this is normal and not dangerous.
If the burning is intolerable, first, see the instructions for rinsing out the blend below, and then see the tips below on how to work out what’s going on, so you can continue to use the blend in a modified way as needed.
Burning at the beginning tends to dissipate quickly, and reduce over time as the blend starts to take effect on your vaginal microbiome and mucosa, so generally is nothing to worry about.
Do not try to push through severe burning, but if the sensation dissipates within five minutes, keep going. It should improve.
Make sure to shake the bottle vigorously before every use
The ingredients naturally separate, so it’s important to shake the blend very well before every use to combine the ingredients. The sweet almond oil blends the herbal extracts and other ingredients together, but they slowly separate again.
IMPORTANT NOTE ON BOTTLE COLOUR!
Clear bottles are easy to see, but if your bottle is dark amber, you won’t be able to see. We use many bottle types for all blends, so you could end up with any coloured bottle.
No matter what, shake the bottle hard 10 times before every use!
If the blend is not combined, you may be only inserting the liquid herbal extracts, which aren’t designed to be in contact with the vagina without the oil.
Check EDTA levels (check label to see if it contains EDTA)
First, not all blends contain EDTA, so check the label on your bottle. If there’s no EDTA, ignore this step.
When the blend has settled for a few hours, check the bottom of the bottle for any sign of white EDTA. If you can see a white film on the bottom, when you shake it, it should all be mixed into the solution – this is the EDTA.
To avoid as much EDTA being mixed in, don’t shake it as much – just enough to blend the liquid ingredients. The EDTA may be a source of irritation for some people.
Not all blends have equal amounts of EDTA.
Reduce the dose of blend to quarter of a capsule
You can also reduce the amount of blend in each capsule to a quarter and see if that has the same impact.
You may just need a small adjustment period where your vaginal bacteria and mucosa settle down. You can increase the dose as your vaginal cells tolerate.
Dropping down the dose can help continue treatment while not stopping altogether. You may like to take a break of a day or two and ensure your vagina has settled down before trying again. Feel free to go slow – some vaginas need gentle coaxing, so listen to your body.
Use the treatment every other day
You can also use the quarter dose every second day instead of every day and spread the treatment out over a longer time. You can using vaginal probiotics on the off days if this is part of your treatment.
How to rinse out blend that is causing burning
If you find the blend is burning a lot and is causing significant discomfort that is not going away, rinse out any extra oil and the capsule with some warm water (syringe, turkey baster, douche). Wait for your vagina to calm down before trying another treatment.
If you are still experiencing burning
First, don’t panic. It will pass. Try to remove as much of the blend as you can to minimise the effect.
If you feel burning no matter what you do, then this treatment is unfortunately not for you, so please fill in the support assessment, and we can work out a better path for you going forward.
Unfortuantely not all treatments are a good fit for all bodies, but we’ll help you find something better, don’t worry!
For expert, personalised support, please schedule a consultation with a My Vagina vulvovaginal specialist naturopath today.
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