Something else? Ask Aunt Vadge – bottom left of your screen!
Hi Aunt Vadge!
I just finished reading your Killing BV e-book and had a couple of questions about my situation.
At the start of this summer my boyfriend told me my vagina had been smelling weird. I never paid much attention to the odour, thinking it was normal, but I realised I was having discharge as well.
I saw my gynaecologist and she diagnosed BV and gave me a week of [the antibiotic] Flagyl. A week later the odour was back, so I went in again. She did a culture that tested positive for Gardnerella and prescribed Cleocin (or however you spell it).
The smell went, and I was washing with a washcloth and a little Dove soap on the outer part, which seemed to do the trick.
I’ve now become a bit of a hypochondriac and keep smelling down there. I do notice an odour, but I have no idea if that’s normal. It’s not very foul or fishy, but there’s a smell at the end of the day. I have no discharge or itch, and internally there seems to be no odour.
This has been ruining my life and I feel like my gyn keeps prescribing me things because she doesn’t know what to tell me. She did an internal exam today and said my discharge looked normal and she saw no signs of BV.
Do you think this odour is just my odour, or is it BV related?
Sincerely,
Concerned
Dear Concerned,
The reassuring part first, because you’ve actually already got your answer: your gynaecologist examined you today, your discharge looked normal, and she saw no signs of BV. That’s the finding that matters. On top of that you have no discharge, no itch, and no smell inside – all of which point firmly towards normal, rather than infection.
A faint odour that builds over the day and lives only in the folds of your vulva is just being a human with a body. Every set of genitals gets a bit whiffy after a day of warmth, sweat and being tucked away – that’s sweat and skin, not BV. The inside of the vagina shouldn’t smell of much at all, and yours doesn’t, which is exactly what you’d hope for.
One thing I’d change: drop the Dove soap. Soap on the vulva – even a little, even the gentle-looking kind – strips the skin and can irritate the very area you’re trying to keep sweet, sometimes making odour worse, not better. Warm water on a clean washcloth is really all your vulva needs. If you want the fuller picture of what’s normal, have a read of vaginal smells and tastes.
The only lingering thing after two rounds of antibiotics is that they knock down your protective bacteria along with the disruptive ones, and nothing was put back. If you ever do get the fishy smell, discharge or itch back, that’s when to think about actively rebuilding your protective bacteria – the free how to treat BV guide covers it, and you’ve already read the e-book. But with a normal exam and no other symptoms, I wouldn’t treat anything right now. There’s nothing there to treat.
The kindest thing you can do for yourself is to stop the daily sniff checks. Constant monitoring keeps anxiety alive and makes a completely normal end-of-day smell feel like a crisis. You’re well, your body is behaving normally, and you’re allowed to let this one go.
This is general information, not a substitute for personalised medical advice.
Write again anytime.
Best,
Aunt Vadge
