I've had some further testing after suffering repeated chemical pregnancies.
I have just found out that I have BV and ureplasma. I am concerned that BV has caused pelvic inflammatory disease as I had moderate levels found in my uterus and the fact that BV can keep coming back...I don't know how long I have had this as I haven't had any symptoms so I feel a bit worried.
Has anyone had treatment for BV and had a successful pregnancy afterwards? I would love to hear success stories right now.
I tested positive for BV on the fertilysis uterine microbiome test. Treated it with one week of metronidazole. I also took NAC and lots of vaginal and oral probiotics.
Thanks for your reply. I also did the fertyliss microbiome test. I also have ureaplasma which also needs treating but I am more concerned about the BV at the moment. Can I ask if your test results said that it was in your uterus? My result says uterus: moderate level. Vaginal: low. Has your BV permanently gone now after treatment?
What is NAC? Can I ask what vaginal and oral probiotics you used? Xx
Yes my BV was in my uterus ( not vagina).
NAC is a supplement that helps the antibiotic work (this is what I’ve read on the forums).
I’ve read a few women who had ureaplasma and found the antibiotics didn’t work until they added in NAC.
I take BioFemme V probiotics both orally and vaginally
I also take the optibac women’s orally.
I did the Fertilysis retest and it came back clear.
OK thanks for this. I've checked the supplement I am using and that has NAC already in it. Have you continued to take probiotics even after infection has cleared? I think I might go on probioitics long term to try and prevent it's recurrence. There are a lot of optibac probotics, which one did you use? How much is the fertyliss retest? Xx
How did you get the antibiotics you required? I have phoned my GP and the receptionist said the GP can't prescribe the antibiotics because I got the test done privately and I would need to go back to the place where I got the tests done for treatment! I didn't think it would be an issue getting the antibiotics providing I had test results showing I need them and the fact that it is such a routine common infection to treat. I just want this infection treated as soon as possible now I know I have it. My fertility clinic are asking their pharmacy but they think I'll need to go through my GP too... xx
My fertility clinic was happy to provide a prescription.
I take 600mg of NAC daily.
The optibac probiotics are ‘for women’.
Can’t remember exactly how much the restest is. It is cheaper than the original.
Best of luck x
Hey! I had BV and my partner had ureaplasma so it was definitely all linked - it came about once we started TTC. So I think he gave it to me from all the unprotected sex - the irony!
We saw a private doctor who put both of us on an antibiotic (I cannot remember now what they were but mine was possibly a single dose of Azithromycin?) And she also recommended both of us taking Symprove, my partner to take Inessa Wellness (advanced biotic complex), and for me to take Femex Forte (Biomedica) and Bio Femme V (Invivo). She also recommended I took Canesbalance BV gel but I couldn't find it as I think it is out of production, and Canesflor vaginal pessaries (after the antibiotics), which I did.
I had had one miscarriage beforehand after a natural conception, but we were generally struggling to concieve. At this point we were on the path for IVF already (due to male factor) but I wanted to make my environment (? ha) as healthy as possible and kick BV beforehand.
I am now 36 weeks pregnant and not a hint of BV in sight!
It can take a bit of work to get rid of BV when you have it, but it can be done. The above all worked for me and is only a suggestion but it could be worth seeing a specialist too, for your own sanity, and especially if it's in your uterus. We went private because the NHS is long and probably wouldn't give as much care as this. Not sure where in the country you are but we saw Dr Lynne Chapman in London and she was fantastic.
Thanks so much for your reply, really helpful information there. Fertilysis have already advised me on what antibiotics to use and take probiotics whilst on antibiotics - did you take both at same time? I suppose the probiotics will help prevent the good bacteria being wiped out from antibiotic? I am concerned that the test result showed that BV is in my uterus, do you know if your BV was in your urterus too? I'm worried that it will have a long term impact on my fertility as I don't know how long I've had it.
Did you take all those probiotics that were advised at once or was it a trial and error? I've looked up symprove - looks like this is a GI probiotic which is handy as I've been recommended to take that as well as probiotic for the vagina flora in form of oral and pessaries.
Is there a reason you took bio femme V as well as Femex forte? Just wondering as they look like they do the same thing when reading about them online, was wondering what the difference was?
Do you know of any vaginal pessary probiotics I could take? I can only find oral ones online, canesflor has been discounted for a while. How long did it take to clear your BV? I've read it can come back so I'm paranoid that it will and maybe I won't know as I don't really show any symptoms. Maybe there is a cheap retest I could use sporadically? Sorry for the long reply, I've just got so many questions! Congratulations on your pregnancy, I'm glad you got there in the end 💗 xx
Did you take the test on your own accord or have symptoms which then your dr advised to test? I’ve had 3 miscarriages back to back over the past year and getting blood tests, but the drs are a bit useless with next steps and any further suggestions (have asked to be referred to recurrent miscarriage unit but nhs so they’re taking their sweet time)
Sorry about your losses, it is so heartbreaking isn't it. I have found the NHS not every good with fertility issues. I got the bare minimum basic bloods done despite my history. Nearly all my tests I've had done, I've had to pay privately for. You should be able to get a karyotype test for both you and your partner through NHS via Tommys now you've had 3 losses. We are currently waiting on those blood test results.
I had heard about EMMA and ALICE testing through my fertility clinic which is really expensive and requires a biopsy. Through researching I decided to have this microbiome test through fertilysis instead which seemed more cost effective, less invasive and they tested for a good range of strains.
I wasn't advised to have an EMMA/ALICE test as such, the clinic just reeled off a list of extra investigations that we could have. I have done a lot of testing over the last year and I decided to get my microbiome checked to essentially get another thing ticked off my list. I have recently read that you can have BV and not have any symptoms, the only thing I've had is on off pelvic pain xx
I’m waiting on karyotype results as the baby’s tissue was tested after my d&c and came back with abnormal chromosomes. (5 weeks post op) and only then have nhs been willing to test me and partner! It’s exhausting because I wish they’d just take all blood tests earlier instead of having ti wait around for each result to pursue the next.
I’d like further testing though as I’ve heard of NK cells etc and just wanted to get tested for as much as I can to rule things out. Microbiome was on that list that I’ve researched on my own accord, it’s just exhausting though, esp with juggling post miscarriage emotions and the emotions of just wanting to have a baby!
You need antibiotics but also vaginal probiotics like Vagibiom as well as balance activ twice a day for several months. They say use it for 7 days but I suffered with repeated bv and gardnerella after lots of antibiotics for ivf. I still now in pregnancy use balance activ with vaginal probiotics twice a day. Flora femme is good but with balance activ at the same time morning and evening for 3 months at least. Then for maintenance once a day indefinitely.
Hi, I also did the Fertilysis microbiome testing and the results showed I had ureaplasma and BV, and moderate levels of lactobacillus.I took a two courses of antibiotics one after another and canesflor vaginal suppositories (I think they have discontinued them since) and also optibac oral probiotics. This was on the advice of my IVF consultant.
I then came across gardenlady543 posts on mumsnet/reddit and followed her advice, taking balance activ and continuing with vaginal probiotics. I ended up buying really expensive ones from the US and used them sparingly. I continued with oral probiotics, alternating between Invivo biofemme ones and optibac.
I retested with Fertilysis and everything came back clear. I think candida was a bit elevated which is apparently common after antibiotics (I think) so used topical cream for a few days.
I had a FET and continued with the balance activ and probiotics as I was trying to keep my lactobacillus levels up. My transfer was successful and I have a 10 month old boy.
Of xiurse there were other factors which contributed such as I PGTA tested the embryo but I definitely feel having a uterus which was infection free and high in lactobacillus helped it stick!
Thanks for your reply, that information is really helpful. It sounds like my results have come back with the exactly the same as yours as I also have moderate levels of lactobacillus too but also BV and ureplasma. I have just bought optibac intimate flora one (purple one) and a vaginal pessary probiotic called vagibiom. Maybe I should alternate between another oral probotic too... did you take just an oral probiotic leading up to and after FET? Or did you continue to take a vaginal pessary probiotic and oral probotic?
How did you go about getting the required antibiotics? Just phoned my GP and because I got the test done privately, the receptionist said the GP can't prescribe the antibiotics? Even though I explained it was for BV which is a very common infection and I have the paperwork. The receptionist said I have to go through fetilysis to get the antibiotics? Nothing is ever straightforward forward is it?!
I'm glad you got there in the end, I'm hoping I get success, it does say BV increases risk of chemical pregnancy and can hinder implantation and I've had recurrent chemicals - its good finally find a piece of the puzzle of what could be going wrong each time xx
Hi, are you doing IVF? Then your consultant should be able to prescribe. That's what mine did, I just emailed them the results. She suggested optibac oral probiotics, they can be taken throughout pregnancy too. I alternated between optibac, pretty sure it was the purple one too, and invivo biofemme in order to get a wide variety of lacto strains. After my fertilysis retest I decreased the oral probiotics as I had high levels of lacto and I had read you can overdo it, so I just took one 2-3 times a week.I took the vaginal probiotic pessary during the end of the antibiotics course as advised by the IVF consultant. I had to stop for a few days before the fertilysis retest too. Once the retest results came back good, I had my FET. I don't think I was using the vaginal probiotics at that stage but was testing the ph levels. Once I was pregnant I did use them every few weeks, just to use up the leftover ones..you only get 6 flora femme ones so I didn't want to waste them! I have heard of vagibiom too, so I think that's a fairly recommended one.
Good luck and message me if you have anymore questions and I'll try to remember and help!
Forgot to add o started taking symprove too. I had seen on some forum someone else did and I was willing to try anything. My gut isn't the best so I thought it would only help! I took it for most of my pregnancy
Were you taking symprove alongside antibiotic treatment? Or did you only take it after finishing antibiotics? Did your partner take Symprove too? Not sure whether to get my partner to take symprove because he needs antibiotic treatment too.. We have recently paid out for a dna fragmentation test along many other things so its all very expensive as per... so not sure whether to just take it myself or would it be beneficial for him to take it too? Xx
Hi, I was taking Symprove during my antibiotics as I had started a few months before and just got into the routine of having it each morning. I don't think it's worth your partner taking it. I see it beneficial for the uterus and implantation but I already had embryos at that stage and was waiting to transfer xx
Yeah I have been doing ivf, but taking a break at the moment. We have 2 embryos left but want to clear this infection before we do any more embyro transfers. I don't understand why my clinic are dragging their heels, they said they aren't sure whether they can prescribe the antibiotic and have asked the pharmacy but still haven't heard back. Its making me feel stressed to be honest as I just want it treated and I cant without the right meds.
Thanks for sharing all that information that really helps. Can I ask if you made any other changes to your successful cycle? I've only ever had chemicals or BFN after 4 FETs so have lost a lot of hope that it will ever work for us. I've only ever had chemical pregnancies with natural conception too xx
That's annoying you can't get the prescription easily. I would push the IVF clinic - tell them your friends are able to get a prescription using the same testing place etc etc. They probably don't get many of these requests so you just need someone to actually listen and check.If you don't get anywhere I would probably try a private GP prescription. I have never used one but maybe if you call them and tell them the situation they can give you a prescription.
I pulled out some of my notes about the vaginal probiotic pessaries. This was based on gardenlady543 posts and possibly other posts I had come across.
I loosely followed it and tweaked it for me, eg I used balance activ + canesflor/flora femme instead of Vagibiom. I also tapered off once I was pregnant only taking them once a month for a few months.
- Vagibiom (has acid) at the start of FET (after period ended) for a week or so, then move to probiotics without acid (eg canesfor, flora femme)
- Lactic acid in Vagibiom/balance activ helps the lactobacillus environment so pessaries more effective and can multiply
- probiotic without acid closer to transfer
- nothing for 2 days before and 2 days after FET, then back to probiotics
- no balance activ on period. Menstrual blood alkaline therefore no vaginal probiotics then
- gardenlady used balance activ + pessary together
- ph higher during period and ovulation
- use ph strips <4.5 ph
I also switched from taking folate the methyl folate (the holland & barrett one is called active folate). IVF consultant said this had better absorption.
I also took baby aspirin as I had 3 failed FETs before and initial consultant mentioned it. I did have a sub chorionic haematoma around 6 weeks so clinic told me to stop the aspirin. When I mentioned this to my NHS hospital consultant he advised not to take aspirin and I started fragmin blood thinners. I think this was all due to my age as I was 44 so you probably don't need it this.
I was already taking fish oil supplements, eating 2 portions of salmon a week, having acupuncture- i ended up going around FET time only as it was getting pricey!
I was taking symprove as I mentioned and eating lots of probiotic rich food. Fermented food like kimchi, miso soup, sauerkraut, pickles, pickled anything.
I also increase my exercise going to boxing classes twice a week. I WFH so felt I needed to get my blood flowing. I also did the online free yoga offered by fertility network and tried to fit in more meditaion.
I also took a few more fertilysis tests, the NK cells, TH1/TH2 cytokine and hereditary thrombophilia (MFTHR, factor v leiden etc) and they came back ok.
We also did PGTA testing so I knew this embryo was euploid. I had 3 untested failed FETs previously so I thought if did all the testing on me and took a few months out, then I am giving my embryo the best chance of sticking.
Hope that all makes sense. I know how you feel, I was in a similiar situation with only BFN or chemicals but you have to think it's better you work on fixing your microbiome and any other issues before transferring. You are doing the best thing at the moment to get there even if it feels like each month is flying past. You're giving yourself the best shot you possibly can and there's not much more one can ask from you!! Xx
Firstly, thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long reply sharing what you did and digging out your old notes. It's women like you that give me a bit of relief from this mind boggling journey, it's hard to know what to do and sends my mind into a spin sometimes! So thank you for your help, I really appreciate it.
I do hope I can get somewhere with my clinic, I have already told them that I know women who got the same test done at the same place and had antibiotics through their fertility clinic but I still haven't heard anything back. I didn't get anywhere ringing GP either, I might write my GP a letter and see if that helps, I didn't think for a second the antibiotics would be hard to get. I really hope I can get it sorted, as I honestly don't know what I'll do otherwise.
Can I ask why did you stop both oral and vaginal probotics 2 days before embryo transfer and 2 days afterwards? Is there a reason for it?
Did you take both oral and vaginal probiotics after embryo transfer? I was wondering cause vaginal probiotics are so expensive if you could just take one every 2-3 days or once a week rather than every day?
Why did you test pH levels? Was it to monitor whether microbiome was still in balance? What test kit did you buy?
How long did it take for antibiotics and probiotics to work and have the re-test with fertilysis? Just wondering what time scale I'm looking at roughly. I have no idea how much it costs for a retest with fertilysis either.
I already did immunology blood testing elsewhere which all came back normal but unfortunately it didn't include the testing of MTHR or Factor V Leiden... I don't know where I would go to get those tests done individually. It's hard to know where to draw the line too tbh, I just feel at my wits end with it all and sometimes what this journey to just be over with as I don't know how much more I can take.
Did you take baby aspirin leading up to your FET or afterwards? People get advised to take it at different times which is confusing.
All my embryo transfers have been medicated and I have been wondering whether or not to try a natural modified FET. Did you do a medicated or natural FET on your successful embryo transfer? Xx
I didn't realise how long my post was! LolYou are more than welcome. I found reading on boards like this super useful when I was going through it myself.
I think it was gardenlady who said nothing for 2 days before and after. I think she would have been referring to the vaginal probiotics, I guess just not to flood the body and give the embryo space to implant. Can't be sure if she meant oral probiotics too. But as my lacto levels were really good after retest I didn't want to overdo it as I had read it is possible to have too much good bacteria and that's not good either.
After transfer I took oral probiotics 2-3 times a week. I'm not sure long for, probably at least a few months. I can't remember if I continued taking optibac during pregnancy, if I did I would have gradually reduced to maybe one a week.
After transfer I only used the vaginal probiotics if my ph level was less than 4.5 ph. I used just fitter ph strips (purple bottle). It was to monitor the good bacteria in essence. Gardenlady writes about it in her reddit post, she is a doctor who experienced recurrent implantation failures. I can't remember the technical part but yes it is along the lines of maintaining a good microbiome balance and the good bacteria needs optimal ph levels to thrive and not die.
I was able to retest with Fertilysis with my next period. But I did get the antibiotics fairly quick. I had to take 2 courses (doxycycline and metronidazole), one after another so it was 14 days. You also can't take vaginal or oral probiotics 7 days I think before the Fertylisis retest.
The retest cost is EUR 340, I just checked their website. It's a lot but still cheaper than the initial test. They have some women's day 10% off at the moment.
Fertilysis have a thrombophilia test, that's where I did mine, but as you say it's hard to know when to draw the line. I did it more so to rule out that being an issue with me. My thinking was would I regret it if my FET didn't work, and I didn't do the test. Which will be personal depending on your situation. As I was already sending off samples and taking time out for tests, I decided to do it. Plus the blood test is non invasive.
I took aspirin from the FET but in hindsight I don't think it was great for me.
I also did medicated FET on my successful transfer.
Message me if you need to xx
I had recurrent BV for a while & was treated several times with metrodonazole. It was only when my husband also took the metrodonazole that the BV fully went & did not return. My son is 7 months old via IVF x
Thanks for sharing your experience. We both need antibiotics for ureplasma - guidance suggests that only the woman needs treating for BV and not the male partner but I have wondered the same - makes sense that you could just keep re-infecting each other if the man is a "carrier" of BV. I can't even get the antibiotics for myself let alone my partner at the moment!! How did you go about getting antibiotics? Xx
I bought them online myself, it was a friend who actually suggested for us both to take them at the same time not a DR like you say because of just passing it back & forth and it worked ! This was 3 years ago now & touch wood I haven’t had any issues since x I took the 7 day course & he did the 1 day blast
Your partner only took 1 tablet for 1 day only?? I thought that my partner would need to go on the full course of antibiotics like me? Did he use anything else like cream or just antibiotic tablets?I have thought about trying to buy my antibiotics online although I can't be sure what I'm buying if its not from a reputable source... can you remember which website you got yours from?
I have had recurrent chemicals so I am hoping that getting this issue sorted out might help an embryo stick and stay around!!
I don't think I'd know if I got BV again after treatment as I didn't have any symptoms apart from on off pelvic pain xx
No, if you take the 1 day dose of metronidazole it’s super potent as it absorbs into the system really well. This was what he had x
I did have a chemical pregnancy prior to my IVF but I don’t think it was related at all. It was 3 months before I actually fell pregnant with IVF.
I either bought from Superdrug online or online pharmacy but you have to answer several questions and go through approval to get them so it is genuine I never bought without being approved online by a pharmacist x
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Ah I see, so he took 5 tablets together on one day. Thanks for replying, thats really helpful. Thats good to know, I think I will try getting some online like you did as I am not getting anywhere with my fertility clinic or GP! Did you get approval for your partners antibiotics too? I don't think its well known about men being treated too? Xx
I think I had some I hadn’t used & then I ordered again, so basically ordered for myself twice x
Just chiming in on this one as I was in the same situation.Our consultant prescribed me a course of metronidazole which was 6 tablets for me and prescribed my husband one dose. So it seems weird but one tablet is enough for the guys.
I think I misunderstood earlier, when you say your husband took 1 day dose of metronidazole, do you mean he took only 1 tablet as a one off? X
Yes his prescription was only for 1 tablet. And that was enough. The next day I asked if he had his tablet for the day and that's when he told me he only got one
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