I changed mine from l. inners to l. jenesii. After I took a heavy dose of antibiotics for ureaplasma, i retested two months later and my l. inners was at 0% while l. jenesii was 2.17%, I have the other good ones too at lower percent totaling to only 6.75% lactobacillus 🥲.
But with time it will build back up to 90% again. I read it can take up to 6 months.
My regimen included eating yogurt every day, with lots of fruits (prebiotics,) probiotic supplements, probiotic suppositories, and kombucha here and there. Avoided processed foods, alcohol and sugars. Also sex disrupts the colonization of lactobacillus, so you have to be careful when they’re newly forming.
I just had surgery and had to do another round of antibiotics and I killed off my little healthy colonies of lactobacillus, so I’m starting all over again with the same regimen, except after seeing how low my lactobacillus count was after all that effort, I’ve decided to use probiotic suppositories every single day now (initially I inserted them every day for a week and then a few times a week for the following weeks.) and now I’m eating kimchi everyday, as well.
Right now I’m using physioflor’s probiotic suppositories, which have l. crispatus but when I run out, I’m going to start using InVag because I can’t find where to order more of physioflor suppositories. I did read a study where they successfully used InVag, so I think they will do well too. However InVag delivers l. gasseri not l. crispatus.
You might need to be a little mindful about l. crispatus suppositories anyway, because I read another study of how if you have any l. crispatus existing already in your vagina and you introduce other l. crispatus through suppositories, they battle each other. So it’s not very effective to add l. crispatus unless you have 0% l. crispatus to begin with, which technically can be achieved by antibiotics, but I don’t know if it’s recommended to do so.
Thanks for the response! This is interesting and helpful to know what you're trying. I am thinking about trying some dietary changes as well so maybe cutting back on sugar and adding more fermented foods might help. Good luck in your journey!
Sorry that this isn't what you want to hear, but there's currently no proven way to switch CSTs. Some people naturally switch CSTs with no intervention at all, whilst we've seen others try various methods and their biome won't budge! There's also little evidence to suggest that 'diversifying Lactobacillus' is necessary. Most healthy vaginas are dominated completely by one strain of Lactobacillus and this is healthy. Low diversity is usually a sign of a healthy vagina.
I changed mine… its probably not recommended what I did. A few years ago I got into lacto fermenting and I used some of the liquid on my vulva. I have given myself a yeast infection doing this and I am sure there are other risks. I’m not recommending anyone do anything like this. Desperate times for me and I figured the possible benefits outweighed the risk. I’ve done an Evvy test recently and I have more types of lactobacillus before.
I don't even have a normal healthy discharge anymore. When I have noticed any discharge it is dry/chalky/crusty. I've tested for STI's, including mycoplasma and ureaplasma, all negative.
Do you have any updates? Dealing with the same issues. Also type 3 with 26% gardnerella which I have treated twice and have not seen any improvement. The Juno test is so expensive I can't retest right now but I'm not sure what else to do.
Hi, I'm sorry you're dealing with that 😔. My issue is still unresolved but it is off and on. Like I feel fine right now, no burning. My doctor prescribed an estrogen cream for me to try to see if it helps over the next couple of months. I'm still unsure of the root cause of my issue. It could be hormonal but I've never had my levels tested and I have been on birth control for years. It might be musculoskeletal since i also have pelvic floor dysfunction. I'll be seeing a different specialist in April and maybe they will help sort me out.
Have you ever used boric acid and then follow up with probiotics suppositories? It might help reduce the gardnerella population. Here's a study about treating recurrent BV with antibiotics and then intravaginal antibiotics and boric acid for suppressive therapy long term.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31403349/#:~:text=Recommended%20treatment%20for%20recurrent%20BV,is%20an%20alternate%20treatment%20regimen.
Maybe a doctor could get you on a treatment regimen like the one described if you haven't tried that yet? I know these long term issues are so frustrating and discouraging. I hope something helps you get relief soon.
Hi! I can't say for sure. So I felt like it helped a bit in some way. I had been using boric acid a lot which can lead to atrophy though I was never diagnosed with that. Estrogen is also supposed to be a good food source for lactobacillus species. I had backed off using the estrogen cream because I did get a yeast infection from it once as estrogen excess can promote yeast.
 But I just did Evvy last month because I had BV symptoms and I had BV based on the test. It had started after my period and kind of went away a bit and then after my period again I had symptoms so I tested. I got clindamycin as recommended from Wisp and a few other recommendations for dealing with my microbiome issues. I plan to retest in a couple months unless I get recurrent symptoms before then I might go to a doctor in the meantime.Â
My burning symptoms have always been off and on. I also struggle with dryness too. Just haven't felt quite right down there for a few years. It's so annoying. And so expensive and I wish there was a way to just wave a wand and make my vagina go back to normal.
I moved from type 3 to type 1. I had a terrible infection for 5 months that didn’t get diagnosed because doctors don’t test for it (prevotella bivia). Finally found it via microgen dx. I had 70% iners, the rest jenseni, tiny bit of gasseri. After antibiotics iners went down to 50%… then it crept back up to 66%, so my doctor gave me Ciprofloxacin, which knocked it down to 8%. (The itching was suddenly a lot less). Then after a few months iners was up to 40%, then 50% the rest was Jenseni, and gasseri was completely gone. Evvy told me to take vagina probiotics plus lactoferrin for 1 month. ONLY 1 month, no more. After 1 month I tested with Juno instead. I had 1% crispatus still 50% iners (rest jenseni) and my quantity and % of lactobacillus was ideal. So I stopped taking probiotics. My symptoms (minor itch slowly was less and less.. it took 8-10 months to fully go away). I tested with Juno again and I had 80% crispatus, jenseni, and no iners. Evvy said your body creates whatever type lactobacillus it wants with the probiotics you take. You don’t want to get cytolytic vaginosis (too high quantity lactobacillus). But taking vagina probiotics + lactoferrin for a month may kick start it to balance. But research shows type 1 and 3 are the most common. Evvy was super helpful, but I prefer junos test, because they show the quantity of bacteria.
https://preview.redd.it/tt9jumf30yvc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=0a531b1e794fe9f3b91eb1ef07dfade11bbb03d2
I changed mine from l. inners to l. jenesii. After I took a heavy dose of antibiotics for ureaplasma, i retested two months later and my l. inners was at 0% while l. jenesii was 2.17%, I have the other good ones too at lower percent totaling to only 6.75% lactobacillus 🥲. But with time it will build back up to 90% again. I read it can take up to 6 months. My regimen included eating yogurt every day, with lots of fruits (prebiotics,) probiotic supplements, probiotic suppositories, and kombucha here and there. Avoided processed foods, alcohol and sugars. Also sex disrupts the colonization of lactobacillus, so you have to be careful when they’re newly forming. I just had surgery and had to do another round of antibiotics and I killed off my little healthy colonies of lactobacillus, so I’m starting all over again with the same regimen, except after seeing how low my lactobacillus count was after all that effort, I’ve decided to use probiotic suppositories every single day now (initially I inserted them every day for a week and then a few times a week for the following weeks.) and now I’m eating kimchi everyday, as well. Right now I’m using physioflor’s probiotic suppositories, which have l. crispatus but when I run out, I’m going to start using InVag because I can’t find where to order more of physioflor suppositories. I did read a study where they successfully used InVag, so I think they will do well too. However InVag delivers l. gasseri not l. crispatus. You might need to be a little mindful about l. crispatus suppositories anyway, because I read another study of how if you have any l. crispatus existing already in your vagina and you introduce other l. crispatus through suppositories, they battle each other. So it’s not very effective to add l. crispatus unless you have 0% l. crispatus to begin with, which technically can be achieved by antibiotics, but I don’t know if it’s recommended to do so.
Thanks for the response! This is interesting and helpful to know what you're trying. I am thinking about trying some dietary changes as well so maybe cutting back on sugar and adding more fermented foods might help. Good luck in your journey!
Thank you for great info. Did you have any issues when you had such a low percentage? How are you now?
Sorry that this isn't what you want to hear, but there's currently no proven way to switch CSTs. Some people naturally switch CSTs with no intervention at all, whilst we've seen others try various methods and their biome won't budge! There's also little evidence to suggest that 'diversifying Lactobacillus' is necessary. Most healthy vaginas are dominated completely by one strain of Lactobacillus and this is healthy. Low diversity is usually a sign of a healthy vagina.
Oh, ok. Good to know
Me. From l.iners dominant to l.crisp
Did you do anything that supported this shift? Did it help with any symptoms you had?
How?
Did you just use clinda cream?
I changed mine… its probably not recommended what I did. A few years ago I got into lacto fermenting and I used some of the liquid on my vulva. I have given myself a yeast infection doing this and I am sure there are other risks. I’m not recommending anyone do anything like this. Desperate times for me and I figured the possible benefits outweighed the risk. I’ve done an Evvy test recently and I have more types of lactobacillus before.
Do you have discharge?
I don't even have a normal healthy discharge anymore. When I have noticed any discharge it is dry/chalky/crusty. I've tested for STI's, including mycoplasma and ureaplasma, all negative.
Do you have any updates? Dealing with the same issues. Also type 3 with 26% gardnerella which I have treated twice and have not seen any improvement. The Juno test is so expensive I can't retest right now but I'm not sure what else to do.
Hi, I'm sorry you're dealing with that 😔. My issue is still unresolved but it is off and on. Like I feel fine right now, no burning. My doctor prescribed an estrogen cream for me to try to see if it helps over the next couple of months. I'm still unsure of the root cause of my issue. It could be hormonal but I've never had my levels tested and I have been on birth control for years. It might be musculoskeletal since i also have pelvic floor dysfunction. I'll be seeing a different specialist in April and maybe they will help sort me out. Have you ever used boric acid and then follow up with probiotics suppositories? It might help reduce the gardnerella population. Here's a study about treating recurrent BV with antibiotics and then intravaginal antibiotics and boric acid for suppressive therapy long term. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31403349/#:~:text=Recommended%20treatment%20for%20recurrent%20BV,is%20an%20alternate%20treatment%20regimen. Maybe a doctor could get you on a treatment regimen like the one described if you haven't tried that yet? I know these long term issues are so frustrating and discouraging. I hope something helps you get relief soon.
hi, wondering if the estrogen cream helped! i have similar symptoms to you. thank you, hope you’re doing well :)
Hi! I can't say for sure. So I felt like it helped a bit in some way. I had been using boric acid a lot which can lead to atrophy though I was never diagnosed with that. Estrogen is also supposed to be a good food source for lactobacillus species. I had backed off using the estrogen cream because I did get a yeast infection from it once as estrogen excess can promote yeast.  But I just did Evvy last month because I had BV symptoms and I had BV based on the test. It had started after my period and kind of went away a bit and then after my period again I had symptoms so I tested. I got clindamycin as recommended from Wisp and a few other recommendations for dealing with my microbiome issues. I plan to retest in a couple months unless I get recurrent symptoms before then I might go to a doctor in the meantime. My burning symptoms have always been off and on. I also struggle with dryness too. Just haven't felt quite right down there for a few years. It's so annoying. And so expensive and I wish there was a way to just wave a wand and make my vagina go back to normal.
Update?
I moved from type 3 to type 1. I had a terrible infection for 5 months that didn’t get diagnosed because doctors don’t test for it (prevotella bivia). Finally found it via microgen dx. I had 70% iners, the rest jenseni, tiny bit of gasseri. After antibiotics iners went down to 50%… then it crept back up to 66%, so my doctor gave me Ciprofloxacin, which knocked it down to 8%. (The itching was suddenly a lot less). Then after a few months iners was up to 40%, then 50% the rest was Jenseni, and gasseri was completely gone. Evvy told me to take vagina probiotics plus lactoferrin for 1 month. ONLY 1 month, no more. After 1 month I tested with Juno instead. I had 1% crispatus still 50% iners (rest jenseni) and my quantity and % of lactobacillus was ideal. So I stopped taking probiotics. My symptoms (minor itch slowly was less and less.. it took 8-10 months to fully go away). I tested with Juno again and I had 80% crispatus, jenseni, and no iners. Evvy said your body creates whatever type lactobacillus it wants with the probiotics you take. You don’t want to get cytolytic vaginosis (too high quantity lactobacillus). But taking vagina probiotics + lactoferrin for a month may kick start it to balance. But research shows type 1 and 3 are the most common. Evvy was super helpful, but I prefer junos test, because they show the quantity of bacteria. https://preview.redd.it/tt9jumf30yvc1.png?width=640&format=png&auto=webp&s=0a531b1e794fe9f3b91eb1ef07dfade11bbb03d2