What's the difference between Thrush and BV?

[xJinxx]

Hi all,

Been M.I.A for a while - real life taking over!!! I apologise if this thread is too graphic but I have a few questions.

When I was 15, I went to see my school nurse because I thought I had BV... I was sitting in my school assembly when I suddenly noticed the horrible "fishy" smell. She asked me about my symptoms and they were very similar to BV and she concluded that I had thrush, so we went off to the clinic to get me some stuff - I wasnt (and im still not) sexually active so swabs didn't have to be taken. Anyway, I was naive and how to use pessaries and creams wasnt explained to me from the doctor or the school nurse (I didnt have the heart to tell my Mum) and it ended up in me not using the pessary at all

Skip forward to me being 22 and still not treated whatever this problem is (I know, it's horrendous but I didn't and still don't really have any independence atm as i'm learning to drive) and I now can't tell if it's BV or Thrush. I'm aware that Metronidazole is meant to treat BV and i've been on it before but for something completely unrelated, so surely if I had BV that would have treated it as well? I've only noticed a slight fish smell twice, at random times since I was on the course of Metranidazole.

I saw the nurse recently as I had what I thought was a UTI, but nothing came up on my urine test and I was told to go back to the doctor if the symptoms re-occured. Anyway, the symptoms i'm getting at the moment is just the burning when I go to the loo and a tiny amount of white/off white discharge. I don't get itching around the vulva or anything... could this still be classed as Thrush?

Jinx

Edit - Forgot to mention that when i'm due on my period, it seems to burn as well

[snail]

Well, as always, the best person to ask would be a doctor, but both the conditions you've described are an imbalance in the flora (the bugs, the microbes) that live in the vagina. Thrush is when there is a overgrowth of the wrong type of fungal bugs, and BV when there is an overgrowth of the wrong type of bacteria. The symptoms of both are fairly similar. Neither is an infection that you catch like you catch a cold or measles, and unlike some infections it's not that they stay until they're treated - they come and go depending on your health and your activities. Metronidazole would only work while it was being taken, it wouldn't stop the problem from coming back. Think of it like having an upset stomach - upset stomachs come and go without treatment and some people are more prone to them than others. If you got an upset stomach very often, it would be a good idea to check if there's an underlying problem.

If you're having bad symptoms that are bothering you, see a nurse or doctor and get a swab, and they will give you a treatment for whatever the swab shows to be the issue. I don't know about BV, but thrush can cause burning when you urinate - I think the fungi colonise the bladder opening if they're around in high numbers. If your symptoms are mild, I would probably just keep a eye on them.

[xJinxx]

Hi Snail, thanks for the reply.


I do get a burn when I urinate and I also get a burn when i'm due on my period. It also worries me that if I did take something for Thrush I could then go on to get BV (I've heard there's a small chance you can get BV from treating Thrush)

[rufio89]

I agree with what Snail said. Get yourself to a doctor if you can - they see it all the time so it's not a problem.