Bacterial vaginal infections can affect chances of conception and maintaining pregnancy
Human bodies contain a large amount of bacteria, some good, some bad and most of the time they exist side by side in a state of balance.
The same is true for the vagina where the dominant good bacteria (lactobacilli) keep the bad bacteria in check. They primarily do this through keeping the vaginal pH low (around 4.0). Their food source is called glycogen which they need to produce lactic acid.
It is quite normal for this balance to be disturbed occasionally. In half of these cases you wouldn’t even realise it as there would be no symptoms. In the other half of cases you could experience any of/a mixture of: discharge, fishy odour, discomfort, itchiness.
The latter is however more common in thrush and a lot of women mistake the symptoms for thrush and buy the wrong product. Thrush is a yeast infection and its treatment will not help a bacterial imbalance.
Whilst this bacterial imbalance / infection is twice as common as thrush it is not as well known. Normally the body would resolve the issue by itself and in a day-to-day environment the symptoms could be a lifestyle issue and treatment is required.
It is very important to avoid a bacterial infection in pregnancy and when trying to conceive, even if there are no symptoms. The infection has been linked to early miscarriage and to preterm birth. Ongoing research continues to improve our understanding and further links have been suggested between the by-products that the bad bacteria produce and not achieving a pregnancy in a particular cycle.
These links are:
- A potential impact on the quality of the cervical mucus, whereby the mucus fails to respond to signals from the sex hormones at the time of ovulation. The mucus basically does not get the message that you are ovulating and remains like a plug so it won’t let sperm through.
- A potential to coagulate sperm so that it can’t get through the cervical mucus.
- A potential to prevent the development of the blastocyst after fertilisation took place. This then looks like an early miscarriage.
The problem is that treatment has traditionally focused on killing the bad bacteria when they are suspected or detected. You would be given antibiotics like metronidazole.
Studies show that bad bacteria build up by-products that can cause problems when they reach a certain level. Antibiotics won’t kill the by-products so the treatment may kill the bacteria but may be ineffective for the by-products that have already been built up.
The approach of the Zestica Conception Kit is to help your body to maintain its vaginal pH to keep bad bacteria from developing and from producing their by-products. It also provides the glycogen that your good bacteria need to do this.
Some studies show that up to 1 in 4 women trying to conceive will have the bacterial imbalance. Half of them would not even know it.
The product has no side effects so the aim of Zestica Conception Kit is to help prevent a number of issues that could be the reason why in that particular cycle no pregnancy was achieved.
When the cause of infertility is known then the product is unlikely to be the answer. In cases where the cause is unknown it may be a help for a number of couples.
Bacterial infections and gay couples.
It is a common misconception that bacterial infections are linked to heterosexual sex. Many recent initiatives focus on health information for lesbian and bisexual women. (1,2,3)
The occurence of bacterial imbalance/infection is several times the rate in a heterosexual population. Studies have shown an incidence of 25-52% in lesbians. (4) As a lot of these studies are done in STD clinics, a UK study looked at the incidence in a community setting. Lesbians have a 2.5 fold increased risk of BV versus heterosexuals. (5)
A lot of these would have no symptoms so they would be totally unaware. There would be no side effects and the body would recover.The problem is when these couples try to conceive. As explained above there could be issues with poor quality cervical mucus, sperm agglutination and/or early miscarriage.
Looking after a healthy vaginal flora before ovulation is therefore even more important in lesbian couples trying for a baby.
The Zestica Conception Kit focuses on achieving that balance and could help a number of couples for whom this has been the (unknown) problem.
Buy Zestica Conception Kit
1) Lesbians, bisexual women and safe sex.
www.avert.org/lesbians-safe-sex.htm
2) National Women’s Health Information Center
US Department of Health and Human Services, Office on Women’s Health
“Lesbian Health.”
3) “Barriers to Infectious Disease Care among Lesbians.”
Jeanne M. Marrazzo
Emerging Infectious Diseases, Vol10, No11, Nov 2004
4) “Risks for Acquisition of Bacterial Vaginosis among Women who report Sex with Women: a Cohort Study.”
Marrazzo JM, Thomas KK, Fiedler TL, Ringwood K, Fredricks DN
Plos One, 5(6):e1139.doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011139 2010
5) “Prevalence of bacterial vaginosis in lesbians and heterosexual women in a community setting.”
Evans AL, Scally AJ, Wellard SJ, Wilson JD
Sex.Transm.Infect., 2007 Oct;83(6):470-5