question on garlic and strep-b

[MommyChani]

B"H

hi! i'm due any day G-d willing and tested positive for strep b twice, I took antibiotics and still tested positive. I really really don't want antibiotics during labor so I'm trying to focus on natural remedies. I read in past threads on the subject that inserting a garlic clove in the vagina helps. My question is does it lessen the gbs temporarily or for an extended period of time?

i've been taking acidophilus for the past few weeks and have increased vitamin c to 1000mg a day. any other suggestions are welcome...

[mom2owen1]

here are some links i bookmarked while doing research on the subject....

http://www.unhinderedliving.com/bstrep.html
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbsAlt.html
http://www.gentlebirth.org/archives/gbs.html

i think it is easier to do garlic capsules, that way nothing has to be removed. i was told it was important to get some that are not 'odorless'. i was advised to do 7 days of garlic vaginal suppository followed by 7 days of acidopholis vaginal suppository. the garlic will kill all bacteria and the probiotic will replace good bacteria. i don't know how long this lasts for though.

i would think if you are due anyday, the best you can do is start the treatment now. you will probably go into labor before the round is up.

so you will be tested when in labor too? interesting that you have been tested and treated prior to labor. the way it works around here is that you are tested around 37 weeks. if you are positive you are given 2 rounds of IV antibiotics once in labor. there is no retesting. for those that have managed to get retested, even if the retest is negative you will still receive the abx. if you refuse the test or the abx, baby will not be discharged prior to 48 hours and will be tested by blood.

you can probably take way more vitamin c then 1000 mg. each person is different and vit c can be taken to bowel tolerance. any excess the body doesn't need will be exrected in urine. when ill, i have taken as much as 7000mg per day with no bowel effects.

hth!

[scheelimama]

Do you have an open-minded midwife? You must, since a dr. wouldn't even think of letting you not have antibiotics. Even with garlic treatments, do not let anyone rupture your water at ANY point, as that will increase the chance of infection.

I was GBS+ during both pregnancies and the antibiotics I had during my first labor nearly killed breastfeeding for me. I got systemic yeast and never really recovered. I was determined the second time not to have antibiotics. Like you, I took probiotics and garlic prior to the testing but still came back +. I told my mw I did not want antibiotics and she agreed as long as my water was not broke for more than 4 hours and as long as I tried alternative healing measures. I got lucky, about a week before my due date I decided I would use garlic cloves internally overnight. After two nights, and I feel very strongly that they made a big difference, I went into labor. My water did not break until dd was crowning. And of course, I kept a closer eye on her since I had no antibiotic treatment. But, I did much research and I finally settled on the fact that treated with antibiotics or not, the same number of babies will die from the disease. So, I did not feel I was taking a huge risk. The reason for this, is that if you are treated, the babies that do get sick have a much higher risk of dying since the disease they have is immune to the regular antibiotics. More babies are likely to get sick without antibiotic treatment (though the difference was not significant), but more of them recover easily. Make sense? I think you are on the right road. My mw did warn me of taking too much Vit. C during pregnancy. I think I was taking around 5000 mg per day during a cold and I don't remember why, but she said no more than 2000 mg per day and only for a short time at such high doses. Garlic cloves work great and are easy to remove. You can take as much as 6 probiotic pills per day and you can also take up to 6 grapefruit seed extract pills per day to up your immunity. Good luck!

[MommyChani]

B"H

Thanks so much! My midwife said she'd back me regarding the antibiotics, she said I can simply not bring my strep test results and that'll be that. But of course I do want to make sure everything is ok. How did you put the cloves in, just like that or enclothed in something?

[scheelimama]

My mw suggested soaking some gauze in olive oil and wrapping the garlic clove in that. However, I just found that to be messy and actually quite uncomfortable. So, in the end, I just put a plain garlic clove in and took it out in the morning. It works for yeast infections too. Just be careful not to knick the garlic clove. You only need one of the small cloves from the whole garlic. It will burn though if it is cut at all.