I just read your post and wanted to reply because I feel your pain. I had the mirena for roughly 4 months and during that time I began to notice some of the symptoms that you describe having. My doctor told me that I had a bacterial infection, this is what is causing the odor and encouraged me to continue using the IUD. I would use the treatment for the infection and it would 'seem' to clear up but whenever I had sex or worked out, I noticed that bad smell again. This is so hard for me because I am a very clean person, as I am sure you are, and I pride myself on looking and smelling good. After the 3rd or 4th time seeing my doctor for this, I told her to remove it and I opted for a tubal.
My doctor says NEVER douche, especially if you have an infection. There is an over the counter product called RePhresh that is for the bacterial infections. However, I never thought they worked that great. I still to this day (7 or 8 months since having the Mirena out and my tubes tied) struggle with this smell, using the treatments and still feeling like it's never going to go away. I still notice this faint, almost rotting smell when I work out and wonder who else may be smelling this, and sometimes after sex. I am going to ask my doctor for the gel insert treatment AND a dose of the pills to see if double duty may do the trick.
Hang in there.. you're not alone! If you find something that works, please post.
I am in need of some advice on what this could be. It's the holiday season and I cant see the doctor for a week. For a few weeks now I have had brown vaginal discharge that appeared after I douched and has not went away. A few days later the discharge had a foul smell and there was some itching involved. I thought it was a yeast infection, so I bought an over-the-counter kit, and that calmed the itching, but the discharge and smell has remained. I'm not sure if this is a bad yeast infection or bacterial vaginosis. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
I am having that problem right now and rephesh may help for a few days but I don't want to depend on something like this to be rid of this problem. When this happened to me the first time, I went to the doctor to find out I had an STD(trichomonasis) and was given an antiboitic for it.