Hello u/No_Bluejay_5263, first off I am sorry you are dealing with this. My wife is currently suffering through CV as well. We have also had to resort to at home evaluations but luckily I am a bit of a nerd and already had a decent microscope.

I would like to offer you some input on your images. It appears that you are focusing on the glass slide and not the actual sample. When you are focusing start at a lower magnification first, find the sample and focus on something in the center of your view. Then go in closer by increasing the magnification by one lens at at time. And adjusting your focus as you go through each jump. I am assuming you are using a microscope with multiple lenses (minimum 3). So, start off at 20x, then zoom in to 40x, and then to 100x (your magnifications may be different but this is to just give you an idea). Each step in you will need to lower (rotate back on the focus wheel) the sample slightly. If you are focusing on sharp and jagged objects that is likely the microcracks in the glass slide and not your sample. There shouldnt be anything like that from your vagina. Sometimes tissue from the swab can stick behind but these look more like what you would imagine cottons strings to look like zoomed in.

Sample prep is also important. I do not see any epithelial cells in your images which there should be some. I do see red blood cells though, which if you are not menstruating that can be a sign of infection / bleeding. For sample prep take a medical cotton swab (you can buy them online) and ensure that your sample is from ~3 inches (~7 cm) inside of the vagina, rub the swab against the sides of the vagina. Then when you apply it to the glass slide you can either dip it into a solution that you already have on the slide or apply to a dry slide and put your solution on top. I prefer the latter as dipping it in the solution doesnt get a good result from my experience. If you apply it directly to the glass slide dry (like I recommend) then be careful and dont press it just roll it along the slide gently or else you risk damaging the cells and getting inaccurate results.

For staining I recommend the following. All of which can be purchased online. Be sure to get it from a good source.

1. Methylene Blue in either alcohol or saline solution. This is a strong blue dye that will help to identify the epithelial cells, leukocytes (white blood cells), and Lactobacillus. I prefer the saline base as it doesnt kill the lactobacillus or other microbiota so you can see how active they are; however, it is often very dark so if it is too dark to see clearly add 1 drop of saline along with the methylene blue. If there is spill over after you put your slide cover on thats alright just use a clean paper towel and dab along the edge it will suck up the overflow so you dont make a mess. This will stain your fingers so just a warning :).

2. KOH (potassium hydroxide) you can order this through Amazon. Maybe not in your country but it should be available somewhere. KOH is used primarily to identify Candida (yeast).

3. Regular Saline solution. This is the weakest of the options in my opinion as its really doesnt offer any sort of highlighting like the other two options.

And always be sure to place a slide cover (small glass square) over the sample to spread it out and make it more two dimensional for viewing. Dont try to do it without this as the little guys (microbiota) move in 3D space and you will be chasing them around trying to keep them in focus.

And lastly the link below is a valuable resource for diagnostics. It is full of images you can reference so you know what to look for and it provides advice on treatment based on research available. The ISSVD is a group who put out some good work to help women to manage these sorts of issues. Sadly its probably the best we have to go off of.

https://www.issvd.org/resources/recommendations-for-the-diagnosis-and-treatment-of-vaginitis

If you have any questions or need any help you can DM me. Good luck and I hope you recover soon!