17 years old with extremely frequent yeast infections?

[lemonlegs]

I had never ever experienced yeast infections before February 2009. I, out of nowhere, got one and knew it was a yeast infection right away. I took Monistat 7 correctly and it cleared up wonderfully. However, I believe it came back about 2 months later. I waited a bit but it didn't subside so I took Monistat again. I've felt the symptoms a lot and have used Monistat 7 three times. It works for a couple of weeks and then returns.

I feel way too young to be experiencing this and since I have a serious boyfriend, it's really upsetting and embarassing. (We use condoms by the way).

What can I do? I just want this to stop for good.

[Vance2335]

See a Dr and get a proper diagnosis. It sounds like that it might not be a yeast infection.

[2terrified]

It is possible it isn't a yeast infection, but there are women out there that suffer from chronic yeast infections.  But the only way to tell is to go to your gynecologist to find out what the problem is.

[viens]

First, I am so sorry to hear about your frequent yeast infections.

I am 26 years old and I too had frequent yeast infections for a very long time.  Actually the infections were chronic for five years, starting at 15.  My whole story is probably way more information than you are looking for, so I'll cut to the chase.  I will say, though, that I tried everything.  I even went on a 6-month long-term diflucan therapy, where I had to have my liver enzymes checked every month.  The infections did go away while on anit-fungal medicines, but as soon as I would stop taking them, the infections would come back.

So after 5 years, I finally went to this amazing doctor.  He examined me and, of course at the time, I was not having any symptoms.  He sat me down in his office and ask me a variety of questions, such as: What kind of body soap do you use?  What kind of detergent do you use?  What kind of toilet paper?  What kind of condoms?  What kind of tampons/pads?

He told me at that appointment that he thought I was actually not even having yeast infections, but that I was *extremely* sensitive to a variety of chemicals, and that the symptoms I was having were actually reactions to these chemicals.  He suggested that I switch to hypoallergenic soap/detergent, only use toilet paper that does not have aloe or any kind of lotion on it, etc.

So I left his office in tears because I had seen at least 10 ob/gyns prior to him, and all of them had confirmed that I was actually having yeast infections.  (Apparently yeast infections are often misdiagnosed, and many other infections can mimic these.)  My mom convinced me to follow what he'd recommended.  So I did and I was yeast infection-free for a month.  

After that month, I was staying at a friend's house for the weekend and she used a fancy toilet paper that had aloe on it.  If you actually pay attention, you can tell by touching it, that it has some sort of lotion, etc.  Well, after only using the restroom a couple times, I had a 'yeast infection.'  I went back to the doctor after the weekend with a full-blown terrible infection.  After examination, he confirmed that I did in fact have a yeast infection.  But I did tell him that until I had used that toilet paper, i was symptom-free.  He seemed to be confused but said that the only thing he could come up with was that I was so sensitive to these products that they would cause my pH to get out of whack, and then I would have an overgrowth of yeast, hence the yeast infection.

For the past 5 years, I have tried to only used hypoallergenic products that touch my skin there and when doing so, I have remained yeast infection-free.  When I have used a 'bad' soap or oily toilet paper, I immediately get an infection and the only thing that gets rid of it is taking a prescription for diflucan, which is usually one pill.

Additionally, when I met the man who has become my husband (who is a surgeon and has never heard of anything like this!), about 4 years after seeing this doctor that changed my life, I started getting chronic infections again.  I asked him to start using the soap that I use, which sort of worked at first, but there was still something going on.  I eventually came to the conclusion that I had probably given him a 'yeast infection' (even though he obviously didn't have any symptoms for it), and he kept giving it back to me.  We each took a diflucan and refrained from having sex for a few days, until I was symptom-free.

That did the trick, and now 3 years later, I can happily say that I have not had a yeast infection since my husband and I first met.

Something I do want to say is that there is no way to tell if you are actually having a yeast infection unless a doctor actually looks at a sample under a microscope.  That being said, my hunch is that you probably are since you've been responding well to the creams.  My suggestion to you is that you switch the products that you're using and see if that has any effect, like it did on me.  I also want to tell you that over the years, I've discussed this with many friends, and friends of friends, and friends of relatives, etc., and it is amazing to me how many women have this problem.  I can say that since I have been 'diagnosed,' about 10 girls I have talked to have had this problem, and once they took my recommendation and stopped using the harsh products, they haven't had a problem.

One more thing, if this doesn't work, it might be that your boyfriend is now giving it back to you.  I'm not sure how open you are with him about these infections, but please keep that in mind.

The products that I have never had a problem with:
body soap- dove sensitive skin in a bar (i'm sure the liquid or any sensitive skin soap is fine)
detergent- dreft (i just do a load with all my underwear and my husbands boxers. I have not found it necessary to wash my clothes with this.  Dreft is comparable expensive.)
toilet paper- quilted northern ultra (it's very soft and has no added lotion or aloe)
condoms- i personally have not had experience (I was always on the pill), but I know they make sensitive skin condoms
I have used Astroglide and have never had a problem.

I hope this helps!  I feel for you.