Dear summerluver,

If you think you may have a yeast infection, it's important to get a diagnosis from a health care provider. Your provider will recommend a treatment.

Treatments for yeast infections include prescription and over-the-counter medications. Pills, taken orally, require a prescription. Several vaginal creams and suppositories are available without a prescription. Most of these are used for one to seven days. Treatment is successful more than 90 percent of the time.

There are vaginal infections besides yeast that share similar symptoms of itchiness, pain, and discharge. In fact, recent studies have found that many women misdiagnose their own vaginal yeast infections. If you use an over-the-counter treatment when you don't really have a yeast infection, you could be building a resistance to medication. That means the next time you have a real yeast infection, it may be much harder to get rid of! And — more importantly — the real problem is left ignored. That's why it's so important to be diagnosed by a health care provider.

Hope this information helps!

Take care,

teenwire.com^® Editors

This column is for informational purposes only and is not intended to constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. If you have a medical problem, please call toll-free 1-800-230-PLAN for an appointment with the Planned Parenthood health center nearest you.