[rhi]

Here's how it all started. I acquired strep throat twice in a span of two months. I took antibiotics for both cases, which after about a week of the meds I started to get an itch in my vaginal area. At first I thought it was nothing, until it got red, raw, and irritated. It even burned when I urinated. I took matters in my own hands and purchased Monistat 7. It seemed to work and got rid of the symptoms for a week or so, but the itch came back without discharge. I went to 3 different doctors. The first prescribed it as a UTI and gave me antibiotics. It worked for about a week but then came back. The second doctor said it was a UTI again and gave me different antibiotics, but they did not help at all. I went to a different doctor, a gyno this time, and at first she said she could not find anything wrong. I got a culture, Pap smear, and they took a urine sample. The gyno did not find yeast or discharge. Then the tests came back positive for a UTI AGAIN. She prescribed me the same antibiotics as the second doctor did. Nothing is helping. Yes, it is less irritated but it still itches. I've never had sex, I'm 17, 5'4, 115 pounds, with good hygiene and have not worn tight pants for about three months. I have a good diet and exercise regular. Cortizone anti-itch cream and cranberry juice/pills seem to help a little bit, but the problem is not going away. This has been going on for 3 months and I cannot handle this. Please anyone HELP?

[jns]

Streptococcus is what causes strep throat. Group B Streptococcus (look it up on wiki) can colonize the vagina and anus.

If antibiotics of the same type are used too soon, they have lessened effectiveness. In the USA, usually a 10 day regime of penicillin antibiotics is used for some bacterial infections (not necessarily this one). Not going long enough allows the surviving (strongest) bacteria to replicate and reinfect with a stronger infection. Whatever antibiotics are used, make sure to do a full regime and be sure it isn't something used in the last few years. Note I am not a doctor so this is not medical advice. Use this information to make sure your doctor is going about things correctly. Always inform your doctor of what antibiotics you used in the last few years.

[kira]

If I were having those symptoms I'd hit it with a couple different active ingredients of otc 1 day or 3 day yeast medications and see if it improved. Maybe not the ideal medical experiment but I've done it when doctors were useless. I've never been properly diagnosed with a yeast infection even when otc yeast treatment solved it. I've also been diagnosed with UTI when antibiotics never do anything and yeast treatments do. Monistat no longer works on me from 10 years of treating occasional stubborn yeast infections after antibiotic use or irritation from sex. I try to avoid antibiotics as much as possible because I always have problems for months after taking them. I've been using clotrimazole the past few years and about a year ago when my last yeast infection happened used 1 day tioconazole followed by 3 day clotrimazole. It eliminated the symptoms after being diagnosed with a UTI and given antibiotics which made things worse. I bought another 3 day clotrimazole since that seemed so useful but I haven't had to use it. I almost got stuck on antibiotics for a misdiagnosis of sores around my mouth. I refused to take treatment until it was tested. Further investigation determined it was fungal not bacterial and I opted to try vitamin supplements before medication. My immune system finally kicked in and got rid of it. I'm chronically low in b vitamins and have tachycardia (high heart rate) with low blood pressure without a mineral supplement. Dropped my heart beat from 120 to 85 just by taking a multivitamin/multimineral for 4 months straight. Harmless to try so long as you don't do what is called macrodosing. Excessively high levels of vitamin or mineral supplement for too long.

I think sometimes when you throw the bacteria population out of whack with antibiotics the minor undiagnosed yeast infections can suppress the recovery of the good bacteria that stop the stronger harmful bacteria from colonizing repeatedly. You have to treat both problems to get the good bacteria back again. A probiotic and prebiotic may also help, i.e. yogurt and acacia fiber, to push the growth of good bacteria. Also a pretty harmless thing to try.