COSMO'S GYNO Q&A SPECIAL.

We have all the answers to your most pressing private questions. From sexual snafus to carnal curiosities, the stressing stops here!

REPEAT YEAST

I get several yeast infections every year. What's happening?

You could just be harboring a resistant or particularly stubborn strain of yeast, says Miriam Zieman, M.D., assistant professor of gynecology and obstetrics at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta. "In other words, you may be suffering from the same infection whose symptoms ebb and flow. Over-the-counter creams might offer relief, but sometimes they can't knock out the infection completely."

The good news: You can easily put an end to the itchy vicious cycle. See your gyno; she can take a swab of your discharge and send it to the lab to make sure it really is yeast that's making you miserable. If so, she can prescribe either Terazol cream or suppositories--a superantifungal that wipes out both common and rare strains of yeast. You should also ask your man to get checked since you can pick up yeast from him when you have sex and then get it all over again if he's not treated. His doc can prescribe the anti-fungal pills Diflucan or Nizoral.

Being on long-term antibiotics--to treat acne, for example--can also cause recurring infections, so you may want to talk to your doctor about alternative treatments. If you get more than four yeast infections a year, you should have the pH of your vagina checked and be screened for diabetes, which leaves your vagina more vulnerable to yeast by making its pH less acidic. "Yeast flourishes in alkaline conditions," explains Lisa Masterson, an OB-GYN at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center Beverly Hills, California. If your pH tends to run high, a natural condition in some women, using a prescription Beta-dine douche once or twice a month can help make your vagina more acidic, a less-welcoming environment for yeast.

If your gyno doesn't find yeast? Then you probably have either bacterial vaginosis (By), a common vaginal infection, or trichomoniasis (trich), a curable STD caused by a parasite, since the symptoms of both are similar and often confused with those of a yeast infection. BV can be combated with prescription drugs such as metronidazole (in pill or suppository form) or Cleocin (a cream or pill); your gyno can prescribe metronidazole pills to treat trich.