Mine were linked to stress and my cycle. When I'm really, really stressed, if I actually manage to have my period, I'll have a yeast infection, too. It's scary to be so stressed you skip, but spot with the infection. That was what terrified me to the point of using home remedies along w/ the diflucan b/c the diflucan didn't seem to be doing much. Another thing I've done and seen great results from is douching with 1c warm water and about a tablespoon of 3% hydrogen peroxide. Don't douche when you're healthy, it'll screw up your biological balance, but I did it before starting treatments, whether with garlic or monistat, to clean everything up and (at least in my mind) make the treatments more effective, because yeast is anaerobic, and the h202 will kill it pretty handily.