24 Mar 09 DIAPHRAGMS: IF YOU ARE CONSIDERING USING A DIAPHRAGM
• Women who use diaphragms have a greater risk of getting cystitis or bladder irritation than women who use other methods of contraception. One reason for this may be that the rim of the diaphragm is pressing on the outlet tube from the bladder. The diaphragm can also hold secretions and bacteria in the vagina for longer than usual and this can be the cause of infection.
• Some women don’t like having to touch their genitals, that is their labia and vagina, to insert a diaphragm, and for some women it is not culturally acceptable. If you are not comfortable about touching your genitals the diaphragm may not be the right choice for you. It is important that you feel comfortable so that you can insert it properly without feeling so concerned that it stops you from enjoying sex.
• If the diaphragm moves out of place while you are having sex, or if after sex you find that it has a little tear or a hole in it, you may want to use emergency contraception. If you think you would want to use emergency contraception if this happened to you, find out where you can get it so you will know where to go if you need to. Read the section on emergency contraception for more information. You must take emergency contraception within 72 hours of having sex for it to work.
• It’s important to have your diaphragm with you when you’re going to have sex. You will need to remember to pack it if you go on holidays. You will need to carry it with you, or insert it beforehand, if you think there’s any chance you may have sex when you’re not at home.
• Other people make inserting their diaphragm a natural and sensuous part of having sex.
• If you absolutely do not want a pregnancy at this time, then the diaphragm is probably not the right choice for you now.
• If you feel, after taking everything into account, that a diaphragm is the only choice for you, think seriously about what you would want to do if you got pregnant, so that you are prepared in case it happens.
• Oil-based products should not be used with diaphragms because they may damage the latex rubber. Products that are oil based include baby oil, hand Cream, petroleum jelly or Vaseline, massage oil, and any anti-fungal creams or pessaries that you may be prescribed if you have thrush. Some spermicides are oil based, so you should read the label to check. Things that are acidic, like Aci-jel, can also damage latex.
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Tags: Women’s Health
24 Mar 09 MEN IN BED: INSTANT POTENCY
New injection therapy. Men have described it as miraculous. After years of living with impotence they are amazed to find that a single injection can restore their potency in an instant.
Penile injections are the latest treatment for impotence and if they are used correctly they can achieve immediate and spectacular success. All a man need do is inject himself and seconds later he will have a full erection which should last about thirty minutes.
With such rapid results it’s easy to understand how enthusiasm for these injections has grown. But now there is concern in the medical community that this enthusiasm has overreached itself and that the injections, which contain a cocktail of chemicals including a synthetic hormone, are being abused. It is claimed some clinics are using the injections indiscriminately. They are giving the injections for long-term use to men who don’t really need them and who may ultimately be harmed rather than helped by them. Penile injections carry a significant risk of complications which increases with long-term use — complications which can, paradoxically, lead to impotence.
There are basically two types of impotence — organic and psychological. Organic impotence results from physical problems such as nerve damage, diabetes or impaired blood flow into the penis. Psychological impotence is the result of an emotional block or difficulty. Some men have a bit of both.
Men with organic impotence have less to lose if they use the injections. If they develop a complication, they stop the treatment and revert to being impotent. Apart from some cell damage, they have lost nothing. Injections can be an excellent treatment for men suffering from organic impotence but should not be regarded as a long-term treatment for other sexual problems.
However, men with psychological impotence run a sizeable risk. They are physically healthy to start with, and if they develop cell damage, they may end up with actual physical impotence. The same is true if long-term injection therapy is used to treat men suffering other problems, like low libido or premature ejaculation.
Sometimes it is reasonable to use injections initially to lock-start’ the recovery of men with conditions like premature ejaculation and psychological impotence, but these must be used as an adjunct to other therapies. The injections are useful because they can show a man what is possible and help rebuild his confidence. But they aren’t a panacea for male sexual dysfunction.
They are effective in specific selected cases but men who use them need to be constantly monitored to ensure they are not developing complications. Although injections do achieve good results they are invasive: they put a little hole in the penis and there is a risk of infection and scarring. Further, they have only been in use for around ten years and no one knows what the consequences of long-term use will be. There is concern that these injections are being given too freely, without proper evaluation. They should never be prescribed for long-term use without a full history and thorough physical examination.
The rate of complications varies with the type of drug. One complication, known as priapism (inappropriately persistent erections), may occur in up to 15 per cent of men and is usually most troublesome in the early days when doctors are trying to determine the correct dose. Painful fibrotic nodules have also been reported to occur in high numbers of patients. They are related to the frequency of injections and the length of time the men have been giving themselves the injections. In more severe cases these nodules can lead to a bent or curved penis which often cannot be treated.
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Tags: Women’s Health
24 Mar 09 THE FEMALE CONDOM: QUESTIONS
Q. Can you use a female condom and a male condom at the same time to make extra sure you don’t get pregnant?
A. No, you should not use female condoms and male condoms together because the friction is likely to make them tear, and at least one or both of them could move out of place.
Q. Can you use extra lubricant like baby oil or Vaseline with female condoms?
A. Yes it is actually good to use extra lubricant and because the female condom is made of a type of plastic, and not latex like the male condom, it is fine to use an oil-based lubricant if you want to.
Q. When I have sex the female condom keeps bunching up and getting pushed inside my vagina. What can I do? A. If that happens, put in more lubricant.
Things to think about if you are considering the female condom
• If you have a vaginal or pelvic infection you should get it treated before you use a female condom.
• You will need to feel comfortable about touching your genitals to use a female condom.
• You can use each female condom only once and then you have to throw it away.
• Female condoms are more expensive than male condoms.
• It takes a little while to get comfortable inserting the female condom. It may take a few attempts to get it in the right position, but it is very easy to insert once you get used to it.
• It can also take a little while to get used to the feel and sometimes the sound it makes during sex, which can be like a rustling noise but after a while you probably won’t notice it at all.
• Not all chemists stock the female condom, and they are not available at supermarkets yet. If you cannot buy them from a store near you, you may need to plan ahead, and send away to FPA Health for a supply.
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Tags: Women’s Health
24 Mar 09 MEN IN BED: INTIMATE ALLERGIES
Women who are allergic to sperm. Some women are allergic to their husbands. They may love and desire them, but when it comes to sexual intercourse, they have an allergic reaction. These women are physically allergic to semen. They cannot touch it without reacting. As soon as any part of their body comes into contact with it, they have an allergic response.
At the mild end of the reaction scale, they may experience swelling and itching only in the area of contact. If they are allergy prone, their reaction may become more generalized and they can break out in hives all over or have an asthma attack. In extreme cases, semen can send women into shock. Minutes after contact they feel faint, their blood pressure falls, and they collapse. If they lose consciousness, they usually recover spontaneously. If they don’t, they need emergency treatment. Fortunately no fatalities have yet been reported.
Just as people who are highly allergic to bees carry medication with them in case of a sting, so women who are highly allergic to semen need to keep medication at hand in case of accidental exposure.
One 25-year-old woman experienced vaginal burning and stinging within five minutes of her husband’s ejaculation, symptoms which would last up to an hour. Using her husband’s fresh semen, doctor’s did skin tests on her and quickly produced an allergic response. She developed weals.
Although rare, this problem has been seen in Australia. Several such cases have been reported in the past decade. Some women are allergic to any semen and others are allergic only to a specific man’s semen. There has been one report of a woman who was not only allergic to her husband’s semen, but to his sweat, too. Further testing showed she also had a reaction to her sons’ sweat.
It is unlikely that a woman will grow out of this. Like any other allergy her reaction would probably escalate at first and then remain fairly constant. Although the reaction can be delayed, it usually occurs within five to ten minutes. Even if the exposure to semen is only vaginal, within minutes a woman who has a history of hayfever or asthma can begin wheezing, sneezing or feeling her throat swelling.
Oral sex can be particularly dangerous for such women, as exposure to semen can cause massive swelling in the throat and block off the airways.
The standard way of overcoming a semen allergy is for couples to use condoms. This solution, however, doesn’t suit everyone. Some men suffer from ‘condom impotence’. Without a sheath they are perfectly potent, but the minute one is unrolled they falter. Such impotence has been attributed to performance anxiety or fear of loss of sensation. It is also said to result from the break in stimulation necessary to fit a condom. There are also men who are allergic to latex or to the lubricant used on the condoms. They have to experiment with different brands to find one suitable.
Women can be allergic to condoms, too. Some women have been known to suffer ‘consort dermatitis’: they have allergies to both condoms and semen. Such women could try being desensitised to their husbands’ semen. This can be done with regular injections of semen extract, although this treatment is not 100 per cent successful. Taking antihistamine tablets before intercourse or using a vaginal medication can also help reduce allergy. Others have tried reintroducing contact after long periods of abstinence, but this can be dicey. As a Royal Society of Medicine report says, ‘avoiding contact with semen for prolonged intervals by sexual abstinence or condom usage has lessened the degree of symptoms in some patients but has allowed progression to anaphylaxis (shock) in others’.
So how do couples with this allergy problem have children? One method is to wash the sperm free of the seminal fluid and then place it in the woman’s uterus. Another method involves collecting the woman’s eggs, fertilizing them invitro and then implanting them.
Although women can be physically allergic to their husbands, it seems men can always tolerate their wives. No one has reported anything to the contrary, yet!
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Tags: Women’s Health
24 Mar 09 THE MALE CONDOM:
How do condoms work? A condom forms a barrier that stops sperm getting into the woman’s body. That is why it is called a barrier method of contraception. When a man ejaculates or comes, the semen, that is the fluid that contains sperm, comes out of the penis into the tip of the condom and collects there. Because it doesn’t go into the woman’s body, the sperm cannot join with an egg to start a pregnancy. There is also much less chance of passing on a sexually transmitted infection (STI).
How effective are condoms? Condoms are about 90 percent effective. That means that if the partners of 100 women used condoms as their method of contraception for a year, about 10 of those women would become pregnant. People sometimes say they use condoms as their method of contraception, but what they don’t say is that they do not use a condom every time they have sex. The effectiveness rate is obviously higher for condoms if you actually use one every time you have sex, and you put it on before you have any penis-in-vagina sex. It is also higher if you use condoms correctly every time, taking care when you put it on and take it off, and using a water-based lubricant because this reduces the risk of the condom breaking. You should only use each condom once and then throw it away, otherwise there’s a much greater risk of pregnancy.
Why would I want to choose condoms?
Condoms not only reduce the risk of pregnancy, they are the only method of contraception that can also protect you against sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including HIV/AIDS. You may want to use condoms if you have a new sexual partner, or more than one sexual partner, or if your partner has sex with other people. Condoms may be a good choice if you don’t have sex regularly so you don’t want to use something that affects your body all the time.
There is no legal age limit for using condoms. And there is no need to see a doctor to get them. They are not expensive and there are no serious medical side effects to using condoms.
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Tags: Women’s Health
17 Mar 09 OUR SEXUAL JOURNEY AS OLDER ADULTS: EMOTIONAL CHANGES. SOCIAL PRESSURES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Emotional Changes during Older Adulthood
The factors that contribute to a general feeling of sexual well being differ for women and men. Women find satisfaction in being sexually attractive and becoming intimate with their partners. Men take pride in their sexual performance and their attractiveness to their partners, but they may be less interested in intimacy.
As women and men age, however, the need for intimacy grows, especially among men. In the later years of life, we may find new and deeper dimensions of intimacy in our relationships. Although sexual intercourse may become less frequent, our interest and pleasure in other sexually intimate activities may increase. These activities can include caressing, embracing, and kissing. Nonsexual, intimate relationships can also provide affection, closeness, intellectual stimulation, and opportunities for socializing.
Social Pressures and Responsibilities during Older Adulthood
Each stage of our sexual journey is affected by the double standards society holds regarding our sexuality. These double standards can have a powerful impact on older adults who are profoundly affected by many other losses—loss of friends through death and illness, loss of physical and financial independence, loss of contact with family, as well as declining health.
It is commonly believed that feelings and behaviors that are acceptable for young or midlife people become inappropriate for older adults, especially those in the care of others. Attitudes about masturbation form a good example. Many people who believe that it is acceptable for a 25-year-old man to masturbate also believe that it is “dirty” for a 70-year-old man to masturbate.
Double standards about gender may also prevail. Many believe, for example, that it is acceptable for an older man to have a younger wife, but they question the marriage of an older woman with a younger man.
Our double standard also holds that as women age they become unattractive, but as men age they become “distinguished.” These double standards can become particularly isolating and painful in our older years when we may be preoccupied with a variety of financial and health issues that may make us less resilient.
As we age, however, the gender role differences between women and men begin to lessen at both the psychological and the social levels. The expectations of gender behavior a society holds are more pronounced in young adulthood. As older adults, we become free to move away from stereotypical behavior. Women may focus less on the relationship aspect of sexuality, and men may move away from concentrating on genital sex. There also might be a shift in power in marital relations.
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Tags: Men’s Health
17 Mar 09 KEGEL EXERCISES FOR STRONGER ORGASM AND STRESS INCONTINENCE
Kegel exercises are done by tightening and relaxing the muscles used to stop urination. Strengthening these muscles can prevent and improve urinary incontinence, improve sexual sensations, and aid recovery from childbirth. Because they are internal muscle exercises, Kegel exercises can be done anywhere, anytime. Do at least five in a row several times a day:
1. Tighten muscles a little and hold for five seconds.
2. Tighten a little more and hold for five seconds more.
3. Tighten as much as possible and hold for five seconds more.
4. Relax the muscles in reverse steps, holding five seconds at each step.
To benefit from Kegel exercises, you must isolate the correct muscles. For women to be sure they are isolating the correct muscles, they may insert two fingers into the vagina the first time they try the exercise. They should be able to feel pressure around their fingers when they squeeze the correct muscles. Once the correct muscles have been located, it is unnecessary to insert the fingers to do the exercise.
Men who do Kegels must be sure to constrict the urethra as well as the anal sphincter.
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Tags: Men’s Health
17 Mar 09 SOCIAL PRESSURES AND RESPONSIBILITIES DURING YOUNG ADULTHOOD.
COHABITATION
Some people in relationships do not get married before they live together. Living together unmarried while in a sexual relationship is sometimes called cohabitation. Some people do this because they are not ready to commit to legal marriage. Others may never want to marry. Some people may have been married before and do not want to get married again.
Lesbian women and gay men cannot get married legally. They often share the same desires and reasons all women and men have to live with someone—to gain intimacy, companionship, and security and to live more economically.
Our views of cohabitation are shaped by our moral values and our religious and cultural beliefs. Not everyone approves of couples living together outside of marriage. Many religions do not allow for sexual intercourse before marriage, which may make cohabitation unacceptable. Deciding to live together is a decision that we make with our partners for ourselves based upon our own values and priorities.
Living together is an important commitment that couples make to one another. Like marriage, it requires good communication skills and a commitment to negotiate and compromise. It is important for both people to be clear about the goals and expectations they bring to the relationship.
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Tags: Men’s Health
17 Mar 09 ALL ABOUT SEX: SEXUAL DIVERSITY DURING ADOLESCENCE
Many teenagers struggle to understand their sexual identities. We wonder if certain things about us mean that we are women or men, straight, gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. We may not want to have sex with anyone, or we may like hanging out only with people of the same sex. We may have crushes on or fall in love with people of the same sex.
Exploring our sexual identities and orientation during our teen years can be a scary experience. Our society pressures us to be heterosexual—to be feminine women and masculine men. As young people, we are well aware of society’s negative attitudes toward homosexuality. We learn to use words like “fag,” “fern,” and “queer” on the playground to hurt other kids. We hear negative things about lesbian, gay, and bisexual people in many of our families. We may be reprimanded for dressing too feminine or masculine.
Some of us are called “tomboys.” Others are called “sissies.” Some people are aware of their sexual identities and orientation from childhood. Others become aware of it later in life. As they come to know their sexual identities and orientation, each youth has to make his or her own decision about coming out to family and friends. Coming out is the process of acknowledging, first to ourselves and then to others, that we are lesbian or gay, bisexual, or transgender. There may be great risks involved. We may alienate parents upon whom we are dependent for our daily needs. Coming out at school can be frightening when the approval of our peers and school officials is so very important.
Accepting ourselves as different from society’s sexual norms can be very difficult in American culture. Our society fears homosexuality and people whose identities are not clearly feminine or masculine. We are very likely to internalize our society’s negative views, and that can make us feel guilty and afraid of our sexual feelings.
These fears and uncertainties can lead to depression and confusion. Feeling isolated, alone, and hated might make us think about suicide. Nearly 30 percent of all teen suicides are committed by lesbian and gay youth. Lesbian and gay youth and those who are perceived to be are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens and six times more likely to think about suicide.
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Tags: Men’s Health
17 Mar 09 ALL ABOUT SEX: PHYSICAL AND EMOTIONAL CHANGES DURING ADOLESCENCE
Adolescence is the transition from childhood to adulthood that includes dramatic developments in mental, physical, and social growth. It extends from the time we are about nine or 10 years old to our late teens. For some people, adolescence may last into their early 20s. Adolescence is a time of change, of pride, self-consciousness, and uncertainty. We do not feel like children or adults, and we are often treated as neither. We wonder about what is going on with our bodies and feelings, and we worry that these changes are noticed by our peers. We also wonder about just how normal we are.
The physical changes of adolescence are probably the most startling and obvious part of growing up. The rapid changes of our bodies, the growing importance of peers, and the sexual development of our lives can all contribute to confusion and stress. The physical changes associated with early or late onset of puberty can be particularly embarrassing. As adolescents, some of us experience weight problems or have severe acne. Whether short or tall, fat or thin, we have an increased self-consciousness about our bodies. We are very aware of our peers and are constantly comparing our stages of development with theirs.
We become very concerned with our appearance. Wearing the right or wrong clothes to school can determine whether we have a good or bad day. Not looking “right” can put barriers in the way of being accepted by our peers. Worrying about being cool or popular is a serious concern for us. We may need a lot of help to bridge the gap of feeling unwanted or disliked.
Feeling unwanted or disliked is quite common. As adolescents, we often have doubts about ourselves. We often don’t like ourselves very much. We need a lot of love, affection, and reassurance from our parents. It is really vital. But at the same time that we want our parents to share in what we are feeling from our peers and our own emotional turmoil, our parents become faced with the fact that their children have become sexual people! It can be hard to handle. We all have to be very patient with one another.
As sexual people, we have become more concerned, or even anxious, about masturbation and our erotic desires, dreams, and thoughts. Many of us may hear about sexual intercourse for the first time, and we may not be too happy about what we hear. We might be shocked or unbelieving that sex really happens like that! We may feel safer in the company of people of our own gender. That’s one of the reasons that adolescents often split into homosocial groups, in which girls make friends only with girls and boys make friends only with boys.
As adolescents, we have important emotional and educational needs. We want to know everything we can about relationships. Communication skills are critical. We need to talk about our feelings of confusion. We need our questions answered. We need open lines of communication. We need to learn these skills in order to make decisions and resolve conflicts. Decision making becomes increasingly complicated as we mature. Should I have sex? Should I drink alcohol? What kind of birth control should I use?
As adolescents, we also need information about pregnancy, contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and sexual abuse, before we are sexually active. We want our parents to give us the facts we need to stay healthy. We also want them to share the underlying values they have used to make their own decisions about sexuality.
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Tags: Men’s Health
