Men's HealthErectile Dysfunction

KEEPING STDS (SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES) AT BAY

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:35:54 +0000

Nature appears to be on the side of males. Although the issue is still largely unresolved, traditional thought has it that a man’s body is less likely to be invaded by marauding bacteria than a woman’s. That’s because a woman’s vagina is dark, warm and moist—conditions under which bacteria thrive. Can’t say that about a penis. Plus, urination helps flush out whatever gets inside a man’s member.
On the flip side, men claim to have far more sexual partners over time than women, putting them at greater risk of exposure. While no one can say definitively whether men get STDs more or less than women, there is absolutely no question that if you have sex, you are susceptible. So here’s how to avoid the potential dangers.
Consider abstaining. Life offers few promises, but abstaining from sex pretty much guarantees you won’t get an STD. Unless you are in a healthy, monogamous relationship, you may want to contemplate sleeping alone until you meet that special someone you think you might have a future with.
Watch the numbers. Obviously, abstention isn’t for everyone. A 3,432-person study conducted through the National Opinion Research Center found that more than 50 percent of men claim to have had five or more sex partners after age 18.
Time to face up to facts: The more sexually active you are, the greater your potential risk for contracting an STD. And you don’t have to be a Don Juan or have a new partner each week to be at risk, says Robert E. Johnson, M.D., a research scientist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. “For most people it’s the fact that they’re changing partners once every year or two,” Dr. Johnson says.
Count on prescription relief. Since the advent of antibiotics in the 1940s, diseases that had plagued men for centuries suddenly could be cured or controlled. So if you do contract an STD, there’s probably no need to take religious vows—just medication.
“Even with most advanced cases of gonorrhea or chlamydia, you can treat them and get good results,” Ingram says. “Just don’t slip in during the dark of night, get your treatment and disappear,” she adds. “You’ll need follow-up treatments and blood work” to confirm the treatment has worked.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES/CONDOMS 101: LEARNING ABOUT LATEX

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:35:05 +0000

No glove, no love. Wrap that rascal. If you care, you’ll wear.
Sound familiar? You’ve heard this stuff before, but sorry fella, catchy slogans won’t help prevent sexually transmitted diseases (STD). Common sense will.
Wearing a condom is common sense. And while condoms cut your chances of getting an STD better than a Ginsu knife slices through a tin can, they don’t guarantee a safe passage to promiscuity.
“We refer to condoms as ‘safer sex’ because there is no 100 percent guaranteed ‘safe’ sex,” says condom connoisseur Stuart Schlaffman, owner of Condom Kingdom, a condom retail store in Philadelphia.
Nevertheless, there’s no excuse not to wear a condom unless you’re monogamous with a healthy partner—which means being monogamous for six months and then being retested before “going bare”—or for some perverse reason you have a strong desire to catch a disease.
Men have traditionally complained that condoms reduce sexual sensation, but technology has rendered that excuse obsolete. Today, you can choose among a variety of ultrathins (such as Trojan Very Thin)—condoms so thin you’ll hardly know they’re there.
“It feels like silky latex. It’s not rubbery like a tire, and it also doesn’t smell as bad as a normal condom,” Schlaffman says.
There’s no excuse to be caught without a reserve of rubber, either. Condoms are affordable and easily obtained. At Condom Kingdom, for example, condoms range from $1.50 to $4.25 for a three-pack. You can also get condoms free from most health clinics.
Buy condoms just a short while before you plan to use them, and check the expiration date to be sure you have fresh condoms. Older condoms are more likely to break, and spermicides lose their potency over time. The proper way to store a condom is in a cool, dark place, like a dresser drawer. You’re not in high school anymore, so don’t pack them in your wallet. The car’s glove box is no good either because the temperature extremes inside a car can cause the rubber to break down. Think where you’re most likely to use them, and keep them in a place that will be convenient, such as a bedside table or a jacket pocket.
You might be curious about novelty condoms such as flavored or glow-in-the-dark models. But while these can be entertaining, they can’t be relied on to protect you from STDs.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

FAST FACTS ABOUT SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:33:42 +0000

How common: Very. Twelve million people contract a sexually transmitted disease (STD) each year; forty million currently are infected.
Risk factors: Any sexual activity, including oral and digital sex, can put you at risk. Having multiple sex partners, having sex with an infected person and sharing hypodermic needles also increase your chance of contracting an STD.
Age group affected: STDs are most common in younger and middle-age people. Experts estimate that almost half the U.S. population will acquire an STD by age 35. Other statistics show that 86 percent of all STD cases occur between the ages of 15 and 29.
Gender gap: The ratio of male versus female sufferers varies with each disease, and no total statistics exist. A vagina is a better host for germs than a penis, but men have more sexual partners than women. Bottom line: Both get STDs a lot.
Who to see: Family doctor, a physician at a health clinic or a specialist, such as a dermatologist or urologist.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASES: SAY NO TO UNHEALTHY EROTIC REMINDERS

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:32:02 +0000

You wouldn’t bungee jump without an elastic cord. You wouldn’t skydive without a parachute. So why in blazes would you have sex with a stranger without a condom?
Consider this: Skydiving accounts for about 30 deaths a year. Bungee jumping, less than one. Yet thousands of people are dying each year because of diseases passed on during sex.
There are more than 20 sexually transmitted diseases, or STDs. With the frightening exception of AIDS, which has claimed more than 200,000 lives, few people die from STDs. Even so, they’re potentially serious and anything but rare. Experts estimate that STDs affect roughly 1 out of 20 Americans each year. In one year, adult men contracted 17,977 cases of syphilis, 257,591 cases of gonorrhea and 48,208 cases of chlamydia (statistics for other STDs are not accumulated).
All this despite the fact that STDs nearly always can be avoided.
“STDs are with us and they’re not showing any signs of leaving,” says Deborah A. Ingram, nursing instructor in the College of Nursing at the University of Florida in Gainesville. “But there definitely are some methods you can use to prevent an STD.”
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

WHAT TO KEEP IN MIND WHEN IT COMES TO SEX ADDICTION

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:31:04 +0000

Consider group treatment. One-on-one therapy is one of the preferred treatments, Dr. Carnes says, but support groups are extremely beneficial. Most groups offer therapy based on 12-step programs comparable to those for alcoholics. You also should consider family therapy.
“Therapy that involves the family is especially productive in part because the family is often part of the problem,” Dr. Carnes says.
Be prepared: It’s not easy. Fighting an addiction is never easy, and with therapy the cure sometimes seems worse than the cause.
“After the grieving period and the shock, addicts generally experience a decline in physical health,” Dr. Carnes says. “But the majority of patients get through it, and by the third year have re-established their lives and a relationship with themselves that isn’t condemnatory.”
Try medication. “Anti-obsessional drugs, the antidepressants, like Prozac and Paxil, for example, are very effective—about 80 percent,” says Roger Crenshaw, M.D., a sex therapist and psychiatrist in private practice in La Jolla, California.
Antidepressants work by increasing the amount of serotonin circulating in the brain at any given time. Serotonin, a chemical made by the body, slows down the brain’s functions and helps you relax.
“The medications help in part because they address the depression of sex addiction since addicts feel so bad about themselves,” Dr. Carnes says. “The medications use the body’s own chemistry to alter the mood.”
“Drugs, like Provera (a female hormone), are also helpful in the same regard,” says Dr. Crenshaw. “They take away the drive to engage in the behavior that’s at issue.”
Another benefit of pharmaceuticals, says Dr. Carnes, is that they might help other mental health problems concurrently. “They’re really pretty miraculous at stripping away or significantly relieving the obsession, and since about half of all sex addicts have severe depression, the drugs are very helpful there also,” he says.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

SEXUAL ADDICTION: LEASHING THE LONGING

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:30:11 +0000

Treatment for sex addiction usually occurs after something unfortunate happens.
“Something puts the addict over the line,” Dr. Carnes says. “A doctor kills a patient because he’s been up all night bingeing on sex, or a businessman loses his marriage when the paper prints a story about his arrest for soliciting a prostitute.
“At some point, addicts realize they’re in trouble,” Dr. Carnes says. “They have less and less control over the behavior, it’s getting more and more risky to satisfy. Like alcoholics, they don’t want to face the problem or they pretend it’s not a problem until it rears up and kicks them in the face.”
So what’s the fix? There are two strategies: to prevent further slipups and to prevent relapse. You achieve this through counseling and medication.
Get help with counseling. In many cases there is no home remedy for sex addiction. See a therapist to help determine the right type and length of treatment. If needed, long-term counseling will pinpoint why you’re addicted to sex as well as help you deal with it and other addictions.
“Once you know the underlying issue that’s driving the behavior, you can generally treat it,” Dr. Elkin says. “Counseling helps addicts come to terms with their neurosis or neuroses to develop healthier ways of coping. You try to teach patients to care for themselves or to love themselves so that the behavior is no longer necessary.”
“An awful lot of these patients have a history of sexual abuse in childhood,” Dr. Carnes adds. “The scar tissue from that is not something you treat with a pill alone. Long-term counseling is an absolute necessity to get these people back on track.”
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

SEXUAL ADDICTION: REASONS FOR THE OBSESSION

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:29:30 +0000

Many factors cause sex addiction. Most addicts come from families in which addictions thrive, like alcoholism, compulsive eating, gambling or sex. Most also have a history of sexual or physical abuse—over 80 percent. They also tend to come from families who have negative and rigid attitudes toward sex.
According to Aviel Goodman, M.D., director of the Minnesota Institute of Psychiatry in St. Paul, in a report he wrote for the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy, more than 50 percent of sex addicts have had addiction problems with drugs or alcohol.
Sex addicts frequently suffer anxiety disorders, depression or manic-depression, writes Dr. Goodman.
The need to relieve stress or boost esteem also seems to be a major component, Dr. Elkin adds. “You have to ask what need the addict’s behavior is meeting,” he says. “He could be using sex to relieve tension or as a quick fix for low self-esteem or the need for love.”
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

FAST FACTS ABOUT HEADACHE

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:26:35 +0000

How common: At least 90 percent of Americans have a headache sometime in a year.
Risk factors: Stress, family history, food sensitivities, disrupted sleeping or eating patterns.
Age group affected: While everyone is subject to headaches, they occur most frequently between the ages of 35 and 45.
Gender gap: Women are three times more likely than men to get migraines, and have a higher overall rate of headaches. Men are equally as likely, as women to suffer from tension headaches, but are much more likely to get cluster headaches—for every woman suffering from a cluster headache, there are eight men. Studies show that 99 percent of women and 93 percent of men will have headaches at some time during their lives.
Who to see: If headaches are getting in the way of your everyday life, consult your family doctor. You might be referred to an internist, neurologist or a doctor who specializes in headaches or pain medicine.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

PSYCHOGENIC IMPOTENCE (COMMON IMMEDIATE CAUSES): FEAR OF FAILURE AND FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:24:59 +0000

FEAR OF FAILURE: A male has to produce an erection in order to penetrate the vagina. As long as the sexual mechanism works normally he is not conscious of it, as erection, like the beating of the heart, is not under conscious control. But if the erection fails to takes place, consciousness is immediately alerted and panic sets in. The individual is full of self-doubt the next time. ‘Will I or won’t I?’ is the incessant and persistent long-playing record in his mind. A state of fear is generated which makes him focus all his attention on his erection. The inevitable result of this self-fulfilling prophecy is, of course, impotence.
FAILURE TO COMMUNICATE: Very few couples freely communicate their sexual feeling and what they want in sex. If they could or would, a great obstacle to sexual dysfunction would be removed. ‘The most important cause of my impotence with my first wife was my complete lack of communication,’ Rajan told me. ‘We were completely nude yet total strangers to one another while attempting sex. With Sushma it is entirely different. Knowing my sexual insecurities and impotence, she took the initiative and asked me how I would best like to be stimulated. Her free and frank attitude soon restored my confidence and erectile power.’
It is most essential that partners communicate freely their sexual wants to each other. It not only makes sex carefree but also more enjoyable.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction

PSYCHOGENIC IMPOTENCE (COMMON IMMEDIATE CAUSES): SPECTATORING OR SPYING ON SELF

admin — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 11:24:08 +0000

Once the failure of erection occurs the unfortunate individual usually grinds his teeth and says, ‘I must succeed. I must not fail.’ Instead of letting himself go during the preliminaries of love play, he constantly watches or spies on his penis. Erection never occurs when the will power is altered; the organ remains limp and lifeless which in turn starts a vicious cycle of anxiety, fear of failure and spectatoring. Dr. Kaplan believes that generally ‘insecure men and men whose behaviour is excessively governed by a need to excel and to compete are particularly vulnerable to the fear of sexual failure.’ Sex therapy is directed towards combating this performance-orientation in sex by methods like forbidding intercourse for a few days and merely resorting to mutual pleasuring—touching or stroking each other and learning complete sexual abandon and eroticism. The most effective distraction from spectatoring is fantasy. Different fantasies of a successful sexual encounter are very useful in intensifying sexual experiences.
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Men’s Health-Erectile Dysfunction