Tag: Sexual Health

Sex Drive Patch

Once again it is Sunday and not much new to report…..Sex is always a good subject…..It is Sexy Sunday!

Intrinsa was recently licensed in the UK for the treatment of women, who have gone through the menopause as a result of womb and ovary removal, and who are subsequently experiencing a drop in sex drive.

The condition is referred to as hypoactive sexual desire disorder or HSDD for short.

There is some evidence to suggest that a fall in sex drive after the menopause might be linked to low levels of circulating testosterone.

Intrinsa is prescribed for women with HSDD, who are receiving oestrogen replacement therapy. It delivers a daily dose of testosterone from a patch replaced twice weekly and worn continuously on the lower abdomen.

The key trials on testosterone patches have involved highly selective groups of women – excluding, for example, those with various mental or physical conditions that could affect sex drive, says DTB. And in some trials a diagnosis of HSDD was made on the basis of short, unvalidated questionnaires.

There was also a large placebo response in the studies, with significant numbers of women not treated with the patch reporting improved sex drive, which indicates that low hormone levels might not have been the problem, says DTB.

Furthermore, the improvements were small. And the fact that some of the women were already having sex twice or three times a month before they entered the trials, raises questions about whether they really had a poor sex drive in the first place.

Oh Damn! More Bad News!

Marijuana use could increase the risk of testicular cancer, according to a study by the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center out this week. If a man has smoked marijuana on a weekly basis or has been exposed to hashish for an extended period of time, the chances of testicular cancer double compared to someone who has never smoked marijuana

The study found that marijuana could also decrease sperm quality, decrease testosterone levels and cause impotency, since these are similar side effects of testicular cancer.

Men already produce a “cannabinoid-like chemical,” which protects the reproductive system from cancer, but marijuana use could reverse that protective chemical and instead work against the body. The marijuana link is somehow associated with “nonseminoma,” malignant germ cell tumors, and is increasing the risk.

The study has prompted more research as it has open up a bevy of questions, said Stephen Schwartz, a member of the Public Health Sciences Division at the Hutchinson Center.

“What young men should know is that first, we know very little about the long-term health consequences of marijuana smoking, especially heavy marijuana smoking,” Schwartz said in a press release. “So, in the absence of more certain information, a decision to smoke marijuana recreationally means that one is taking a chance on one’s future health.”

The National Cancer Institute estimates almost 8,100 men will be diagnosed with testicular cancer, and 380 will die because of it in 2008.

Geez! Boomers Just Cannot Have Any Fun!

Crap!  The Boomers are blamed for everything that has gone wrong recently…..economic crisis, global warming, etc…and now they want to suck all the air out of the last enjoyment some have…..Pricks!

The arrival of the “swinging 60s” may have heralded a rise in sexually-transmitted cancers, say researchers.

Rates of anal, vulval and vaginal cancers rose for “baby boomers” born in the decades after the Second World War.

The culprit is the human papillomavirus (HPV), acquired during sex, said the King’s College London study.

Some estimates suggest that up to three out of four people will be infected with HPV at some point in their lives, although the immune system is normally able to destroy it

There has been a steady rise in anal cancer rates over that period in both men and women, but with women born in the 1960s three times more likely to develop it than those born 20 years earlier.

Although vaginal and vulval cancer rates have fallen away in modern generations, they are higher in the 1960s generation of women compared with those born in the first half of the 1940s.

Dr David Robinson, who led the study, said: “These results have revealed a snapshot of just how much rates of these cancers have increased in the post war generations.

“For anal cancer, rates are now higher in women than in men – however, programmes of vaccination against HPV, whilst aimed primarily at reducing the burden of cervical cancer, may also help to reduce the incidence of cancers at these other sites.”

Dr Lesley Walker, from Cancer Research UK, said that it was important people understood the dangers linked to HPV.

“Using a condom will lower the risk of exposure to the virus. HPV vaccines are an important advance for future generations, but the cervical screening programme remains vitally important in detecting any changes that might lead to cancer.”

Coffee’s Not All That Drips

Another Sunday arrives and not much news to post on….so the SEX has it!

The prevalence of quinolone-resistant gonorrhea has increased rapidly in Ontario – Canada’s most populous province – from a rate of 2% in 2001 to 28% in 2006, found a study published in CMAJ http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg287.pdf. Infections in heterosexual men appear to have contributed to the increased rate of resistance.

Other studies have associated quinolone-resistant gonorrhea with men having sex with men, antibiotic use, over 35 years of age and travel to Asia.

“The magnitude of the rate of resistance to quinolone in Ontario is unusually high by any threshold reported in North America,” state Dr. Susan Richardson from The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and coauthors. “Given Ontario’s large population and its status as a major economic centre and national transit hub, its epidemiology is likely to influence epidemiological trends in other provinces of Canada.”

After several years of declining infection rates, Neisseria gonorrhoeae infections are on the rise in Canada and many other countries, with health ramifications as the disease can cause infertility and serious blood, joint and immune complications.

The study findings underscore the current recommendations in Canada not to use quinolones for treatment of N. gonorrhoeae infections. Ongoing testing for antibiotic resistance is necessary, although new testing methods are replacing methods that test for susceptibility. “The importance of using culture diagnostics for N. gonorrhoeae needs to be communicated to clinicians, laboratories and public health organizations,” conclude the authors.

In a related commentary http://www.cmaj.ca/press/pg268.pdf, Dr. John Tapsall from Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, Australia states “in developed countries, the spread of quinolone-resistant N. gonorrhoeae infection has followed a pattern in which different resistant subtypes are imported, sometimes over many years. The subtypes are eventually introduced into a country’s sexual networks and then achieve sustained endemic transmission.”

Appropriate antibiotic use is crucial for controlling drug-resistance in community-acquired pathogens. A sustained global approach is needed to reduce the rates of drug-resistant gonorrhea and to control the disease. All countries are at risk of the spread of even more resistant strains of this highly adaptable pathogen.

Dangers Of Lesbian Sex

Lesbians are just as likely as heterosexual women to get sexually transmitted diseases such as hepatitis and genital herpes, Australian researchers said on Tuesday.

Women who have sex with other women were thought to have a small chance of acquiring sexually transmitted infections (STIs), but a study by scientists from the Sexual Health Unit in Alice Springs, Australia, showed their risk is just as high as other women.

“We demonstrated a higher prevalence of bacterial vaginosis (vaginal disease), Hepatitis C and HIV and Aids risk behaviours in women who have sex with other women compared with controls,” Dr Katherine Fethers said in a report in the journal, Sexually Transmitted Infections.

The researchers compared the medical histories and sexual behaviour of 1 408 lesbians and 1 423 heterosexual women who attended a sexual health clinic in Sydney between March 1991 and December 1998.

“All women with a history of sex with a woman were compared with women who denied ever having sex with another woman,” Fethers explained.

She and her colleagues said only seven percent of the women who had female sex partners said they had never had sex with a man. But they were more likely to have had a relationship with a gay or bisexual man and to have had more partners than the other women during their lifetime.

“These data argue strongly for increased measures to improve our understanding of the sexual health of women who have sex with women,” Fethers added.

She also called for more basic research into STIs, including the HIV virus that causes Aids, and targeted intervention strategies for women with female sex partners. – Reuters

Geez! Suck All The Fun Outta Sex!

While research shows that sex can indeed trigger heart attacks in some people, especially men, the odds of literally succumbing to passion are very low. Sexual activity is a contributing factor in less than 1 percent of heart attacks, according to a 1996 study by Harvard Medical School researchers.

Although heart attacks during sex are rare, no one wants to be among the unlucky few who die while getting lucky. So if you have cardiovascular disease (CVD), or even if it runs in your family, it’s important to ask your doctor what type of sexual activity is safe. If you’ve just had a heart attack, for instance, you should wait three to four weeks before having intercourse, according to current guidelines.

The physical danger posed by sexual activity is probably the least of your problems, however. There are plenty of other ways for heart disease to curtail your sex life. Everything from incision pain following bypass surgery to the emotional stress of living with a heart condition can get in the way of intimacy.

Sexual activity and heart conditions can interact in complicated ways, which can be difficult to tease apart. To make matters worse, heart patients (and their partners) are often uncomfortable discussing their sex lives with their doctors and vice versa.

The link between cardiovascular disease and sexual dysfunction is well established, at least in men. Researchers have known for years that erectile dysfunction (ED) is disproportionately common among men with CVD (and even among those with risk factors for CVD, such as diabetes and high blood pressure). While erectile dysfunction can result from a number of factors, including psychological ones, the majority of cases can be traced to vascular problems.

The shared mechanism linking ED and CVD is believed to originate in the endothelium, the thin layer of cells that lines blood vessels. Risk factors such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, and cigarette smoking prevent cells in the endothelium from releasing nitric oxide. This compromises the ability of blood vessels to dilate, which can lead to both atherosclerosis and erectile dysfunction.

Atherosclerosis, the hardening and narrowing of the arteries that causes coronary heart disease, can affect the arteries that pump blood into the penis just as readily as those that surround the heart. But endothelial problems can also prevent the so-called smooth muscle in the penis from relaxing properly. In either case, erections become harder to sustain.

For a long time it was thought that ED was strictly a side effect of CVD and atherosclerosis, but experts now believe that ED may actually precede heart problems. A 2005 study in the Journal of the American Medical Association described ED as a “harbinger” of cardiovascular events.

The study, which analyzed more than 4,000 men without symptoms of CVD or ED, found that the men who subsequently experienced ED were nearly 50 percent more likely than those who did not to experience a cardiovascular event within seven years.

I say “screw it” if I gotta die at least I gonna die with a smile on my face.

Somethings Are Just Not That Important!

This is just sick, IMO.

Scientists proved several years ago that people’s sexual appetites come from their genes. Some inherit a high libido from their ancestors and want to have sex every day, others have this wish once a week, some others are asexual and can live without sex very well.

Libido can vary depending on various circumstances. As a rule, people want to have more sex when they go on holiday. In general, libido remains stable all the time. If it decreases considerably, it is most likely a consequence of health problems.

The sexual appetite, or libido, is directly connected with the hormonal background of an individual, with male sex hormones, or with testosterone, to be more precise. If there is a lot of testosterone, a man’s sexual desire will be higher than the average. It is generally believed that such men are well-built, short-tempered, hairy on the body and hairless on the head.

The level of testosterone decreases with age, but the process is difficult to notice until the age of 60. It is difficult to accelerate the process, although it is quite possible. One would need to put on weight, drink a lot of alcohol, let others hit you between the legs all the time and take hormonal medications

Libido is much more complicated that it may seem at first sight. A certain amount of testosterone is not enough – the brain needs to react adequately to it. It goes without saying that the brain reaction will not be adequate at all if a person suffers from serious stresses or depressions.

If there are no health problems and the level of testosterone is fine, but there is no sexual desire anyway, one has to think of moral issues. Desire may often depend on a person’s attitude to sex and his or her relations with their partner.

Yet Another Urban Myth Exposed

THE belief that Coca-Cola works as an after-sex spermicide is nothing but urban legend, a scientist cautions in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) on Thursday.

Deborah Anderson, a professor in obstetrics and gynaecology at Harvard Medical School, says that Coca-cola douches were sometimes used in 1950s and 1960s America in the belief that the drink’s acidity killed sperm.

Soft-drink douches are still used as a post-coital contraceptive ploy in some poor countries, she says.

To begin with, Coke is not a very effective spermicide, as it is unlikely to kill the target.

And even if the beverage’s secret recipe were lethal, a speedy sperm is likely to outswim the douche and get to cervix first.

In addition, Coca-Cola damages the top layer of cells within the vagina, and makes a woman more prone to sexually transmitted disease. And while it is largely harmless to sperm, soda pop removes healthy bacteria, opening the way to fungal and bacterial infection.

Experiments with other forms of vaginal douches have found an increased risk of pelvic inflammation and ectopic pregnancy, in which a fertilised egg is implanted in the fallopian tube, rather than in the uterus.

Finally, says Ms Anderson, there is the simple fact that there are much more effective and easy-to-use methods of contraception widely available.

This article just begged to be posted.

Turn Your Hoo-Hoo Into a Vice

Ironically, the muscles that are not on display often get ignored in our fitness routines, yet they play such a vital role in the functions that affect our overall sense of well being as women! Hello! Sex. Controlling your bladder. Important things, right?

Any muscles that can keep you from peeing your pants and also give you more and better orgasms are not muscles you want to ignore, ladies! In fact, they deserve to be high on your fitness priority list every week, if not every day!  I’m talking about your pelvic floor muscles. These are the muscles that take a beating through childbirth, and the ones you use to stop the flow of urine mid-stream. They must be trained with the same dedication you have toward your pecs and glutes!

All you have to do is tighten and release as you would if you were stopping the flow of pee, but don’t use your toilet time for this exercise, as it might cause a bladder infection. It is best to do a mix of kegel types which include:

1. Contracting and holding for a count of five or ten, and then releasing – Slow Sallys

2. Quickly contracting and releasing repeatedly, doing sets of five or ten, and working up to higher numbers of reps just as you would with your dumbbell routine – Rapid Rhondas

3. Flexing with sets of up and down movement, and side to side movement. (YES, it is possible). These are more advanced so you may need to start with very few reps. – Wild Wandas

Exercises:

1) Anywhere. Anytime. A conversation with someone gets boring, smile and nod while you tighten your ticklers. Your long commute to work is taking too long, squeeze away. The line at the coffee shop is five deep, you can go “five deep” too, while you wait! Play a game. One kegel flex for every person ahead of you. They’ll never know they are part of your new exercise program; it’ll be your own little secret.

2) By doing them during marathon sex (or sprint versions, for that matter) it can help you cross the finish line.

3) Doing them regularly as well as during sex can make an upper case vowel out of a lower case. Think “BIG O” (intensity). Think caps lock on the keyboard (multiples). Think Meg Ryan in When Harry Met Sally, except for real. Think……well, don’t think. Just do!

4) Doing them outside of sex and/or during sex can increase pleasure for your man. (It’s not all about us, after all.)

5) Performing kegels consistently can give your sex life longevity, and aid you and your partner in having an enduring, passionate love life into old age.

6) Kegels will prevent you from soiling yourself at inopportune times. (Not that there’s ever really a good time for that).

7)  BONUS – On any given day you can substitute your kegel sets with sex, because sex strengthens pelvic floor muscles too!

Suzy’s Pelvic Floor Muscle Training Schedule For Beginners

1. Alarm clock rings – Laying in bed, do one set of 10 Slow Sallys and one set of 10 Rapid Rhondas.

2. Drive the kids to school or yourself to work – Seated in car, do three sets of 10 Rapid Rhondas spaced out over your drive.

3. At work listening to workmate gossip about Brad and Angelina as if she knows them – Pretend to listen while attempting one set of Wild Wanda combos – 3 reps of up and down, 3 reps of side to side. (Do more if you can)

4. Drive home from work – Seated in car, do 5 sets of 5 reps each, of Slow Sallys spaced out over your drive

5. Cooking dinner – Standing at stove – 1 set of 20 Rapid Rhondas

6. Have sex – with your mate if you have one, with yourself if you don’t – Any position you want – 1 amazing orgasm – or more if you can.

Ok Guys, you can thank me later—and I do accept cash……

One Good Orgasm Deserves Another

Time to get busy, people! According to a new report, the Big O is more than just pleasurable—it’s also good for your health.

Orgasms (and just good ol’ fashioned arousal) can release DHEA and Oxytocin, hormones that are beneficial to the heart and lower breast cancer risks, according to the Los Angeles Times. What’s more, the benefits apply to both men and women, helping to prevent prostate cancer while serving as pain relief from migraines.

The article cites these major findings: Prostate: Two large studies, reported in 2003 and 2004, found that middle-aged men who had (or at least remember having) at least four orgasms a week throughout their 20s, 30s and 40s had a reduced risk of prostate cancer by as much as one-third. Some researchers speculate that ejaculations may clear the prostate of carcinogens.

Physical comfort: In laboratory studies, women are able to tolerate more pain when a vibrator is applied to their vaginas. When that stimulation leads to orgasm, their pain threshold doubles. And one small study found that orgasms provided some relief for women suffering from migraines.

General health: A 10-year study of Welsh men in 1997 found that those who had two or more orgasms per week had half the risk of dying compared with their less sexually active neighbors.


With evidence like that, there’s no reason you should be faking it anymore.