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INFERTILITY AND THE CONTRACEPTIVE CONSULTATION – SEXUAL PROBLEMS
7 April 2009
by
admin
Filed under
Men's Health-Erectile Dysfunction
The desperate and bitter isolation is often made worse when friends become pregnant, or inquiring relatives make comments such as, ‘Isn’t it time you started thinking about settling down with a family?’ The emotional pain is usually hidden from friends and relatives, but may be shared within the anonymity of an infertility clinic, together with the physical pains such as dyspareunia, and the sexual problems of nonconsummation, non-ejaculation and impotence which may accompany the problem of infertility.
In the contraceptive clinic plans and expectations about a family can be shared with the doctor very early when discussing contraception. A simple question like, ‘I wonder if you are considering a family at any stage?’, before writing out the repeat Pill prescription may well introduce another dimension to the routine demands of contraception, especially if the woman has been on the Pill for many years or is well into her 30s. The answer may be like any other answer, very vague – this year, next year, sometime, never – but it not only gives the doctor an opportunity of discussing possible problems that could arise, for both her and her partner if a pregnancy is not attempted until the woman is much older, but also may give some indication of her feelings about babies.
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