The modern practice for the father to witness the birth of his child may be an intensely fulfilling experience making up for the physical changes of pregnancy which the father is denied, and allowing the couple to feel they have shared equally in the event. For some men, however, the experience may be traumatic and [...]
A young man said, ‘When they are on the Pill, it is as if they are pregnant. They put on weight and it makes them want babies. I would always use a condom too.’ Again, the feeling of the Pill being a risk was put in this way: ‘A girl on the Pill may change [...]
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 [...]
She stayed with her first lover for three years, but now she had a new partner and she was sure he was the right one for her. Sex was fine with him. The doctor wondered out loud how sex was possible in view of her reaction to the speculum and the doctor’s fingers. ‘Oh, the [...]
The sheath can also be considered to be a clean method, in that sperm is not released into the vagina. Some women feel a disgust for this messy, smelly, sperm-filled ejaculate, and they rush to wash the vagina immediately after sex. In this way they state how dirty sex feels to them, as though sperm [...]
Testosterone is made in the testes, but it’s the pituitary gland that really calls the shots: The pituitary gland transmits a chemical signal, called luteinizing hormone (LH), which motivates the testes to make testosterone. But LH can be blocked by a synthetic analog (a chemical look-alike that acts differently) of another of the body’s chemical [...]
So think about it: Has BPH changed your life? Are you still able to do everything you want to do? Or are you adjusting your life to accommodate your BPH—giving up seats to a baseball game, for instance, so you won’t have to endure the long lines in the men’s room? If you’re planning your [...]
LHRH agonists are another option. LHRH agonists shut down production of LH. The most commonly prescribed LHRH agonists are leuprolide and goserelin. These drugs are equivalent to treatment with DES or to surgical castration in their ability to lower testosterone and lengthen a man’s lifespan. A drug called ketoconazole blocks production of testosterone by targeting [...]
And testosterone brings us to the prostate. Testosterone circulates in the blood and enters the prostate by diffusion, like water through a tea bag. Soon it undergoes a metamorphosis. Testosterone is transformed, by an enzyme called 5-alpha-reductase, into a hormone called DHT(dihydrotestosterone)—which is more than twice as powerful as testosterone. Several studies have shown that [...]
Radiation treatment means going to the hospital on a daily or near-daily basis and lying flat on your back or stomach on a table for a few minutes as a big X-ray machine (similar to, but larger than, ones you’ve seen at the dentist’s office) moves in an arc or circle over the targeted fields. [...]