Well, the PSA test has certainly had its fair share of criticism over the years as a valid testing method for prostate cancer screening in men .Prostate cancer is a male-specific cancer that affects the prostate gland, a very sensitive and important gland that can become enlarged, irritated, and cancerous during a man’s lifespan.

In fact, someone once said that every man on earth would eventually die of prostate cancer if he were otherwise healthy and didn’t die of simple old age. I guess there is a just a predetermined “life span” on this gland, and men need to know that it’s important to treat their bodies right so that they can stick around on this earth for as long as they can (and want to).

PSA tests, which test for a specific chemical found in the body of men who have prostate cancer, has been heralded as the be all and end all for prostate cancer screening. Until recently, when some critics said that it was rarely right, and led to a lot of false positives, and also lead to a lot false security in men who really were at high risk.

Now, they are looking at a simple urine test as the next step in determining prostate cancer risk.  The urine test would look for specific proteins that are found in about half the men’s urine who took the PSA test and were found to have very high levels of the prostate specific antigen.

This means that these guys also had another specific protein in their urine, and that could be a test to further decide on whether the medical professionals also want to biopsy their prostate.

It could, coupled with the current PSA test, make for a more specific and accurate test and course of action for both the doctors caring for the patient, and the patient themselves.

It’s another step toward higher accuracy in testing for prostate cancer.  Other than diet, taking dietary supplements for increased prostate health, and really taking care of yourself, better PSA and prostate cancer tests are a necessity if we are to prolong men’s lives and prevent this disease from advancing when we can.

Let’s talk about some of the hot topics in men’s news and men’s sexual health lately. The first is a follow up on a story we talked about just a few weeks ago. San Francisco was going to try to pass a ban into law, which would ban the procedure of circumcising infants.

Some people consider circumcision to be an inhumane and cruel thing to do to male infants who have no say in what happens to their young bodies, while others feel it is necessary for cleanliness and disease prevention.

If you recall, circumcision became a common practice to fight against the transmission of certain deadly STD’s way back when, and stayed in practice after that as almost a sort of tradition here in the US unless it was against one’s religion or personal beliefs.

Well, those who were backing a ban on the traditional practice in San Francisco, a notoriously socially conscious and progressive thinking city in California, have been let down. A Saf Francisco judge has put the kibosh on the ban and pulled it from the city’s ballot for this winter’s elections.

In other male-centric news, scientists have shown the male infertility is often linked to mutations that occur in the sperm cells they produce.  Because of this mutation, and nature’s own selection process, they may have less sperm that live and therefore can swim to fertilize the female egg , or that are unable to do so once they get there.

The mutations result in much less likelihood that any sperm will ever fertilize the egg.  The sperm where the mutation occurs is often in the pool of sperm, so that all of them are affected. The problem is, the mutation makes them much weaker, and less able to get up through the layer of mucus that protects the egg.

They are unable to penetrate it. So, even though men with infertility may be able to launch them out of the tube (penis that is), so to speak, the sperm themselves are the problem in that they cannot complete the trip to get to the female part of the equation.

I’m glad that I read a piece about how couples, and a general feeling in society, feels that we have been so over exposed to sex and fetishes, and sexual taboo breaking, sexual enhancement toys and sexual enhancement supplements, that ordinary, passionate sex seems to be almost common place and even boring at times.

Men in particular have been exposed to so much easy online porn now that they often expect their female partners to be into the stuff that they see in these films as so naughty and taboo (like anal sex, or a man sexually climaxing on a woman’s face, things like that).

The problem is, most women don’t find these types of things hot or sexy. They are conjured up by pornographic producers as a thing that men get in to, and men indeed do many times. But these types of things aren’t really common place, and many women may feel uncomfortable or even degraded performing these acts for their loved one.

Or worse, some women may feel out of sync with their sexual partners or that they can never come close to satisfying them with the type of stuff they see in films, movies and whatnot, and so they may feel inadequate or hopelessly sexually out of touch with their partner.

It’s a problem that is being reported in a lot of couples of today. They just feel that they are endlessly chasing the next best thing when it comes to sexual escapades, and because of that, the normal “missionary style” sex seems almost too boring or just not “fun” enough.  What you have here is excess, and excess almost always eventually creates discontent with the norm at some point.

The human brain is programmed to seek out sexual thrills and to explore the bounds of sexual fantasy and excitement. The problem is, when that is so easily fulfilled by things that are not necessarily realistic, such as streaming porn and films that depict totally unrealistic partnerships between people, people tend to stop seeking that out in their partners if they seem unwilling to participate.

It can create a lot of sexual tension and issues within a relationship when people don’t know what to expect, or what they can realistically expect, out of their sexual partners.

Underneath it all, if you have a solid and true friendship and respect for one another, and extremely open communications, you can surmount these types of issues, which really should be surface issues.

Africa is still completely inundated with cases of HIV and full blown AIDS. It is a true epidemic over there – worse than we’ve ever seen here in the US. They are constantly trying to create vaccines, treatments, and life extending drug programs as well as educate the population about prevention.

However, it has failed to do what it was meant to do, which is to deeply curtail the new cases. True, they are much more educated over there on how to protect themselves, but it is so far advanced that a great percentage of the population has it.

AIDS, as you probably well know, is the advanced version of HIV, or Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It is basically the point at which it is no longer just a present virus, but it starts to really destroy the  body’s immune system.

Today we have come up with AZT, which is a drug that greatly extends the life of many who have gotten the sexually transmitted disease (which can be transmitted by other means as well, namely through blood). However, this drug must be taken for life and it is very expensive and not available to everyone.

Now, scientists have come up with a way they think they can stop the transmission of HIV from heterosexual to heterosexual. Why is it only seemingly effective this way though?

They don’t exactly get into that part. However, I’d assume it has something to do with the inherent differences between anal sex and vaginal sex.  The great thing about these two drugs that can be taken not only as an AIDS treatment, but also as a preventive measure in couples where one partner is HIV positive, is that they now may be able to conceive a child.

Many couples where one person has HIV and the other does not only previously had the safe choice of either not having sex at all or having sex with condoms, where obviously the woman could not get pregnant and the couple have children if she wanted to.

Now, with the two drugs, if the couple both takes them regularly, their risk of transmission from one to another can be reduced by up to 73%, which is quite significant.

The drug would effective act as a sort of vaccination for the person that does not have the disease. However, there is still that small risk of transmission that they have to think about, and that’s gotta be hard on the mind.

Wow. Did you ever see an idea so ingenius, yet so simple, and so “aha”, that you secretly wish you’d have thought of it first?  Well, that’s what happened to me when I saw a hilarious news segment on a regular guy who invented a condom that was easy to put on, because it had the unique addition of “handles” on the sides.

I’m actually quite shocked that major condom makers have not thought of this yet to be honest!  It’s a great way to make the often clumsy and embarrassing scenario of not being able to get the darn thing on right go away.

It’s a great way to market safe sex too, without the embarrassing wait time and interruption that a condom takes.  Let’s face it, when you’re getting hot and heavy with someone, and you’re not in a long term relationship, so you are playing it safe by using condoms (smart guy), the worst thing that can happen to kill the mood is that the heat of the moment passes you by because of the clunkiness of the condom.

The guy who thought of this great invention is Beau Thompson, who is the CEO of Sensis condoms. Apparently, it did not take long for Beau to sell the idea as a winning one and market this product and have it made. Because it’s a great idea!

The demonstrations he was showing made it look super easy as well. Much easier than manually rolling the thing down and getting the slick powder and lubricants all over your hands. Nothing worse than that.  It’s had a string like flap on each side, so you didn’t even have the touch the actual condom if you didn’t want to.

You just took one plastic flap in each hand, and rolled it down your penis!  Brilliant!  Beau said that the idea came upon him when he thought about one time he was in the heat of the moment with a partner. He said that he could not get the condom on, and lost his “mojo” because of the struggle.

I take that to mean he lost his erection. We’ve all had that happen at one time or another no?  Whether or not it was due to not getting a condom on is for another conversation, but we all know how frustrating it can be to lose your erection!

I can’t get no….satisfaction…cause I try and I try, and I try….Those are the famous words uttered from Mick Jagger’s lips on one thing that we all seek. I’m not sure that he was talking about sexual satisfaction, but let’s face it, he probably was.

We all want to be sexually satisfied, but the reality is that many of us are not. Maybe we’re not satisfied with the way we interact with our partners sexually, or we’re not getting enough dates if we’re single. Whatever the case is, everyone needs love. We need intimacy, and we need sex.

That much is definitely known about human nature. Sex and companionship are very important to us. Not just for guys either. Women totally crave sex, intimacy and affection as well, we just crave it a little differently (Jill here by the way).

A recent study on human sexuality came up with some interesting findings that relate to sexual satisfaction, and the results actually don’t surprise me at all. Knowing what I know about the human condition, and just from dating different men when I was younger and talking to so many girlfriends about dating, sex and love.

The findings on sexual satisfaction were that the higher one’s self esteem and sense of empathy for others, the higher, their sexual satisfaction was.  This makes sense since those who have more empathy probably strive to please their partners more than those who really don’t give a rat’s you know what about how others feel.

Also, there were correlations between self esteem, the ability to be autonomous in life (on one’s own), and better sexual experiences and satisfaction levels. Also another non-surprise. It seems to me that those of my friends who report better sex lives usually are very secure with themselves.

They also tend to have a higher sense of self esteem than those who are always complaining about their sex lives.  Perhaps it is because they are so wrapped up in themselves, or so wrapped up in being close to someone, and not able to be on their own, that they can’t fully experience a loving, sexually satisfying relationship with their loved ones.

The funny thing is that women reported liking to do things for their man that was selfless, that they knew resulted in his pleasure but was something they may not like to do, like giving oral sex, LESS than men did.

This did seem counterintuitive, I must admit, but men actually liked to do things for their ladies that resulted in their sexual pleasure more, because they liked to see their woman having fun in bed.  Interesting! Maybe we don’t give men enough credit in this department!

Testosterone, as men get older, is a little harder to come by, and is manufactured less by the body. While testosterone is behind the majority of male traits, too much testosterone can also cause harm. It can cause male pattern baldness, for example, and can also be responsible for a hypersexual sex drive as well as overly agressive behavior.

So yeah, those hotheads that you see who are ready to fight at the drop of a hat? Those guys are probably revved up on too much of the male hormone testosterone!  Testosterone may be behind the largest wars we’ve waged in this world!

But enough of that commentary on the hormone that separates men from women (although women also have some testosterone in their bodies as well, too much can cause women to develop acne and male like traits as well).

Why do some men have to take testosterone therapy, where they are literally given doses of the male hormone so that their bodily levels of the hormone maintain a certain level of it?  What would be the purpose of that? Well, like women being deficient in estrogen when they reach a certain age, men can also become deficient in testosterone, the male hormone.

Male menopause, or Andropause as it has been termed, is where men reach a certain age, and they begin to slow down in their androgen (male hormone) or testosterone production. They sometimes need to get boosts of the hormone to improve things like their libido, their sexual performance, and their other male traits that diminish with age.

Testosterone dosing can even help men to maintain more muscle mass and decrease their mass of body fat, since testosterone is the primary hormone responsible for muscle mass in men.

This is why women who are on certain hormonal birth control pills have a harder time building muscle mass from weight lifting – they have too much estrogen and not enough testosterone. They may also face a diminished female sex drive because of the pill, and therefore a little extra testosterone may help women get their sex drive back as well!

In addition to “andropause” men may also need testosterone therapy because of certain diseases, or medications, and therefore their doctors may opt to put them on some sort of therapy to increase their male hormone levels.

Whatever the reason, young healthy men usually don’t have any issues with testosterone levels unless they are suffering from some other illness or condition.

Hey guys, here to offer you a woman’s perspective here and there, as usual, it’s Jill! Good day to y’all. I want to talk about something that has happened to my poor husband on occasion, and it may have even happened to you, although thankfully I believe it is a rare occurrence.

Some men, and actually some women too, although I’ve never had it happen and don’t have issues with migraines myself, have reported that they will get a migraine headache after or during sexual intercourse or intimacy.

Migraine headaches are characterized by a myriad of symptoms, and can vary greatly in severity and the specific symptoms experienced amongst those that have them. They can produce auras around the eyes, they can make you feel downright nauseous and cause you to vomit, or they can simply be a severe sensitivity to light and a dizziness that is almost insurmountable.

Migraines can feel pretty serious, in other words. They can really make you feel incapacitated, and those that I have talked to that have migraines say that they can really make you feel as if you can’t do anything and get on with your day until they are overwith.

Serious migraines and migraine headaches that occur often have even been linked to a higher instance of stroke in those that have them frequently or have them very severely. So, migraines are definitely nothing to sneeze at, and the causes of them should be looked in to.

My husband has migraines that seem to be caused by the pulling of certain muscles up near his head and neck, which cause an uncomfortable pain in the head as well as an uncomfortable “pulling” sensation behind his eyes. This is always cause for worry, but no one can seem to pinpoint for us exactly what causes them.

He should definitely avoid certain sexual positions that cause the neck muscles to pull in this way though. We did notice that when he contorts into one particular position when we are getting intimate, that the migraine/muscle pull sensation tends to kick in.

If you notice what the triggers are, it may help you to figure out what to avoid when you are having sex. Some people may just have them because the inevitable rush of blood to the penis actually causes the head to get too much blood, or some other vasodilation occurs that then pushes too much blood around the brain area, which causes the headache to kick in.

I had always heard that many prescription antidepressant drugs could lead to a drop in the male libido. What I didn’t know, however, was what a very large percentage of men experience this frightening drop in their sex drive after being treated with prescription antidepressants.  The percentage is a whopping estimate of about 70%

That means that you have more than a half and half chance of losing your libido when you go on an antidepressant. As a matter of fact, the lack of sexual desire is one of the main reasons why men tend to go off of their antidepressants.  Even if they really need them, which is dangerous of course.

Then again, I can also arge that just being on antidepressants is a dangerous thing in and of itself, but this is not the forum for that discussion.  Prescription antidepressants that are popular right now, and which also might have an undesired side effect on your sex drive are the following :

1.)  Prozac

2.)  Zoloft

3.)  Paxil

4.)  Most other antidepressants that are in the SSRI category (Seratoning Reuptake Inhibitors)

The theory is that the reason for a drop in the male libido on these types of antidepressants, as well as the female libido (women are also often affected this way by antidepressants) is because it affects the levels of testosterone in the body. It actually depletes the levels of this hormone, which is the primary driver behind most human sex drive, both men’s and women’s.

It’s sad to hear this, because there are people who genuinely need to have help because of their depression, and it’s almost like they have to give up one thing to get another. I do believe in alternative antidepressants though.  They don’t have a lot of the side effects that medications do, but then again, they also may not work for everyone.

While many, many women are HPV (Human Papilloma Virus) carriers, or actively have the genital warts that are associated with the virus, it may be less obvious for men who are simply carriers because their sexual organs are all external, and the warts associated may not be visible.

It has been estimated that a very large percentage of the population is infected with HPV.  Men themselves are probably carriers about 50% of the time, which means that men can transmit it to their partners if they are not using STD protection such as a condom. 

The problem is, the vaccination itself has come under fire for being potentially unsafe, so how should men protect their partners from this virus? Well, they can start by having safe sex, but really it’s all about minimizing sexual partners and staying faithful if you are in a relationship to minimize the exposure for yourself and your mate.

Other than that, there is really no other way. Remember, the vaccination is only good against certain strains of HPV – it is not good against all of them – another reason why the HPV vaccination has come under fire for both men and women. 

There have actually been reports of negative health effects from the vaccination, and even one or two deaths reported that are suspected to be related to this vaccination, so for me personally, that says it may not be worth it. 

But that’s just me, and I will admit I’m not very trusting of conventional medicine sometimes – which is a reason why I try to stay as healthy as possible and practice safety and healthful habits to begin with. So I can avoid the medical establishment if I can!