There are always the most interesting stories coming out of our neighbors across the way, Britain.  Apparently a British man was recently banned from seeing his girlfriend at her home by neighbors who complained that their sexual encounters were too loud.  But this wasn’t just some sort of petition or neighborhood banning of the guy from visiting his beloved, it was actually a court order after several complaints kept coming in when he would stop by and do the nasty. 

Their loud sex was actually in violation of an ordinance of sorts, something called a noise abatement order.  The case went to court after neighbors kept complaining of the inappropriate noise that disrupted their lives, and yes, was sort of embarrassing to listen to.  Hey, maybe they were just jealous!  I’m sure that’s what this guy and his girlfriend are trying to tell themselves as they no doubt must be a tad embarrassed if they have some humanity in them.

And what were the offensive noises in question?  Well, just your typical sex bedroom noises it seems.  There were complaints of bed noises like headboards banging on the wall, moans, and the screaming of bad words (I’m sure you could take a stab at what those might be, since they’ve also been uttered in millions of bedrooms in the US over the years as a popular slang for having sex or fornicating).

The British man has been barred from coming within a certain amount of feet from his girlfriend’s home, so it’s kind of like a restraining order of sorts, just not the type we’re used to hearing about.  Wonder if this tawdry young couple might appeal the court’s decision?  Might they claims freedom of speech, or sexual expression or something along those lines?  It seems like they may be slightly SOL on this one though, they may just have to get some libido help to quell the sexual urges for now, or go to his place maybe - or move! 

HPV, or the human papilloma virus, can be a fairly silent STD (sexually transmitted disease), however it can cause outbreaks of genital warts in some carriers, and has been thought to be triggered (the warts part) by things like stress and anxiety, or just random outbreaks, although many attest that they break out in the genital warts when they are under stress mostly.  HPV has gotten lots of attention over the past few years as being a very potential danger for the evolution of the virus into cervical cancer in women, where the symptoms of HPV are most prevalently seen in a physical way.

For this reason, the new vaccination, Gardasil, has been given to many young girls now as a precaution against them getting the extremely common sexually transmitted disease, and supposedly protecting them from being in danger of developing cervical cancer from the virus some day.  However, that has been hotly debated, and some say the Gardasil vaccine must be readministered every few years to even remain active in the body and help protect against HPV.

Further, many say that Gardasil’s health risks outweight it’s benefits with many teens experiencing disconcerting side effects after getting the injection, and with many specialists saying they believe Gardasil’s protective abilities are severely limited since it only prevents against a few strains of HPV, and there are many many more that it does not protect against, most of which can potentially also evolve into cervical cancer over time.

Anyways, I digress.  A women from Iowa has sued her ex boyfriend who she says infected her with the HPV virus after they were dating and had sex.  She says that she asked him if he had been screened for STD’s and he responded he had, and tested free of any of them.  She also says that then after they had sex, he asked her a few days later if she had been tested for HPV.  She tested positive for the virus, and had a successful surgery to remove the problem spots and is now free of the symptoms, but apparently she wants revenge.

I’m not sure how practical it is to allow people to sue for getting an STD, after all, isn’t that kind of a leap of faith for everyone?  Granted, the guy apparently lied to her, but HPV is so common that it has been estimated that as much as 80-90 percent of the population either has HPV or is a carrier.  Should we really be able to sue partners for this?  I’m not so sure, however this particular woman ended up winning over a million dollar settlement against her former flame. 

Well, it’s just another sexual political scandal - are you shocked?  I’m not unfortunately.  It seems as if marital infidelity is as popular in politics as it is in Hollywood.  Or maybe I’m just being cynical, and Hollywood and politics only reflects what goes on in every Tom, Dick and Harry’s lives, but for some reason I’m not sure infidelity is THAT common in the lives of us normal folks.  If it is, then we’re all in for an awakening, because chances are our significant other is going to or has cheated on us.

John Edwards, former democratic presidential hopeful and running mate of John Kerry in the last election’s failed attempt at ousting the Bush administration, has finally admitted, after a long time of speculation, that he had a mistress, an ongoing affair with a woman who used to produce his election videos.  She’s a perky looking blond woman, and the latest inquiry into this affair was the question of whether John Edwards is the father of her newborn baby (well, born back in February, so six months old).

Edwards admitted to having the affair, but he strongly denies that he is the father of the woman’s young child.  He even stated that he would welcome a paternity test to prove that this child does not belong to him, however he did acknowledge that his former mistress may not be willing to take the paternity test for her or her daughter.  Can’t say I blame her, who wants all that attention for their young daughter and themselves?

John has apologized to the public for repeatedly lying about the affair when being questioned, and acknowledges that he feels ashamed and sorry for what he’s done to his wife by having an extramarital affair.  His wife, Elizabeth has openly suffered from cancer for a few years now, and it is even the reason that John was suspected for dropping out of the presidential race.  His wife issued a statement saying that she knew about the affair and wanted it to remain a private matter, however, they had to come to the press to acknowledge is after reports he fathered an illegitimate child surfaced.

Elizabeth has also told the public that her cancer has returned and that it is terminal.  My heart goes out to this family who is so obviously in pain and struggling, especially since they also lost a teen son years ago in a car accident. How much can one family endure?  Let the man alone, he knows he did wrong, now we need to let the family have their privacy and let this play out how it should - privately, behind closed doors. 

Well, I think we have a new favorite as our “personal lubricant” in the bedroom, and it’s one that has garnered many snickers when buying in the stores.  Hell, we had a problem not buying it at Wal-Mart without looking over our shoulders to check and make sure no one saw us picking up the sexual lubricant with a rather dubious, and obviously sexual name as a lubricant that makes the man’s penis so slippery that it just goes right in, like an asteroid or something as the name implies.

Astroglide lubricant has been around for a long time, and has quite the reputation for making things a lot easier when it comes to getting the woman ready for sex, and also for getting a man’s penis lubed up so that the insertion isn’t so hard (no pun intended).  It’s also great for women who experience any sort of vaginal dryness, because it works on contact and doesn’t dry up quickly, like I’ve had happen with KY jelly before, especially the one that warms to the touch.

And by the way, Astroglide beats the KY warming liquid hands down when it comes to long lasting, non drying and non irritating lubrication.  We found that using the KY warming liquid actually hurt my penis and made it scab over several times because it didn’t properly protect against too much friction if things got dry “down there”. 

The Astroglide is excellent not only for it’s utility as a lubricant because it is super slippy-slidey and makes sex fun and tantalizing, but it also lasts without drying up, and potentially causing painful chafing to the penis and the vagina.  It has no odor that I can smell, and it lasts for a while (I mean the bottle itself lasts a while because you don’t have to keep reapplying it since it stays slick for a while).

It’s also great for other types of sexual foreplay, such as lubing up one another and playing slipnslide, and also for the ladies to give their men a little “hand love” if you know what I mean.  Overall, I’d say that so far, Astroglide is probably one of the better sexual lubricants I’ve used.  Sure, it doesn’t promote longevity for men in bed like some other gels that create numbness, but it does great as a plain old lubricant. 

Well, it looks like there may be more exciting news in the way of prostate cancer treatment, and it comes in the form of a one a day pill that researchers are saying has shrunk prostate tumors in men with advanced prostate cancer successfully, and has shrunk them by a substantial enough amount that the news is very exciting and breakthrough in the world of prostate cancer treatment, and cancer as a whole because you never know what treatments work for one specific cancer may also have applications for other types of cancers eventually. 

The drug comes from a company called Cougar Biotechnology, which is a company that is based out of Britain, and has been researched for years.  It’s called Abiraterone.  The drug is exciting because it delayed the typically worsening symptoms/growth of the tumor by about 400 days average, which is a very amazing feat considering that most drugs only show minimum improvements, or have to be used in great quantity to show this high of an improvement. 

The men who the pill was tested on had a very serious form and advancement of prostate cancer, where the tumor had grown to a larger size, and they also believe the tumor was able to supply it’s own hormonal “fuel” testosterone, which fuels prostate cancer.  What the drug Abiraterone does is to prevent the tumor from producing it’s own supply of testosterone, thereby cutting off it’s “lifeblood” and killing it or making it cease to grow, helping the prostate again become healthy and cancer free. 

This seemingly marvelous new drug which has tested so well on 70 to 80 percent of the patients that have used it in clinical trials, which is unheard of for most drug’s efficacy, may be going on the market by the year 2011 if approved and all goes well in subsequent trials and testing for the anti cancer and anti tumor drug for men. 

Testicular cancer is of special concern to men who are in their twenties and thirties, since it grabs them the most statistically for unknown reasons, except that it may be due to hormone levels at these younger ages.  This means that men, not just younger men though in the prime of their life but all men because all are susceptible to testicular cancer, should be performing TSE, or testicle self exams on themselves at least once a month, which should be hard seeing how some men can barely keep their hands off their balls for a day or two.

What are the signs of testicular cancer?  Well, you should be aware of any sort of change in size of your testicles, meaning you should become familiar with what they look like and feel like when you are touching them, and if this changes or there becomes a larger discrepancy in shape or size between your family jewels than you have noticed before, then you should go visit a doctor to rule out the possibility of testicular cancer and to put your mind at rest. 

Remember how Lance Arsmtrong got this at such a young age?  It just goes to show that even the healthiest young men can get this type of cancer, and usually the treatment is to eliminate the testicle that is cancerous, but don’t worry, this usually does not affect your sex life or ability to have sex, as we have discussed earlier this year in a post on whether losing one of your testes affects your ability to get an erection or orgasm. 

Other things you should be aware to look for in the gonads, is for any lumps or bumps that were not there before, it may even be painless, but believe me, this is cause for a doctor’s visit as it is one of the signs of testicular cancer.  You also want to look for any dull aches in the groin area, or any accumulation of blood or fluid in the groin or penis area, all of which can be potential symptoms for testicular cancer. 

So guys, take matters into your ownd hands - literally, because this type of cancer is nothing to laugh at, and can strike men at ages when the last thing on their minds is cancer, after all, that’s a disease that usually comes with age, especially if it’s related to reproductive organs, but in this case you have to be aware of it at a very early age. 

Men may be more prone to the deterioration and atrophy of the brain that occurs commonly before full blown alzheimers, the disease that depletes the memory in older men and women, studies are now showing, leading them to question why it is women’s brains seem to be a little more resilient to pre-alzheimers dementia. 

Not only are the numbers going up substantially for people who are going to soon have alzheimers, but they have gone up so substantially among the baby boomers generation that scientists are calling for more research to determine why the alarming increase in this generation particularly, or at least why the increase at this time, since the numbers have skyrocketed with basically no explanation as to why, particularly in the male population, which is of course alarming to men. 

They are working on various treatments to help slow the mental decline that comes with aging and the alzheimers disease, and among them one is particularly interesting because it comes in a spray form that is sprayed up the nose, and is showing promise as a product that may slow the brain’s deterioration and memory loss when used regularly.

Also, a natural way to slow memory loss and make sure you stay moving around as a senior on your own, is to remain active and socially active as well.  Physical activity has recently been proven to slow down the aging process of the brain, and even to help dramatically slow the atrophy of the brain in both male and female patients who have alzheimers or are suffering from the dementia that precedes alzheimers.  More and more news will be coming out about memory loss since much of the population is aging now, and because it is a primary concern since memory is one of our most precious assets, and it is what makes us who we are, and how our views and opinions are formed in life. 

Penile chafing is actually a fairly common problem.  It can happen if a guy is having sex frequently, or even from doing - ehem, his own pleasure seeking a bit too often, or it can just happen like it happens to skin anywhere else on the body, from irritation or sensitivity. 

It can also happen from various sexual lubricants that are used, for example I believe one of the ones that leads to this if it is overused, especially in guys with sensitive penis skin, is the warming sexual liquids, like KY warming and other similar ones that either have cinnamon and other skin irritants in them, or contain ingredients that warm when they are rubbed or touched. 

Those are typicallly used as female sexual enhancement rubs, but they often come in contact with the penis upon penetration and the friction combined with the heating can irritate some guy’s skin.  That’s just my opinion though, there’s really no published research on that or anything (and why would there be). 

What you need to do if you’ve rubbed the skin raw on the penis is, first of all, take a breather from sexual activity until the chafed spot is healed.  This can be tough, but believe me, it can be painful if it starts getting rubbed so much that it gets raw and starts to bleed or otherwise ooze other liquid out of it.  When it gets to that stage, it requires an even longer healing process, so you want to try to avoid that stage all together if possible. 

Now, as far as what you can do, you will need to take care of the chafing on your penis by putting some sort of soothing ointment on it, you can even use one with antibiotics in it like Neosporin or other similar anitbiotic ointments to prevent it getting infected.  There are some homeopathic ointments that may also be used, but it’s difficul to say what may irritate some guys more and what may work as an ample soother.  Aloe may work on some guys but may irritate others. 

My preference is to just stick to a light layer of Neosporin, so that it keeps the wound moist and doesn’t allow it to just peel and get raw again. Also the anitbiotic action will prevent any sort of infection which is an added benefit, and may even help speed the healing process.

A brilliant man has recently died of pancreatic cancer, and he is one who, I admit, I had not known about before he died just this past Friday after outliving Doctor’s prognosis from his returned pancreatic cancer, which is one of the most deadly because of it’s difficulty in treating and the specific organ that it attacks, which is vital to the cleaning of our whole system. 

His name is Randy Pausch, and he’s a tall, fun loving guy who died an untimely death at the age of 47 - too young, especially for such an enthusiastic, inspiring, kind and gentle person who really knew how to talk to people, to inspire them, to encourage them to reach their goals, and to not be afraid to chase the dreams they’ve had since childhoo, and most importantly to not be swayed by such an increasingly pessimistic world.  I liked one part of his speech, where he talks about pissing matches, and how important it is to get out of a “pissing match” as quickly as one can, because all they are in fact, is unproductive and all “ego”. 

His “last lecture” became a Youtube sensation, and it was really focused around going for your dreams, and not being afraid to achieve them, and especially not to let the negative attitudes of others get you down.  He also spoke at length about the barriers you will achieve when going for your dreams, and that only those that truly want to achieve their dreams and the best life possible for them and their families, will end up achieving them. 

May you rest in peace Randy, for I am another one who has been inspired after watching your famous last lecture, as millions of others are, and I’m refreshed to see that someone is out there encouraging others to go for what they want in a kind and ethical way, something that is seriously lacking in today’s dog eat dog world.  Randy will be sorely missed by his wife Jai and their three children. 

We’ve long known that there is a direct link between aging in women and men and the subsequent decline in both’s fertility - meaning they both do not have as much baby-making power in their sperm and eggs, respectively, as they did when they were younger.  Further, the quality of the sperm and eggs declines as we age, paving the way for potential complications and genetic weaknesses in the resultant baby if we have babies when we are older and the quality is lower, not the mention the likelihood of pregnancy complications goes up.

While researchers had always known that women have a harder time conceiving as they age, the impact that the man’s sperm has on that conception is much larger than was once thought, meaning the guy’s sperm contributes equally to the likelihood of conception, and the fact that an older man may be trying to impregnate a woman has a very large effect on whether that will be a successful pregnancy.

The idea from this research is that men over 40 begin to see a dwindling in the quality of their sperm, and not only that, there may also be a higher likelihood of a miscarriage in the woman they impregnate if they get pregnant from a man who is over 40 years old, so we are more likely to see more complications not only if the woman is older, but also if the man is older.

While the number of miscarriages was about the same for women who were over 40, the amount went up significantly higher if both the women and her parter were older, since the man’s sperm also contributes to the pregnancy and the successful full term of that pregnancy, and miscarriages were seen much more often when the man was significantly older, showing the importance of not only the age of the eggs, but also on the age of the sperm.