Neuropathic Men And Erection Problems

Today's post from sexhealthmatters.org (see link below) revisits the subject of erectile dysfunction as a result of neuropathy. Women readers may complain that this ignores their own particular problems with neuropathy and sexuality (which are just as serious and do exist) but the article talks in this case I'm afraid, just about men. Women with male neuropathy patient partners may well be interested. Unfortunately, males give their penises the highest priority and normal function is 'everything'! There are enough reasons for erectile dysfunction without neuropathy being added to them but unfortunately many men with nerve damage and especially autonomic neuropathy, may face this problem sooner or later. This article tends to aim at diabetic patients but as we all know, they are just one of the groups who are affected by neuropathy and the information applies to all. It may be worth following some of the links and resources to get a fuller picture of what's going on with ED and nerve damage. One tip is certain: if you benefit from little blue pills and the like, the possibility is that you may need a stronger dose to achieve full and satisfying erections if the cause of your ED is neuropathy. Best discuss it with your doctor or at least a medical professional specialising in sexual health.

Neuropathy a Common Cause of ED
Jul 29, 2015
 
An erection is a complex process. It may not seem that complicated – a man can be sexually turned on by his partner’s smile, an erotic fantasy, or a beautiful person who passes him on the street. An erection might even seem automatic.

But inside his brain and body, connections must be in tip-top shape for an erection to occur. The sexual stimulus – that smile or a sexy voice – gets processed by his brain, which sends signals to his genitals to trigger an erection. Smooth muscle tissue needs to relax, arteries need to widen, blood needs to flow into the penis, and veins need to constrict to keep the blood in place until he ejaculates or the stimulation stops.

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Today, we’re going to focus on the signaling that takes place in the central nervous system – the network that connects the brain and the genitals. For some men, nerve damage interferes with the pathway, making it more difficult – or impossible – for sexual signals to get through. A man may experience something that makes him excited, but the erection just doesn’t happen.

What is neuropathy?

The medical term for this nerve damage is neuropathy. The type of neuropathy associated with erectile dysfunction (ED) is called peripheral neuropathy. This term is used because the nerve damage affects other parts of the body, like the hands, feet, and penis.

This type of neuropathy is also classified as autonomic. It affects processes that happen without our thinking much about them, like breathing, digestion, and erections.

What causes neuropathy?

Neuropathy that leads to ED can have a number of causes. Here are some examples:

· Injury to the genitals

· Endocrine disorders, especially diabetes

· Blood vessel diseases

· Cancer and cancer treatments, particularly chemotherapy

· Infections

· Excessive alcohol consumption

Diabetic neuropathy

The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke estimates that 60% to 70% of people with diabetes have some degree of neuropathy. And diabetes is an important risk factor for ED. Diabetic men are almost four times more likely to develop ED than non-diabetic men. And they tend to develop ED ten to fifteen years earlier, too.

High blood sugar can disrupt the signals between the brain and genitals. It can also damage blood vessels, reducing blood flow to the penis. (To learn more about diabetes and erectile dysfunction, click here.)

Treating neuropathy

Sometimes, nerves can heal when the cause of the damage is addressed. For example, drinking less alcohol or treating an infection may be enough for the nerves to repair themselves.

Diabetic men are encouraged to keep their blood sugar under control. Managing diabetes may involve medication, special diets, and exercise programs. Your doctor can tell you more about the best approaches for you. And be sure to check your blood sugar levels regularly.

Reducing the risk

As with many health issues, maintaining healthy habits plays a key role in preventing neuropathy. If you drink too much, try to cut down (and don’t hesitate to ask for professional help if you need it). If you smoke, ask your doctor about a smoking cessation program. If you have diabetes, follow your doctor’s instructions to the letter. Make healthy food choices and keep to a healthy weight. Try joining a gym or getting together with friends to exercise.

The benefits of good habits are enormous. You’ll maintain your health, reduce the risk of neuropathy, and might enhance your sex life, too!

Print this article or view it as a PDF file here: Neuropathy a Common Cause of ED

Resources

Medscape Medical News
Newman, Laura
“Neuropathy an Underappreciated Cause of Erectile Dysfunction”
(November 16, 2011)
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/753728

National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke
“Peripheral Neuropathy Fact Sheet”
(December 2014)
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/peripheralneuropathy/detail_peripheralneuropathy.htm

Sexual Medicine Society of North America
“Understanding Diabetic Neuropathy and Erectile Dysfunction”
http://www.sexhealthmatters.org/for-healthcare-providers/understanding-diabetic-neuropathy-and-erectile-dysfunction/

http://www.sexhealthmatters.org/sex-health-blog/neuropathy-a-common-cause-of-ed

Who Suffers Pain Best Men or Women

Today's short post from sciencedaily.com (see link below) somewhat dispels the myth that women are better bearers of pain than men. Of course, logically, this is nonsense because nobody suffers the same pain for the same reasons - it all depends on the severity of your condition. This especially applies to neuropathy patients. However, scientifically these findings suggest that there is very little difference between the sexes.

Pain tolerance levels between men, women are similar
Date:September 10, 2014 Source: Plataforma SINC
 
Summary:

Resilience, a person's ability to overcome adverse circumstances, is the main quality associated with pain tolerance among patients and their adjustment to chronic pain. This is the result of a new study that shows that the effect of gender on this ability is not as significant as originally thought.
 
Resilience, a person's ability to overcome adverse circumstances, is the main quality associated with pain tolerance among patients and their adjustment to chronic pain. This is the result of a new study carried out at the University of Málaga that shows that the effect of gender on this ability is not as significant as originally thought.

Over the years a number of clinical trials have shown important gender differences with regard to susceptibility to pain through illness, effectiveness of medications and recovery after anesthetic. Furthermore, these results coincide with general lore where it is often said that women tolerate pain better than men.

However, a new study led by researchers at Malaga University with the aim of analyzing the differences between men and women in terms of their experience with chronic pain has dispelled this theory, revealing that these differences are minimal.

Quite the opposite, it is a person's resilience -the ability to overcome adverse circumstances- that determines the high or low acceptance of pain, as it is related to a series of characteristics that provide the individual with resources to cope with chronic pain.

400 patients with chronic spinal pain (190 men and 210 women) treated in primary care centers took part in this study and the findings show more similarities than differences between the two sexes.

"More resilient individuals tend to accept their pain, that is, they tend to understand that their ailment is chronic and they stop focusing on trying to get the pain to disappear, to focus their energy on enhancing their quality of life, despite the pain," Carmen Ramírez-Maestre, the main author and researcher at the Andalusian institution, said.

"In this regard," continued Ramírez-Maestre, "patients who are able to accept their pain feel less pain, they are more active on a daily basis and have a better mood."

Fear of pain

Also, the findings, which were published recently in The Journal of Pain, showed that patients that feared pain also experienced significantly more anxiety and depression.

"However, this fear was only related to a greater degree of pain in the samples of men and this was the only difference found between the sexes," concludes the author.

Story Source:

The above story is based on materials provided by Plataforma SINC. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length.

Journal Reference:
Carmen Ramírez-Maestre, Rosa Esteve. The Role of Sex/Gender in the Experience of Pain: Resilience, Fear, and Acceptance as Central Variables in the Adjustment of Men and Women With Chronic Pain. The Journal of Pain, 2014; 15 (6): 608 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2014.02.006

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/09/140910083339.htm

WOMEN WITH Y CHROMOSOME DONT THINK LIKE MEN

Women born with a rare condition that gives them a Y chromosome don't only look like women physically, they also have the same brain responses to visual sexual stimuli, a new study shows.

The journal Hormones and Behavior published the results of the first brain imaging study of women with complete androgen insensitivity, or CAIS, led by psychologists at Emory.

"Our findings clearly rule out a direct effect of the Y chromosome in producing masculine patterns of response," says Kim Wallen, an Emory professor of psychology and behavioral neuroendocrinology. "It's further evidence that we need to revamp our thinking about what we mean by 'man' and 'woman.'"

Wallen conducted the research with Stephan Hamann, Emory professor of psychology, and graduate students in their labs. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Indiana University also contributed to the study.

The Y chromosome was identified as the sex-determining chromosome in 1905. Females normally have an XX chromosome pair and males have an XY chromosome pair.

By the 1920s, biochemists also began intensively studying androgens and estrogens, chemical substances commonly referred to as "sex hormones." During pregnancy, the presence of a Y chromosome leads the fetus to produce testes. The testes then secrete androgens that stimulate the formation of a penis, scrotum and other male characteristics.

Women with CAIS are born with an XY chromosome pair. Because of the Y chromosome, the women have testes that remain hidden within their groins but they lack neural receptors for androgens so they cannot respond to the androgens that their testes produce. They can, however, respond to the estrogens that their testes produce so they develop physically as women and undergo a feminizing puberty. Since they do not have ovaries or a uterus and do not menstruate they cannot have children.

"Women with CAIS have androgen floating around in their brains but no receptors for it to connect to," Wallen says. "Essentially, they have this default female pattern and it's as though they were never exposed to androgen at all."

Wallen and Hamann are focused on teasing out neural differences between men and women. In a 2004 study, they used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural activity of typical men and typical women while they were viewing photos of people engaged in sexual activity.

The patterns were distinctively clear, Hamann says. "Men showed a lot more activity than women in two areas of the brain -- the amygdala, which is involved in emotion and motivation, and the hypothalamus which is involved in regulations of hormones and possibly sexual behavior."

For the most recent study, the researchers repeated the experiment while also including 13 women with CAIS in addition to women without CAIS and men.

"We didn't find any difference between the neural responses of women with CAIS and typical women, although they were both very different from those of the men in the study," Hamann says. "This result supports the theory that androgen is the key to a masculine response. And it further confirms that women with CAIS are typical women psychologically, as well as their physical phenotype, despite having a Y chromosome."

A limitation of the study is that it did not measure environmental effects on women with CAIS. "These women look the same as other women," Wallen explains. "They're reared as girls and they're treated as girls, so their whole developmental experience is feminized. We can't rule out that experience as a factor in their brain responses."

The findings may have broader applications in cognition and health. "Anything that we can learn about sex differences in the brain," Wallen says, "may help answer important questions such as why autism is more common in males and depression more common in females."

PROSTATE CANCER RISK REDUCED BY SLEEPING WITH MANY WOMEN BUT NOT INCREASED WITH MANY MEN

Compared to men who have had only one partner during their lifetime, having sex with more than 20 women is associated with a 28% lower risk of one day being diagnosed with prostate cancer, according to researchers at the University of Montreal and INRS -- Institut Armand-Frappier. However, having more than 20 male partners in one's lifetime is associated with a twofold higher risk of getting prostate cancer compared to those who have never slept with a man

Marie-Elise Parent and Marie-Claude Rousseau, professors at university's School of Public Health, and their colleague Andrea Spence, published their findings in the journal Cancer Epidemiology. The results were obtained as part of the Montreal study PROtEuS (Prostate Cancer & Environment Study), in which 3,208 men responded to a questionnaire on, amongst other things, their sex lives. Of these men, 1,590 were diagnosed with prostate cancer between September 2005 and August 2009, while 1,618 men were part of the control group.

Risk associated with number of partners 

Overall, men with prostate cancer were twice as likely as others to have a relative with cancer. However, evidence suggests that the number of sexual partners affects the development of the cancer.

Consequently, men who said they had never had sexual intercourse were almost twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer as those who said they had. When a man has slept with more than 20 women during his lifetime there is a 28% reduction in the risk of having prostate cancer (all types), and a 19% reduction for aggressive types of cancer. "It is possible that having many female sexual partners results in a higher frequency of ejaculations, whose protective effect against prostate cancer has been previously observed in cohort studies," Parent explained.

According to some studies, the underlying mechanism of this protective effect is in reducing the concentration of cancer-causing substances in prostatic fluid or lowering the production of intraluminal crystalloids. It should be noted that for all participants, the age at which they first had sexual intercourse or the number of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) they had contracted did not affect the risk of prostate cancer. Moreover, only 12% of all participants reported having had at least one STI in their lifetime, which is few.

Male partners and increased risk 

The data indicate that having only one male partner does not affect the risk of prostate cancer compared to those who have never had sexual intercourse with a man. On the other hand, those who have slept with more than 20 men are twice as likely to be diagnosed with prostate cancer of all types compared to those who have never slept with a man. And their risk of having a less aggressive prostate cancer increases by 500% compared to those who have had only one male partner.

Parent and her team can only formulate "highly speculative" hypotheses to explain this association. "It could come from greater exposure to STIs, or it could be that anal intercourse produces physical trauma to the prostate," Parent said.

Avenues for further research 

Parent, Rousseau, and Spence are specialists in prostate cancer and are the first research team to suggest that the number of female partners is inversely associated with the risk of developing cancer.

"We were fortunate to have participants from Montreal who were comfortable talking about their sexuality, no matter what sexual experiences they have had, and this openness would probably not have been the same 20 or 30 years ago," Parent explained. "Indeed, thanks to them, we now know that the number and type of partners must be taken into account to better understand the causes of prostate cancer." Does this mean public health authorities will soon be recommending men to sleep with many women in their lives? "We're not there yet," Parent said.

HEALTHY LIFESTYLES REDUCES BOWEL CANCER RISK IN MEN

Men who opt for multiple healthy lifestyle behaviours are at less risk of developing bowel cancer than women, a significant study shows.

The study analysed data of 347,237 men and women from 10 countries from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) cohort study using a healthy lifestyle index.

Over the 12-year study period, 3,759 cases of bowel cancer were recorded.

"These data provide additional incentive to individuals and medical professionals to invest in healthy lifestyle initiatives. The more healthy lifestyle changes, the better," said lead study author Krasimira Aleksandrova from German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke.

Bowel cancer is the second most common cancer in men and the third most common cancer in women worldwide, mostly in developed countries.

"Our data confirmed that with an increasing number of healthy lifestyle behaviors the risk that a person will have of developing bowel cancer decreases," Aleksandrova noted.

"Our results particularly demonstrate the potential for prevention in men who are at a higher risk of bowel cancer than women," concluded Aleksandrova.

The study appeared in the journal BMC Medicine