Doctor's Advice - Could cocaine give him a heart attack?

• Doc, I was at a party with my boyfriend recently, when he suddenly collapsed with a terrible pain in his chest. He would not go to hospital. Now, he is feeling quite a bit better. But I am wondering two things: 1) Could this chest pain have been caused from heart trouble? And 2) could it be anything to do with the fact that he took cocaine just before the party?

The answer to both questions is yes. Many people do not realise that cocaine can give you a severe pain in the chest. Also, it can cause heart attacks, even in those who are still pretty young.

So I would advise all readers to steer well clear of cocaine! As for your boyfriend, he may indeed have had a heart attack, so he should see a doctor right away, and have an electrical test on the heart.

• Doctor, I am a 21-year-old male student. During the three years I have been at university, I suppose that I have had sex with around seven or eight girls. I am pleased to say that I did not get anyone pregnant. But is there any chance that I could have caught any sexually transmitted infections (STI)? One of our lecturers told us that sometimes these infections can attack you, but produce no symptoms.

Your lecturer was absolutely right. In women, all STIs often cause no symptoms at all. However, you are a guy, and the fact is that in males these infections generally do produce alarming symptoms.

But the big exception is the germ called chlamydia. You see, in both men and women, it often causes no symptoms. So there has to be a possibility that you have acquired it, as a result of one of your many sexual relationships.

As I expect you know, chlamydia is real common these days, and the student fraternity is not immune to it. There have been studies in various parts of the world which indicate that around 20 per cent of sexually active young people may be carrying it, without knowing that they have it.

This wouldn't matter if chlamydia was a harmless organism. But in fact, it can do terrible damage to the sex organs as the years go by. For instance, these days many cases of sterility are due to chlamydia.

Therefore, in view of your sexual history, the most sensible thing you can do now is to have a quick chlamydia test. This is quite painless. Indeed, it can be done on a sample of urine, so that you do not even have to have a medical examination if you don't want to. So I strongly advise you to make an appointment with a doctor. And if you do turn out to have picked up chlamydia, you need not fret. A carefully chosen course of antibiotic will soon wipe it out from your body.

• When I am having sex with my fiancée, I usually 'pull out' just as I climax. I am doing this on the assumption that a mere few drops of seminal fluid could not impregnate her. Am I correct in thinking this?

No, you are totally wrong. Just one drop of semen can be enough to get a woman pregnant, since it contains large numbers of sperms. The practice which you have been going in for is called coitus interruptus. I suppose it is better than nothing, but it is certainly not a reliable method of contraception. So why don't you and your fiancé fix yourselves up with something more trustworthy, like the condom, the coil, the Pill or the jab?

• I am a biology student, age 19, and male. I am often left alone for long periods in the lab. Last week, out of curiosity, I decided that it would be interesting to see what my own sperms look like under the microscope. So I quietly produced a sample and then placed a few drops upon a microscope slide. But when I put my eye to the eyepiece, I could see absolutely nothing! Does this mean I am sterile, doctor?

Well, you should have been able to see thousands of tiny living things like tadpoles or small fish swimming around frantically.

Frankly, I think it is quite likely that you made some mistake in your microscope technique, and that that is the reason why you could not see any sperms. However, you are clearly fretting about this experience, so I feel it would be a good idea to enlist some medical help to put your mind at rest. Therefore, my advice is to go and see a doctor and ask him to arrange a proper 'sperm test' at the hospital lab for you.

• I am a 20-year-old female. I have been in a relationship with a guy for five months now. I really love him, and he loves me. He performs well in the bedroom. But he keeps on asking me to do oral sex for him. And when I ask him to 'return the favour' and provide the same for me, he just says that he 'can't do that thing'. So I recently cheated with a guy who lives close by. Now I feel so guilty about it. But I really love my boyfriend.

Well, if you really do love your boyfriend, it was of course unwise to go with this other guy. Do you mean that you did it because he was offering you oral sex? If so, that is not a very good reason for risking your relationship.

My advice to you is to have nothing further to do with that other guy. If you want your relationship to last, then devote yourself solely to your boyfriend, avoiding other men. It is a pity that he seems to think it is OK for him to enjoy receiving oral sex, but that he need not do the same for you. But maybe he will change his mind as time goes by. Meantime, please practise only safe sex. You are currently in quite a muddled situation, and it would make things worse if you suddenly found yourself pregnant.

• Doc, I can't get this information anywhere. How long should menses last? Also, how often should they arrive?

In an ideal world, periods should be regular and arrive once every 26 to 28 days. I would say that a good length for a period is around three to four days, with fairly light blood loss. However, some doctors, particularly in the United States of America, are now saying that it is OK for a period to last only one day. And some are claiming that it is OK for young women to be given hormone treatment so that they only have one short period, once per year.

• Is it possible for a guy to break his penis, as I have heard?

Yes, but only if it is very violently twisted when it is erect. That should be avoided.

Email questions to Doc at saturdaylife@gleanerjm.com and read more in the Outlook Magazine tomorrow.