Doctor's advice - Did she fracture my organ?

Q Last night, my girlfriend and I were fooling around and petting. Suddenly, she gave me a kind of accidental 'twist', and I felt intense pain at the base of my penis. Doc, do you think she has fractured it? I have heard that that is possible.

A. Fracture of the penis can occur, but it only happens when there has been a very violent twisting of the organ while it is fully erect.  The pain and swelling caused by this disaster are so great that the guy almost always collapses and has to go to hospital. Surgery is sometimes needed.

In your case, it doesn't sound as though the injury was as bad as that. I suspect you may just have strained the main ligament that supports the penis. But you should now go to a doctor and have your organ checked out. And please ask your girlfriend to be much more gentle in future.

Q Doctor, how far can a girl trust a boy? I have a new boyfriend. I only met him a month ago, but already, he says that he loves me. I hope this is true because I think I love him. Kissing with him is really exciting. But what is making me fret is this: he wants me to have 'full sex' with him, and he says that if I really loved him, I would let him do it.  Is this reasonable, Doc? Should a girl who loves a guy give him what he wants?

A.  No, she should not feel obliged to do that. It is very common for young men to say "Oh, if you loved me, you would let me have sex." But that statement makes no sense at all!

After all, why should loving someone mean that you have to have sex with that person? There are plenty of people who love each other but who decide to postpone sexual intercourse for months or even years.

To be frank, young guys often use your boyfriend's argument simply in order to get girls to have intercourse. It is one of the oldest tricks in the book. It is possible that this boy does really love you; but if so, he should not mind waiting till you are really ready for sex.  And sadly, you must face the fact that possibly, he does not love you at all, and this 'declaration of love' is just the tactic that he uses on every girl he would like to bed.

Q I am engaged to a most beautiful girl. But recently, she has indicated that she is not too happy with my performance in the sack. Doc, I cannot understand this at all. I never had any complaints from previous girlfriends. But my fiancée is claiming that I orgasm far too soon! What do you think, Doctor? I have timed myself, and usually I last for around one minute, which seems OK to me. So surely she is wrong, isn't she?

A. No, she is not wrong. By any standards, climaxing after only a minute counts as premature ejaculation (PE). Presumably your previous girlfriends were too polite to comment on your lack of staying power. It is time you realised that you are not 'lasting' anything like as long as most other guys. And now you have to do something about it. If you don't, then I suspect you may lose your beautiful fiancée.

So my advice to you is to see a therapist or doctor who is knowledgeable about these matters so that you can be cured. I suggest that you aim to 'last' a good 10 minutes if you are going to keep your fiancée reasonably happy.

Q During the menses, how much blood is too much? I am 21, and I seem to be losing pints and pints of blood every time I menstruate.

A. I do not think you could really be losing 'pints and pints' because if that were so, you would be seriously ill - or dead!

But it does sound as though you are losing much too much. In general, women should not lose more than around 50ml at each menstruation. (That is about the volume of an average toothpaste tube.) If you lose much more than this, you are liable to become anaemic pretty soon.

It is very difficult to estimate the volume of blood which a person is losing, but in general, I would say that periods are definitely too heavy if:

• The woman has to use two sanitary pads at the same time;
  
• She has to use two tampons at the same time;
  
• She has to use a pad and a tampon at the same time.

In your case, I think you should see a doctor. She can rapidly tell you if you are anaemic. Anaemia (weak blood) is often a good indicator that the menses are too heavy.

Q I am 22 and female. If I went on the Pill, could I be absolutely sure that I won't get pregnant?

A.  Very nearly. No method of contraception is quite 100 per cent effective. But if you take great care not to miss any Pills, it is extremely unlikely that you will become pregnant.

Q I am a guy of 23, and when I was 16 I caught 'the clap' from a girl in Kingston. I was treated. These days, I have a thriving career, and I am thinking of getting married. What I would like to know, Doc, is this. Can that form of sexually transmitted infection cause any long-term damage? In other words, could it still harm my body - or my girlfriend's body?

A. 'The clap' is of course the slang term for gonorrhoea. If it was adequately treated when you were 16, then the germs would have been killed at that time, so you would have nothing further to fret about.

The only slight cause for concern is this. Occasionally, gonorrhoea does not get properly treated, for instance, if the guy does not take all the pills. In those cases, the germs can linger in the body. Possible long-term results of gonorrhoea include damage to the testicles and adjoining areas, sterility, and 'stricture', which is a serious narrowing of the urinary passage.

From what you say, I feel it is unlikely that you have any long-term problems caused by gonorrhoea. I also think it is most unlikely that you could give your partner the infection. But why not just go to a doctor and have him check you out? I am sure he will be able to reassure you that all is well.

Q When I was 17, I smoked around 10 cigarettes a day for about three months. Then I gave up. Doctor, would that be enough to give me lung cancer when I get older?

A.  According to my calculations, you smoked around 900 cigarettes in those three months. This means that quite a lot of cancer-causing chemicals entered your body, so it is a good job that you gave up! But statistically, the chance that you will get lung cancer is very remote indeed.

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