Doctor's Advice - At 26, I Can't Get It Up!

• At 26, I Can't Get It Up!

Q. I am a 26-year-old and I'm having problems with my erection. Am I too young to be prescribed Viagra?

No, you are not too young. But the first thing you should do is to see a doctor and discuss the reasons why this is happening at your age. The doctor may be able to find some underlying cause, such as diabetes which can be treated.

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Q. Doctor, I am about to get married to a handsome, loving man. I really love him, but 15 years ago, I caught some kind of sexually transmitted infection (STI). I do not know what it was because I was just a teenager. They gave me some type of antibiotic, and no one said any more about it. Since then, I have tried not to think about it. But now I am worried. I have not yet had sex with my fiancé, but I am sure he is going to want to soon, maybe even before we get married.  My dilemma is this: Should I tell him that I had some kind of STI when I was young? Or should I keep quiet about it?

I can see that you are in a difficult situation. The big problem is that we do not know what kind of STI you had when you were a teenager. There are many different types of venereal infections. Some of the most common are:

• Chlamydia
• Gonorrhoea (the clap)
• Genital warts (caused by human papillomavirus or HPV)
• Syphilis
• Herpes
• HIV

It seems unlikely that what you had was some of the ones listed above because you would certainly know that you had had them. Statistically, the likelihood is that what you had was either chlamydia or gonorrhoea.

Unfortunately, both of those sexual infections can have severe long-term effects, like chronic pain and infertility.

Also, you should bear in mind the question of infectivity. If for some reason the virus was not completly iradicated from your body, then you could still be infectious. That means that you could transmit the infection to your fiancé.

Is there any chance that you could go back to the doc or clinic that treated you, and ask if your medical records still exist? That would be able to tell you what the diagnosis was? It's worth trying.

However, I think that maybe the best thing for you to do now is to see a doctor and explain the situation, and have a complete check-up. More important, have some tests done for various STIs. By doing this, you would find out whether any infection is still present in your body. And get treated right away.

Finally, there is the question of your fiancé, and whether you should tell him that you once had some form of infection. That seems to me to be a moral and not a medical question. However, my personal feeling is that it would be more honest to sit down with him and tell him frankly about what happened to you as a teenager. But you could postpone doing this until after you have seen the doctor and had the test results.

Q. Doctor, do you think my husband has been cheating on me? He has just been on a business trip to Central America, and when he returned I noticed that he seemed to have the remains of some sort of blue paint on his male organ. Because of this, I have not yet allowed him to have sex with me.

Well, there is an old treatment for fungus and yeast infections which consists of a blue, medicated paint. It is possible that doctors in Central America are still using this therapy. It is also quite possible that in a very hot area such as in Latin America, your husband just picked up an innocent skin infection caused by a fungus. So my guess is that he probably does not have an STI.

Nevertheless, I think you should carefully discuss the matter with him before you resume sexual relations. If there is any doubt, you should insist that he goes to a doctor for tests.

Q. I am a male who recently had some difficulty urinating when standing in a crowded public facility. Is it possible that I have prostate cancer at age 31?

No, you are too young for that. Prostate cancer mostly occurs in men over the age of 55.

Your description of being unable to urinate while standing in a crowded public toilet strongly suggests that all you have is 'shy bladder syndrome'. That is a psychological problem caused from anxiety about urinating while other people are around.

Q. My husband and I have been trying to conceive for about six months, but without success. A friend of mine says that it is probably because he is so physically inactive, and spends all his time watching television. Is that possible, Doc?

A Your friend has probably seen a recent news item that suggests that men who watch a lot of television are less fertile than men who exercise. However, the research on which this was based wasn't very convincing. It involved only 189 men, which is a relatively small number.

Sounds like it would do your husband some good to get more exercise! But really, it makes no sense for your friend to 'diagnose' your fertility issues, especially as neither you nor your husband has had any medical tests.

My advice to you is to buy an ovulation kit at your local pharmacy, and use it to find out what day you are ovulating each month. Around that date, you and your husband should make every effort to have sex. If after another six months you have not succeeded, then you should both have some medical tests done.

Q. I am a 33-year-old man. Would taking a good iron tonic make me more virile, as I have heard?

No, not unless you are anaemic (weak-blooded).

Q. I am 27, and my period have suddenly stopped. Could this be early menopause?

That is very unlikely. The most common cause could be pregnancy, stress, anaemia and hormone problems. Please see a doctor right away.

Q. Doc, how would I know if I have cancer of the cervix?

The most common symptoms are:

• Bleeding between the menses;
• Bleeding after sex.

However, I must add that those two symptoms can also be due to many other causes.  What I would like to stress to you (and to other women) is that there is no need to worry about cancer of the cervix provided you have regular Pap smears. If you do that, you will be able to detect early signs of the disease.