Ultrasound your testes for birth control?

Hey fellas - you better keep up with technology! What do you think of this?

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/240925.php

The ideal male contraceptive would be inexpensive, reliable, and reversible. It would need to be long acting but have few side effects. New research published in BioMed Central's open access journalReproductive Biology and Endocrinologyused commercially available therapeutic ultrasound equipment to reduce sperm counts of male rats to levels which would result in infertility in humans.

The team led by James Tsuruta found that by rotating high frequency (3MHz) ultrasound around the testes they were able to cause uniform depletion of germ cells throughout the testes. The best results were seen using two sessions consisting of 15 minutes ultrasound, two days apart. Saline was used to provide conduction between the ultrasound transducer and skin, and the testes were warmed to 37 degrees centigrade. Together this reduced sperm to a Sperm Count Index of zero (3 million motile sperm per cauda epididymis).

The World Health Organization has defined oligospermia (low sperm concentration) as less than 15 million sperm per ml. Dr Tsuruta explained, "Unlike humans, rats remain fertile even with extremely low sperm counts. However, our non-invasive ultrasound treatment reduced sperm reserves in rats far below levels normally seen in fertile men (95% of fertile men have more than 39 million sperm in their ejaculate). However further studies are required to determine how long the contraceptive effect lasts and if it is safe to use multiple times."

Men's Get Together

Had a great get together last Friday. Nine men chatting over a BBQ. Talk of life and all its different paths.What a great mob of blokes. Each and everyone with a different story.

Hope to see more at the next one.
When: Friday February 10
Where: Underneath the Gospel Centre - George Main Rd
Time: 6pm - 8pm BBQ provided

Good news: Sex with a heart condition is OKAY

A scientific statement from The American Heart Association clarifies that sexual activity for those with heart conditions is ok.

They caution that women should be counseled on use of contraceptive methods and possible adverse effects of pregnancy, while men should be wary of certain erectile dysfunction medications that are unsafe for all cardiovascular diseases.

The statement was published online 19th Jan. 2012 in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association , and contains advice from experts in a variety of fields including : heart disease, exercise physiology and sexual counseling.Glenn N. Levine, M.D., lead author of the statement and a professor of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas said :
Sexual activity is a major quality of life issue for men and women with cardiovascular disease and their partners ... Unfortunately, discussions about sexual activity rarely take place in the clinical context."

It's important to address the issue because decreased sexual function in both men and women often accompanies heart diseases and can lead to anxiety and depression. The reality is that sexual activities don't generally put the heart under enough strain for long enough to be a problem to heart patients. Thus, the total rate of cardiovascular events caused by sexual activity is very low.

IF YOU WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT THIS GIVE ME A CALL OR AN EMAIL

LUD

Sex and Ageing - Some research

A study published this week in the American Journal of Medicine challenges some of ways we tend to think about and talk about sex and aging, and as importantly, challenges the dominant medical frame on sexuality, which focuses on dysfunction rather than satisfaction or pleasure.
The study asked just over 800 women aged 40 to 99 to respond to surveys about their recent sexual activity, overall sexual satisfaction, and sexual desire. The women were not representative of the general population, they all came from suburb of San Diego and have been involved in a longitudinal research project called the Rancho Bernardo Study which began in 1972. So the findings shouldn't be thought of as highly generalizable, but instead as an interesting snapshot of one group of women in one place at one time.
The women were asked if they had engaged in sexual activity in the past four weeks. In this study sexual activity was described as including caressing, foreplay, masturbation, and penile-vaginal intercourse. In analyzing the data the researchers divided the women into four age groups, each with about 200 women in them. Here are some of the basic findings of the study:
50% of the women reported having had sex in the previous 4 weeks and 80% of those women were living with a partner/spouse.
40% of all respondents said that they never or almost never felt sexual desire, and 30% of women who were having sex said they felt low, very low, or no sexual desire.
64% of all respondents said they were moderately or very satisfied with their sexual relationship.
64% of women who had sex in the past 4 weeks reported being aroused most times, almost always, or always.
67% said they achieved orgasm most times, almost always, or always; women in the youngest and oldest groups reported the highest orgasm satisfaction.
These findings highlight how slippery statistics are. GO HERE to read more

Learn to SURF!!!

We are offering a FREE Learn to Surf program for men that have wanted to learn in the past but have never got around to it. This is a program for disadvantaged men ( you provide the definition).

Age/fitness/ability doesn't matter. This is a chance to get into the ocean and learn something new.

If you know someone who is interested then have them contact me (Lud Allen) on 8552 0605 or 0422459660 to reserve their place because spaces are LIMITED.

Coaching will be provided by qualified instructors and ALL equipment is supplied. All you need to do is SHOW UP for 6 sessions.

First session starts:

Monday 27/2/2012 at Middleton Beach from 12.00pm til 2.00pm

Program runs for 6 weeks EACH MONDAY following .

Surfs up moondoggy. Get your wetttie on and hit the waves. I will definately see you there.

Cafe Crozier

Another great place I just found out about is Cafe Crozier. This is a place to come for a FREE COMMUNITY MEAL. Anybody is welcome. Maybe you just want to have someone to eat with, maybe its a bit hard to scrape together a good meal occaisionally. Whatever the reason get down to Cafe Crozier at the Salvation Army Dining Room ( CNR Crozier Rd and Torrens Street) on every alternate Sunday. The next free meal is on January 22nd. Go on and give it a go.

If you want to find out more call Meredith on 0407978196; or Carol on 0418814544; or Anne on 85520100.

Hope to see you there.

Create and Connect

I just went in to this fabulous service in Goolwa for the first time on Tuesday. If you haven't been here it's worth a look. Create and Connect is an Art and wellbeing program whose aim is to support people to connect to the community through art.

The space here is really welcoming. I went with another man and we just sat outside under the beautiful fig tree drinking coffee. No pressure , no expectations. Other people were inside making artworks for the upcoming 'Just add Water' festival.

If you work with men that need a community space that is relaxing and non threatening THIS is it.

Call Sharyn on 0434071412 or 85553941 to find out more.

Lessons From My Left Testicle

This is a really good book about Ben Peacocks experience of testicular cancer. This book ism open , honesty and funny. Here is how it starts:

"Let me set the scene for you. My name is Ben, I live in Bondi, in Sydney, I have a beautiful wife named Annabel and no kids (yet).

This is the story of a year in my life. Or, more poignantly, the year that changed it.

At age 33 I was diagnosed with cancer. To this day I am in that odd place called 'remission'. A cancer survivor....so far"

If you have cancer, or no someone who has cancer I recommend this book.

Men's health on local Radio

If you want to tune in on radio 5EFM (89.3 for victor and 94.7 for Yankalilla and districts) on Thursday mornings fortnightly ( starting 5/1/12 at 10.30) . You will hear me discussing different topics in Men's health.

If you have anything in particular you would like me to discuss on this segment drop me a line and lets get it out there.

Men, Gender, what does it mean?

I often see men that complain about being 'different' not 'fitting in' not being 'manly' enough.

I also see men sick of 'acting' like real men, sick of the pressure to conform. Well... I myself am tired of the pressure that we as men are continuously subjected to. The pressure to be tough, to not complain, to look buff, to be great lovers, to be to be to be.

I have found that there are many ways to be a man. Maybe the typical chesty bonds is one way. But so is being small and wiry. So is being caring and loving. So is being a nerd, a jock, a softy, an artist a hetero, gay, bi or anything in between.

Men are cool and its time to stop dividing us into different categories just to outcast some and accept others.

As an example watch this 1999 film 'tough guise' which can be located here at The Good Men Project.

The phrase “tough guise” implies that the tough guy act is just that: an act. In real life, toughness is not necessarily masculine, and masculinity is not necessarily tough, but if you ask American culture, it will tell you the two are the practically synonyms. The Marlboro Man. The Terminator. Rambo. Real men. Gandhi? You pussy.

Talking about your tackle

If you are having problems with your tackle, the longer you say nothing, the greater the chances are there’ll be nothing your doctor can do about it.

Whatever you may call it, all those bits below the belt are important for your overall health and quality of life, and with early detection and treatment you can often avoid more serious long-term health problems

So talk to your doctor, talk to your mates, and visit Andrology Australia for free quality information and resources on male reproductive health problems and associated conditions, to help men make better health decisions.

The prostate game

Click here to play a game outlining the differences in Men's ability to wee into a urinal. The setting is the loo at a cricket game. Quite funny.

Book for Men

I have just been reading the book ' Matters for Men - How to stay healthy and keep life on track' by John Ashfield and published in good old South Oz. This is an easy to read book and covers topics such as:

1. Physical health
2. Mental health
3. Relationships
4. Fatherhood
5. Men's Issues
6. Useful websites.

I suggest all men should read this. It doesn't tell you what to do - just gives some facts and ideas. John writes this with a sense of humour as you can tell from these two chapter titles. ' Men need wild and natural places' and 'Retirement - Waiting for God or Seizing the day?

Click here to see more at the website

If you would lkike to access a copy of this book drop me an email at ludcounselling@gmail.com