Tag: sex

Dear Dr. B: What is a date rape? What are the drugs involved in date rape? How can one avoid date rape?

Answer: Date rape is a drug-facilitated rape or sexual assault. This occurs when a substance is administered to a person which lowers his or her sexual inhibition and increases the occurrence of unwanted sexual intercourse.

Rape is common with an estimated lifetime risk of up to one in four for women. About 25 per cent of the 1400 women who contact the Canadian Sexual Assault Centre each year report that drugs were a factor in a rape.

Most of the drugs used for this purpose have no color, smell or taste and can easily be mixed with different kinds of drinks without the victim’s knowledge.

Drugs most commonly used in date rape are alcohol, marijuana, benzodiazepines, cocaine, heroin, amphetamines, GHB (gamma hydroxybutyric acid), Rohypnol (flunitrazepam), and Ketamine (ketamine hydrochloride).

Alcohol is involved in most of the cases of date rape.

According to an article in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, of 2003 urine samples submitted by rape treatment centers across the United States within 72 hours of a suspected drug-facilitated rape, GHB was detected in three per cent of the samples and flunitrazepam in less than one per cent; alcohol was detected in 69 per cent of the samples, marijuana in 18 per cent and cocaine in 5 per cent.

GHB (also known as liquid ecstasy, grievous bodily harm, and scoop) comes in a liquid form with no odor or color. It also comes as a white powder and as a pill. Rohypnol (similar to valium but very potent is also known as love drug, Roofies, ruffies, roche, R-2, rib, rope) is a pill and dissolves in liquids. Ketamine is a white powder.

What are the consequences of date rape?

Rape inflicts serious consequences on the victim. These include psychological problems, infection, and unwanted pregnancy. People who have been raped may present, immediately or later, to a family physician or to an emergency department.

The patient requires immediate attention regarding safety, management of injuries, forensic examination, and emergency contraception. And there is a risk of sexually transmitted infections like gonorrhea, chlamydial infection, HIV, and herpes.

How can I protect myself from being a victim of date rape?

Vigilance is the key word. Drink your beverage slowly, keep an eye on your drink when mixed and obtain a fresh one after leaving the drink unattended. Don’t accept drinks from other people, except trusted friends. Do not share drinks.

If you think that you have been drugged and raped then go to the police station or hospital right away. Get a urine test as soon as possible. The drugs can leave your system quickly. So do not urinate before getting help. Do not douche, bathe, or change clothes before getting help. You will destroy the evidence you need to find and convict the offender.

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What is a laptop?

A laptop is a portable computer small enough to use on one’s lap. The question is – is it safe to use your lap as a desk?

The Medical Post reports that male fertility may be adversely affected by using a laptop balanced on the thighs.

A study published in a European journal (Human Reproduction) found the combination of the thighs held together to form a desk for the laptop plus the heat generated by the machine raised the scrotal temperature by 2.6 to 2.8 degrees Celsius within 15 minutes.

For fertility and production of sperms, it has been found that increase in the testicular temperature between one to 2.9 degrees Celsius may adversely affect the production of sperms.

The blood flow to the testes maintains the temperature of the testes two to four degrees Celsius lower than the rectal temperature in the normal individual. If there is loss of this temperature differential then the testicular function is compromised resulting in infertility.

Sperm and testosterone production occurs in the two testicles, or testes, which are contained in the scrotal sac (the scrotum). This sac develops on the outside of the body because normal body temperature is too high to allow sperm production.

Many hormonal and environmental factors influence the production of sperms. It takes approximately 64 days to produce one sperm. There are four stages involved in this process and there are millions of sperms present in different stages of production.

Any major physical or mental stress can temporarily reduce sperm count. Some examples are: emotional stress, sexual issues, testicular overheating from high fevers, saunas, and hot tubs, substance abuse, smoking, malnutrition and nutrient deficiencies, obesity, and vigorous bicycling.

Infertility affects one in 25 North American men. More than 90 per cent of male infertility cases are due to low sperm counts, poor sperm quality, or both.

Semen is produced by clusters of tissues called seminal vesicles and prostate gland. Semen provides a safe environment for 100 to 300 million sperms delivered at the time of ejaculation. But only 15 per cent of these are good enough to impregnate a woman. However, only 40 or more sperms survive the stress of ejaculation, the chemical composition of the semen and the hostile environment of the vagina (cervical mucous is sometimes impenetrable) to find an egg and fertilize.

It can take up to four days for the sperm to reach the egg in the fallopian tube. And the egg is available only for 12 hours each month for the sperm to get there on time and fertilize. And, in the end, only one sperm gets through to fertilize the egg. What a journey! No wonder so many couples have difficulty having children. On top of that we put laptops on our thighs!

Teenagers and young men (I presume that excludes me!) are advised to use laptops on a table or desk instead of on their laps. Have pity on these poor little tadpoles. They have to be strong – as their journey is long and perilous!

Thought for the week:
“Experience teaches only the teachable.” -Aldous Huxley (1894-1963)

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There is good news about oral contraceptives, says an editorial in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).

“The development of oral contraceptives stands as a major advance in women’s health in the past century. By virtue of their ability to prevent pregnancy in 99 percent of women who use them properly, oral contraceptives have revolutionized reproductive choices for women,” says the editorial.

How safe is the oral contraceptive, also known as “the pill”?

A study in 1986 did not show any association between oral contraceptive use and breast cancer. But ten years later, studies of oral contraceptive use showed that women had a slightly increased risk of breast cancer while on the pill. But there was no increase in the breast cancer rates 10 years after quitting the pill.

So, what’s the good news now?

A well-conducted, population-based study, published in the recent NEJM, shows no association between past or present use of oral contraceptives and breast cancer.

That indeed is very good news for women who are currently on the pill or who have been on the pill in the past.

And there is more good news in the NEJM!

Use of oral contraceptives reduces the risk of uterine cancer by 40 percent after 12 months of taking the pill. There is also a 40 percent reduction on the risk of ovarian cancer after as short a period as three to six months of use, and 10 or more years of use was associated with an 80 percent reduction in the risk of ovarian cancer.

But nothing is hundred percent safe in life. Use of the pill is associated with some side-effects in a small percentage of women. These are:

-Deep vein thrombosis (blood clot in the legs)
-Pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lungs)
-Stroke
-Liver cancer
-Heart attack in women over 35 years of age who smoke

But for most women, the advantages of the pill out weigh disadvantages. Besides the benefits mentioned earlier, there are other advantages to using the pill:

-Greater regularity of menstrual cycle
-Reduced menstrual blood loss and hence prevention of anaemia
-Reduced incidence of painful periods

Today, despite the threat of AIDS, users of oral contraceptives outnumber condom users by two to one. There are approximately 100 million women world-wide who use the pill. And these women should be thankful to a nurse named Margaret Sanger. In 1914, Sanger defiantly championed women’s right to have sex without fear of pregnancy in “The Woman Rebel”.

Based in Brooklyn, Sanger spread the gospel of voluntary motherhood relentlessly, says the Life Millennium book on the 100 most important events and people of the past 1000 years. Her birth control clinics were raided by the police and in 1914 she also faced an obscenity charge which was later dropped.

In 1960, six years before Sanger’s death, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the birth control pill. One of the developers of the pill, Dr. Gregory Pincus, dedicated his research to Sanger’s “pioneering resoluteness”. The pill was cheap, convenient and reliable. It instantly became popular with doctors and patients.

So where do we go from here?

Women’s right to have sex without fear of pregnancy has been established. The next challenge for the scientists is to develop a pill which will have no side-effects affecting the heart and the lungs.

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