I don't know what to title this, but it's *not* a gay practices thread..

General Questions
#1

So I’m a guy. I don’t have it, but have, off and on, wondered about prostate cancer in an idle kind of way.

I’m wondering if simple stimulation/activity of this gland would help to obviate problems with it.

So, I have a couple questions along this line-

Has anybody ever done any kind of work regarding the prostate cancer rates of gay men as they relate to the rates in straight men? What I’m saying is, has massage, as might occur during anal intercourse, been shown to reduce the incidence of prostate cancer?

And
The same question, except regarding the frequency of male ejaculation, whether hetero or homo- Is there a correlation between frquency of ejaculation and incidence of prostate cancer?

My supposition right now is that the more gland stimulation and or orgasms, the less chance of cancer, setting aside other factors for the moment.
Thanks,
inor

#2

So, your questions are, “Does massaging the prostate gland reduce your risk of prostate cancer?” and “Does frequency of ejaculation reduce your risk of prostate cancer?”

Eh, to quote your mom, your school librarian, and all of your junior high school teachers en masse: “if you look it up yourself, you’ll remember it better next time”. :slight_smile:

http://www.google.com

:slight_smile:

#3

Statistics are nice, but you are an individual, not an average. Have regular medical exams (annual if over age 40). Most prostate cancers can be detected early in a routine physical exam, and can be cured.

I have a cousin who died about a year ago, because he didn’t believe in annual medical exams, and his prostate cancer wasn’t detected until way, way, way too late.

#4

Thanks, I will- hadn’t thought of it-
But the questions are jsut one of those things I get to wondering about, and was, well, wondering…

Very sorry to hear about your cousin.
[sub]DDG- looking at this one and the other one, you pissed at me?

#5

I don’t know of any physiological reason why the absence or non-absence of massage or ejaculation would affect the prostate cancer rate. But IMNAMD. Ejaculation, however, does help an enlarged prostate. That’s why I do it often. :smiley:

#6

I seem to recall reading, in a recent issue of a men’s magazine*, that frequent (daily?) ejaculation reduced the chance of prostate cancer. I doubt it mentioned by how much …

*No, that’s not a euphemism for “pornography.” :slight_smile:

#7

[sub]Inor, sweetie, when I’m pissed at you, trust me, you’ll know it. Just scratching my head, is all. And I think guys should look up their own dang prostate research. Ain’t it bad enough we got “testicle” threads and “ejaculation” threads and “how do I make my penis bigger” threads out the wazoo in GQ alla time? You don’t see us gals starting “PMS” threads or “how do I make my tits bigger” threads in GQ alla time…[/sub]

:smiley:

#8

IANAD (yet)

One.

More ejaculation -> presumably more cellular shedding from the prostate -> more cellular division -> more chance for replication errors -> more chance for mutations in protooncogenes -> presumably higher risk of cancer.

Sorry to burst your bubble. Increased cell turnover has been implicated in many other cancers – HPV and cervical cancer, Crohn disease, Barrett’s esophagus.

Two.

Frequent ejaculation relieves pain in situations in which the prostate becomes clogged with infected secretions. This happens in prostatitis, and is quite painful. This is a hard condition to treat because the antibiotics don’t penetrate the inssipated secretions well. One needs chronic antibiotics. Some old school urologists may recommend masturbation or even prostate self-massage to keep things moving. I had a patient once give himself a full-thickness rectal tear trying to accomplish the latter with (errr) some mechanical aid. I told this story once in #straightdope, which caused a majority of the channel to flee. I won’t do it here.

#9

[sub]DDG- well, I don’t come to MPSIMS very often as you might have guessed- not an excuse. I know…
And, re: the bigger tits threads, thats only because the men haven’t thought of it…:smiley:

#10

I call it ‘Prostate Maintenance’ and practice it religiously!

#11

Fair point in some ways, but the guy does have valid concerns for his health. In Britain, don’t know about the US, there are a lot of support groups and clinics etc. for women’s health issues, and us girls tend to be pretty well informed on diseases like breast cancer. There doesn’t seem to be the same level of support or general awareness amongst the guys in terms of prostate cancer and testicular cancer, so information on the diseases might not be as easily accessible.

#12

I see what you’re saying, but you haven’t totally burst it yet- my thinking was along the lines of, sort of,

you work out your mind, your muscles, your tendons etc, it helps them, like you said, for some of those, it helps flush toxins, helps maintain/increase their health.

And, jsut paying attention to a body part, and lots of times, using it more, sometimes because of that conscious attention, makes it healthier.

Extremely unscientific, I know.
But not all knowledge started or has had to be verified in a lab…

I’m not disagreeing with you, just not taking your comments as the last word, yet.

And the HPV, all around, but especially in it’s relation to cervical, penile, and (from a sexually communicated HPV infection- oral sex, I mean) throat cancer- is there any kind of ‘last word’ on that? The info I’ve seen seems to be kind of contradictory.

Badtz- I like that. It’s what I’m gonna do from now on…:wink: