Men: What Your Sex Life Says About Your Health
Sex scene #5: Your penis aches while you're having intercourse.
It might be: Peyronie's disease
Peyronie's disease, an uncommon condition that can develop at any age, is the formation of abnormal scar tissue under the penile skin, which can cause a hardened spot in the middle or make the penis bend slightly when erect. It's often simply noticed as a constant discomfort during intercourse. "Some guys come in and say, 'My penis just aches when I have sex,'" Mulhall says.
What to do: Always take pain as a sign something's amiss -- and tell your doctor. Peyronie's cause is unknown, but it's not an STD or a cancer. (It sometimes runs in families.) There's no surefire treatment, although surgery is often successful.
Sex scene #6: Your partner, touching you, asks, "Hey, what's that?"
It might be: Testicular cancer
Testicular cancer is asymptomatic -- it doesn't hurt. But it often presents as a painless bump or swelling on the testicle, which can be detected through self-exam (a good monthly habit) or by a partner's roaming hands during sex.
What to do: Testicular cancer has a near-100-percent cure rate in early stages, so don't ignore a lump; get yourself to a doctor. The best time for self-exams: standing up in a hot shower, when your muscles are relaxed.
Sex scene #7: You ejaculate way too quickly.
It might be: Hyperthyroidism
Premature ejaculation (PE) -- climaxing either before intercourse or very soon after it begins -- is the bane of younger men but can strike at any age. How soon is too soon is a relative issue, but a general rule of thumb is that PE is a problem when it routinely strikes without any control within a couple of minutes of insertion and sooner than either partner would like. As many as one in three men experience it at some point in their lives. Psychological issues (too excited, too immature, guilt) were once blamed for all cases, but doctors now know there can be physical causes, especially a malfunctioning thyroid (the gland responsible for making and storing key regulatory hormones).
"For some men, the only symptom of hyperthyroidism is premature ejaculation," Mulhall says. One 2005 study found that fully half of men with a malfunctioning (hyper) thyroid complained of PE.
What to do: Though premature ejaculation is hard for many men to talk about, it's highly treatable. If blood tests and an exam point to hyperthyroidism, medication can return your sex life to normal. And if your thyroid checks out OK? Therapies that thwart PE include breathing exercises, distraction, using a condom to diminish sensation, and behavioral therapies. SSRI-class antidepressants are also prescribed because, Tierney says, in healthy people without PE, they cause delayed orgasm.
