Sex+health

Cancer can be isolating, and it’s easy to see where friends and family members who haven’t personally dealt with cancer—and if they have, probably haven’t dealt with your specific cancer—aren’t able to fully relate and a patient can feel alone in some ways. The volunteer chapter leaders who work with ASHA’s National Cervical Cancer Coalition (NCCC) understand this well; many chapter leaders are cervical cancer survivors or patients, others are family members who lost a loved one to the disease. In honor of Gynecologic Cancer Awareness Month comes to a close, ASHA’s Fred Wyand asked NCCC chapter leaders to share their insights around what NCCC offers, coping with treatment and follow-up, and anything else they think women and families should know when it comes to dealing with cervical cancer. Fred shares their responses in this episode of ASHA’s Sex+Health podcast and underscores the need for support and the value in finding others who really understand and appreciate what a patient is going through.

Cervical cancer screening used to all be so simple—women were told just go for your annual Pap. But now we have new tests to screen for cervical cancer, plus updated guidelines that, for most women, mean routine screening is done every few years rather than annually. The changes are confusing not only to women but their healthcare providers, too. So to sort all this out, we’re talking today with Dr. Warner Huh, Division Director and Professor in the Division of Gynecologic Oncology at the University of Alabama, Birmingham.

Most sexually active individuals are estimated to have one or more infections in their lifetime with the human papillomavirus (HPV) and, not surprisingly, ASHA receives countless HPV questions like: What should I tell a partner? Will I always have it? How are HPV tests used? How well do vaccines work? In this episode, H. Hunter Handsfield, MD, covers these and other common questions about HPV. Dr. Handsfield is Professor Emeritus of Medicine, University of Washington Center for AIDS and STD, and former director of the Sexually Transmitted Diseases Control Program for Public Health—Seattle & King County, Seattle, Washington. He recently completed six years as a member of ASHA’s Board of Directors.

Fred Wyand talks to Walker Thornton, M.Ed, about reigniting the spark your sex life and communicating about sexual pleasure. Thornton writes extensively about sexuality, relationships, sexual health, and caregiving, with a special focus on sexual health and aging.

Human papillomavirus, or HPV, is a common sexually transmitted infection. So common that most (~80%) of sexually active people will be infected with HPV at some point. While it is often harmless, it can cause genital warts and even lead to cervical cancer. In this episode of ASHA’s Sex+Health podcast, Fred Wyand talks to Ina Park, MD, assistant professor at University of California, San Francisco School of Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine, about HPV, from genital warts, cervical cancer vaccines, the stigma associated with warts “below the waistline,” talking to partners about HPV, and more.

We have an abundance of accurate, relatively inexpensive tests for sexually transmitted infections (STIs) but the trick is engaging patients and health professionals so the proper tests are given to the right individuals. In this episode of ASHA’s Sex+Health podcast we chat with J. Dennis Fortenberry, MD, MS, professor of pediatrics and medicine at Indiana University School of Medicine, about barriers to STI testing and what we can do to empower patients and providers alike.

Long-acting reversible contraception, or LARC, is reversible birth control that provides long-lasting (think years) pregnancy prevention. LARC methods, which include intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants, are highly reliable, but they don’t prevent STIs. For this reason, many choose to use (and health professionals recommend) condoms in addition to a LARC method. Dual use of condoms and LARC thus offers couples dual prevention. ASHA’s Fred Wyand (a.k.a. Fredo) discusses dual use of LARC and condoms in the latest episode of ASHA Sex+Health podcast. Fred explains the facts about LARC and the added benefit of dual use of LARC and condoms to prevent STIs.