WesWELL

The WesWELL Resource Library, located in Room 204 of the Davison Health Center, houses a collection of books, journals, periodicals, brochures, and videos on various health and wellness issues. Our stock of free safer sex supplies is also located in the same room. 

Many students access the Resource Library for personal information, research for a project, or to help a friend or family member.  Residence Life student staff may want to pick up ready-made “Bulletin Boards in a Bag”, the well-known brown paper “condom bags”, or even health-oriented posters for bulletin boards. A copier is available for making small quantities of copies of materials for personal use or for posting in your living area.

To search our online catalog of our books and videos, click here. Or from the main page of the Olin Library website, click on Departmental Collections, then WesWELL.  

The Library is open the same hours as Health Services, although WesWELL staff members are typically not present during evening and weekend hours. If you have a question, contact the staff at 860.685.2466 or by email at weswell@wesleyan.edu.

Click on FYI in the Categories list to view other informational posts about WesWELL’s services and offerings.

File this one under “Not the way I would have gone about it, but hey, whatever works”.  According to an article released by the UPI, a cow ramming a Scottish woman’s stomach led to a cervical cancer diagnosis. Here’s the full article:

A Scottish woman said she is glad a cow rammed its head into her stomach because the injury prompted an examination that revealed she had cancer. Linlithgow, Scotland, resident Sarah Kerr, 32, was in a pasture feeling stomach pain she blamed on indigestion when a cow head-butted her in the abdomen, the Edinburgh (Scotland) Evening News reported Wednesday. Kerr said she was surprised to learn the stomach pain she felt prior to the blow from the cow was caused by cervical cancer, the report said.

“If it hadn’t been for that accident with the cow I don’t know what would have happened,” she said.

It is reported if Kerr had waited any longer to treat the cancer, the disease would have likely spread to a highly dangerous level.

The more conventional way of discovering cervical cancer, of course, is through a pap smear which is typically included in a gynecological exam. Wesleyan students may schedule an appointment during the academic year for a sexual health visit with Health Services by calling 860.685.2470.

Educational efforts on sexual violence prevention typically place a strong focus on communication, especially on the giving and receiving of consent to particiate in sexual activity. As thorny as it can be to define what consent looks and sounds like, what if your attempts to communicate your intention are completely misinterpreted?

Dr. Louanne Weston Cole, in her Sex Matters blog at WebMD.com, shares an intriguing study on the differences between men and women in how they interpret words differently in sexual situations:

I was reading an article about a new book, Studies in Applied Interpersonal Communication, by Michael Motley, a University of California at Davis professor. He did an interesting study on how males and females interpret what females say when in the very early stages of sexual kissing.

When a female says, “It’s getting late,” she means that she wants to stop what they’re doing and go their separate ways. If she finished her sentence, it would go, “I should already be home in bed - alone.” Most males in this study, however, interpreted this to mean that she wants to skip the preliminaries and go forward a bit more quickly.

Or, if a woman says, “I’m seeing someone else,” (meaning that she wants to stop because her affections are really with another man), males tend to think this means, “Keep going, but let’s be discreet,” or “Keep going, but I want you to know that I’m not making a commitment.”

Motley concludes that in their efforts to not offend or upset their male partners with direct and forceful words, women are merely confusing them. He found out that men would prefer to hear it loud and clear, even if it smarts a little bit, rather than trying to read the woman’s mind and risk offending her and/or losing the sexual opportunity. read full article…

While the research is a bit locked up in the gender binary and heterosexual relationships, it still illustrates an important point: what we say may not be what is heard. It’s extraordinarily difficult to get what you want (and avoid what you don’t) if your attempts to communicate your intentions aren’t interpreted correctly.

Discussion Questions:
What does this mean for how we should be communicating with our partners?
Would being more forceful and direct in what we say solve the problem?
Or could our words continue to be misinterpreted even when said with conviction?
How do our cultural attitudes about sex and gender stereotypes play into this?

Wesleyan Resources:
Sexual Violence information
Emotional Abuse information
Sexual Misconduct Policy
Office of Behavioral Health for Students

Preventing prostate cancer can be fun? Huh?  Well, it seems that regular masturbation and ejaculation provides a protective effect from prostate cancer. (Who knew?) Here’s the scoop from New Scientist:

A team in Australia led by Graham Giles of The Cancer Council Victoria in Melbourne asked 1079 men with prostate cancer to fill in a questionnaire detailing their sexual habits, and compared their responses with those of 1259 healthy men of the same age. The team concludes that the more men ejaculate between the ages of 20 and 50, the less likely they are to develop prostate cancer.

The protective effect is greatest while men are in their twenties: those who had ejaculated more than five times per week in their twenties, for instance, were one-third less likely to develop aggressive prostate cancer later in life (BJU International, vol 92, p 211). read full article…

If preventing all forms of cancer were this fun, I think the world would be a much better place, don’t you?  

If you haven’t had the pleasure of watching the podcasts for the Midwest Teen Sex Show, now’s your chance. Their latest installment is on Sex, Drugs & Alcohol.

or view it here.

Medical News Today offers a great video that reviews your testing options for HIV:

Click here: Fast and Easy HIV Testing

Health Services offers testing services for Wesleyan students at low and reasonable costs.

Go Ask Alice!, Columbia University’s Health Q & A Internet Service, answers a question from a person who is curious about the effects of her prescribed Adderall on her sexual feelings and behavior.

Q: Dear Alice,

I am a teenage girl currently taking Adderall (20 mg) to treat my ADHD. My question: does taking this medication affect sexual wantings or behavior? I am supposed to start taking it at 7:00am so it will wear out at about 9:00 or 9:30pm. Since I go out later at night, my medicine is usually worn off before I engage in any kind of sexual activity. But sometimes on weekends I wake up late and have to take it at later times such as 12:00 or 1:00pm. Since then it will not wear off until after I go out, would being on Adderall affect my sexual behavior? I feel like I am less “horny” when on Adderall and sex is worse because of the lack of my desires. Does this have anything to do with my medicine or is it just a coincidence?

A: Dear Reader,

Kudos to you for recognizing that medications can sometimes have unanticipated side effects — your lack of sexual desire may not just be a coincidence. It’s important to talk with a health care professional about the specific effects of Adderall, especially if you are considering altering your medication regimen.

Adderall is an amphetamine used to treat ADHD. Amphetamines are stimulants that have been shown to help with the symptoms of ADHD. Adderall’s potential side effects include:

• Headache
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Loss of appetite
• Stomach pain
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Weight loss
• Diminished sex drive
• Impotence

As you can see, it’s possible that your medication is related to your lower sex drive. Taking your medication far in advance of sexual activity may help with your lack of desire. Would it be possible to wake up at your normal time on weekends to take the medication, and then go back to sleep? If this isn’t feasible, you can talk with your health care professional about other options. Don’t change your dose or skip a dose without discussing it with her/him; you don’t want to jeopardize your health.

Also consider other medications you may be taking or habits you may have on the weekends. For example, some women report lowered sex drive from hormonal birth control, some people have sexual side-effects from depression or anti-anxiety medications, and some people who use alcohol or other drugs can experience sexual side effects. If any of these factors play a role in your life, you may want to consider their impact in addition to the possible impacts of Adderall when speaking with a health care provider. Keeping a journal of when you take Adderall or any other medications or substances and when you experience lower sex drive may also help you pinpoint a pattern and make a plan of action.

Good luck figuring out what is impacting your sex drive. Remember, don’t stop taking any prescription medications without speaking with your health care provider first; withdrawal effects may be even less desireable than low sexual desire!

No matter how you feel about Williams, their Peer Health program has a great web page on keeping oral sex safer. While their focus is on HIV prevention, using barrier protection during oral sex can also reduce your risk of contracting other sexually transmitted infections. Go here to read it.

If you are a Wesleyan student and need safer sex supplies, stop by WesWELL’s Resource Library in Davison Health Center 204 whenever Health Services is open: Monday through Thursday 9am to 7pm, Friday 9am to 5pm and Saturdays 12pm to 4pm.

The Mayo Clinic, in answering a question from a male reader named John, indicates that it is possible – though relatively uncommon – for a man to contract a genital yeast infection through sexual activity. Read on…

Q: Can I get a yeast infection from my girlfriend? I thought only women got yeast infections.

 A: It’s possible for a man to contract a genital yeast infection if he has unprotected sexual intercourse with a partner who has a genital yeast infection. However, just because your girlfriend has a yeast infection doesn’t mean you will get one too. Sexual transmission of yeast infections is uncommon.

Many people are under the impression that only women get genital yeast infections, but men get them too. Prolonged antibiotic use increases the risk of a yeast infection. Also, men with diabetes or impaired immune systems, such as those with HIV, are more susceptible to yeast infections.

Signs and symptoms of a male yeast infection include a reddish rash, itching or burning at the tip of the penis. Fortunately, most male yeast infections are easily treated with an over-the-counter antifungal treatment, such as Monistat (yes, men can use it too). Apply the medication directly to the affected skin twice daily for a week. If the rash doesn’t go away, or if it recurs frequently, consult your doctor.

If you and your partner have symptoms of genital yeast infection, it’s important that you both be treated. Otherwise, you may keep reinfecting each other. Also, it’s generally recommended that you refrain from sexual contact until all signs and symptoms of the infection are gone.

Go Ask Alice! , Columbia University’s Health Q & A Internet Service, answers this great question about HPV:

Q: I have read a lot about HPV. I have read that most strains clear within 2 years. Does this mean that the genital warts associated with the virus will clear also? I understand that it is types 6 and 11 of the HPV virus that cause warts and that they are low risk types. Is this also true?

A: A well-informed person is often well equipped to protect themselves, and you certainly seem to be well-informed. You are right that, in many cases, HPV symptoms disappear on their own within two years. Research has shown, for example, that 90 percent of women with cervical HPV have no visible symptoms after two years. One study even suggested that many symptoms can clear within six months. But just because someone has no symptoms doesn’t mean that the virus itself has also cleared from the body. In some cases your body may have developed antibodies that suppress HPV to the point that it is undetectable on tests, or may have at least suppressed any symptoms of HPV, however the virus may still technically be present.

One of the difficulties of HPV is that some people have no symptoms, so it’s difficult to tell whether someone has the virus or not, even if s/he is wart-free. For this reason it’s also difficult to tell if someone is contagious.

You’re also right that two particular strains of HPV — called types 6 and 11 — are low-risk for cervical or anal cancer, yet they can cause visible warts on the genitals. Types 6 and 11 are in fact responsible for most visible genital warts, however other strains can sometimes cause warts as well. Also, it’s possible for a person to be infected with more than one strain of HPV at the same time.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is a sexually transmitted infection (STI) that can cause warts to appear on the genitals (and sometimes other parts of the body as well). The virus can also be present in the body with no symptoms at all (which is common with many STIs). More than 100 different strains of HPV exist and around 30 of them can be sexually transmitted to and from the genitals. Some of these 30+ strains are referred to as high-risk and can lead to cervical and anal dysplasia and/or cancer. Other HPV strains that are not likely to cause pre-cancerous or cancerous lesions are designated as low-risk.

Because strains of the virus can be asymptomatic (meaning they cause no symptoms), health care providers generally focus on treating the lesions caused by the virus when/if they appear and looking out for warning signs of cervical and anal cancer. A test called a Pap smear helps a provider identify irregular and possibly dangerous cells on a woman’s cervix. Fortunately, a new vaccine that can prevent HPV infection was approved by the FDA in 2006. The vaccine protects against 4 of the strains of HPV (including types 6 and 11, as well as types 16 and 18, which together cause 70 percent of cervical cancer). The vaccine is a series of three shots and currently recommended for females aged 9 to 26 years. Read more in the response to HPV vaccine.

If you’re concerned about HPV, cervical, or anal cancer, and/or the general sexual health of you and/or your partner(s), a discussion with your health care provider would be the place to start. In the meantime, using condoms and other safer sex techniques can go a long way toward reducing the risk of STIs for you and your partner(s). 

Keeping on top of your sexual health can help keep you in tip-top shape in the bedroom. What incentive to keep yourself informed!Wesleyan Students: Contact Health Services at 860.685.2470 to make an appointment for a sexual health visit, to start the Gardasil HPV vaccine series, or with any questions.