SEX LIFE IMPAIRED BY ALCOHOL ABUSE

Alcohol abuse is the commonest cause of the first episode of secondary impotence among men in the United States, according to Domeena C. Renshaw, associate professor of psychiatry and director of the sexual dysfunction clinic at Loyola University of Chicago.

"When a man comes to you with impotence, please get a good history. Ask him how much alcohol there was on the very first time," she advised doctors attending a conference of the New Zealand College of General Practitioners.

Six ounces of hard liquor or the equivallent of beer will cause a partial frection in a male, Dr. Renshaw said.

"If he's upset about that, he''ll lose it completely. If he sleeps through the night for four hours or so he'll metabolize the alcohol and if he tries in the morning he'll be able to function"

"They usually don't do this. They go to work. They come home. They drink four on the way home, a few more before supper, a couple after, and one just befor bed. They try intercourse, the whole cycle repeats itself, and we really have a problem."

She said chronic alcoholism does something different, causing retarded ejaculation at a certain phase before a male has permanent impotence.

Dr. Renshaw said some pharmaceutical drugs, particularly Valium, interfere with sexual functioning by prevent climatic responses in women, and causing potency progblems in men.

Antihistamines, antihypersensives, and apparently nicotine, can also afffect secual performances, she added.

DON SAYS: Quite apparent - you don't use it you lose it. Somewhere in this equation the drinker (alcoholic) really has to make a decision, liquor or sex? Going with liquor means problems on the job, at home, strife in the family leading to anger, and fear for the future by the partner. Giving up drinking, (I mean completely) will smooth things on the home front. Try a little R and R with your loved one. Get away with she or he for a weekend somewhere far from home, at a motel, and try to recreate those lovely days when you were younger. It can be a healing process, to get your marriage and life back on track. But it will take will power, and alot of love and forgiveness by both parties.