Oral Sex may cause cancer.

[cali]

Study: Rise in some cancers linked to oral sex
By Amanda Gardner, HealthDay

Updated Jan 29, 2011 3:00 PM |
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There's a worrisome uptick in the incidence of certain head and neck cancers among middle-aged and even younger Americans, and some experts link the trend to a rise in the popularity of oral sex over the past few decades.

The silver lining is that the HPV-related head and neck cancers are eminently more treatable than those attributable to smoking or drinking, even though they tend to be diagnosed at a later stage.

That's because the human papillomavirus (HPV) is a major trigger for these cancers, and HPV can be transmitted through this type of sexual activity.

"It seems like a pretty good link that more sexual activity, particularly oral sex, is associated with increased HPV infection," said Dr. Greg Hartig, professor of otolaryngology — head and neck surgery at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison.

According to Dr. William Lydiatt, professor and chief of head and neck surgical oncology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, the overall incidence of head and neck cancers is going down, largely because fewer people are smoking (tobacco and drinking are the major traditional risk factors).

But the incidence of cancers of the tonsil and base of the tongue have been going up over the past decades, he said. And those are the ones that are more likely to test positive for HPV.

<snip>

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/medical/cancer/story/2011/01/Study-Rise-in-some-head-and-neck-cancers-tied-to-oral-sex-/43056302/1

[JuniperLea]

1. No one wants to hear this, cali...

:rofl:

You're going to piss people off or something!

What a day... this OP wouldn't ordinarily crack me the hell up, but it does today.

[cali]

4. I posted it because it cracked me up

as for pissing people off... oh well.

[housewolf]

65. You think this is funny????? As someone who had throat cancer 35 yrs ago, probably due to HPV...

I guess I just don't see it that way.

I was 26 years old when diagnosed with cancer at the base of my tongue, metastisized into my neck. As a 26 yr old female, I didn't fit their profile - it was something mainly found in men over 60 who had smoked and drank alcohold most of their lives, not something that they found in 26 yr old females. Back in 1976, they had no idea what the cause might be.

The only protocol for treatment they had at UCLA Hospital was what they did for the 60 yr old+ men - a full course of radiation therapy to start with. Then they wanted to do 2 surgeries - the first to remove the cancerous lymph gland (and surrounding glands) in my neck, and the second to remove half my tongue and my right jawbone.

Very funny .... right?????? I was single, 26 yrs old, faced with hugely disfiguring surgery.

Instead, they did something called a radium implant - they took 3 pieces of radioactive material and threaded them through my neck into the base of my tongue and back out.

Those were the worst, most painful, days of my life. It felt like my throat was on fire, being burnt from the inside out. All in all, I had very nearly the lifetime maximum allowable amount of radiation within about a 4 month period.

Yes, I lived - I survived both the cancer and the treatment, for 35 years now. I'm one of the lucky ones, there are very few who have survived this long who had what I had.

And I've suffered every day since then from after-effects of radiation, to the point no where the muscles in my throat no long work and I can't swallow anything. My lungs are messed up from aspiration of food because of it. My neck has been disfigured since 1976 from the neck surgery. At this point, I've lost all the muscles, glands, etc from my neck. I look like that picture from Alice in Wonderland of Alice with the really long neck.

It was only in the last year that my head-and-neck dr mentioned to me that they think they know, now, what the cause is of head-and-neck cancers in young women - Human Papaloma Virus. Fortunately for me, I learned it from him instead of from you.

Do I have any idea who I might have "caught" this virus from??? Nope, not a clue, it's been too long ago. Not that it matters at this point, it doesn't. I've lived for 35 years with it's effects, and I can tell you ... they've been devestating. I'm 61 now. With any luck, I still have some years of dealing with the effects ahead of me.

[abq e streeter]

74. I'm so sorry this happened to you

I guess I understand the reaction among many to laugh and joke about the OP, but after seeing your post, I wish that these people had read your story first.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

79. Thank you for posting this and bless you in your struggle.

[JuniperLea]

78. It cracked me up too...

I was being sarcastic... but I'm always happy to hear you say the oh well bit:) You rock. Even when I don't agree with you.

[jpak]

2. well that sucks

:D

[cherokeeprogressive]

10. Totally blows. n/t

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

15. We're going to have to lick this one...

:P

[jpak]

19. Umm...that's a bit too much to swallow

:D

[The Doctor.]

26. Well, the article does leave a bad taste.

Makes me wanna :spray:

[Khan Descend]

11. Oral sex is a thermodynamic miracle

it sucks and blows at the same time.

:silly:

[flvegan]

3. Guess I gotta die of something.

[provis99]

5. oral is out, anal is out, vaginal is out...

Guess I'll give up sex and just sit in a corner and masturbate. Can I get hand cancer that way?

[Sonoman]

12. Get a blow-up doll.

Probably die from plastic poisoning.

Sonoman

[Maru Kitteh]

64. Latex allergies.

People don't start out with latex allergies, they get them from repeated exposure. :-)

[Arkana]

13. No, but you'll go blind, get hairy palms, and make God cry.

[Mz Pip]

34. And God will kill a kitten

Think of the kittens...

[redwitch]

14. No but you can go blind.

:-)

[Bake]

18. No, but you will go blind ...

:hi:

Bake

[Angry Dragon]

25. You will go blind

[kestrel91316]

33. No, you'll just go blind and then go to hell.

[postulater]

47. Out, out, out? No. More like in, out, in, out, in, out.

[bemildred]

6. It's worth it. nt

[cali]

9. that was my first thought

[Khan Descend]

7. My brother once had a case of gonorrhea of the big toe. His girl friend got

athlete's vagina...

[Sonoman]

8. I am so screwed....

For years, I dated a woman with HPV.

Guess what we did for fun - all of the time.

And that's just one...

Sonoman

[mistertrickster]

54. Actually, I think everybody has been exposed to HPV . . . most people just don't show symptoms. nt

[Warren DeMontague]

75. Something like 70% of the population has HPV, I think.

Anyway, smoking or tobbaco chewing? Those are habits I might regret at the end of my life, had I ever done them with any regularity.

But oral sex? Nah. I'll live with the risk.

[Toon Me Out]

16. interesting...thanks!

I emailed your link to a friend but she just doesn't swallow it.

[walldude]

23. ..

:spray:

[Nuclear Unicorn]

17. Who wants to live forever?

Especially without oral sex.

[Kalyke]

62. Is there a reason to live without oral sex?

:shrug:

[HockeyMom]

20. Did the religious pay them for this?

Missionary, married sex to make babies. And you better start having them when you are in your 20s!!!!!!

Why I stopped listening to "doctors" decades ago.

[cbdo2007]

21. I think Michael Douglas said on one of the talk shows that this is what caused his cancer.

Don't remember where I heard that but I remember him saying something like that because he use to go down on lots of women.

[mistertrickster]

58. Seriously? Doesn't he also smoke? nt

[avaistheone1]

71. Nope.

Michael Douglas was a heavy drinker and smoker that is what he credits with his oral cancer.
And there is a strong link between a histories of heavy drinking and smoking and oral cancers.

Another reason to suspect that Douglas's throat cancer is oropharyngeal cancer is his statement that the cancer probably was caused by smoking and drinking.

"Smoking is a major cause of oropharyngeal cancer," Har-El tells WebMD. "Drinking alcohol, as far as the statistics can tells us, is not as bad by itself. But the combination of drinking and smoking is the worst combination."

http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20100901/throat-cancer-faq

[walldude]

22. Yeah and sex before marriage causes brain tumors...

The study is hilarious. It's about as scientific as Creationism. Hmmm...

[Xithras]

39. The information is on fairly firm ground.

There's no question that HPV causes cancer. There's no question that HPV is spread via the sex organs. There is no question that performing oral sex on an HPV positive partner will result in some of the virus entering your mouth and throat. It's also firmly established that HPV is generally non-migratory, and lives or dies at whatever point it enters the body.

The only new data being presented here is the assumption that HPV can actually establish itself at infection sites in the throat. Given the fact that 70% of throat cancer patients are now testing HPV positive, it looks like the assumption may have some merit.

You'll note that this is NOT a study, but is merely information being presented by experts in the field. This is generally a precursor to an actual study, which will establish or disprove the theory.

[walldude]

50. It says "Study" in the OP and the link. And the "Study"

is bullshit. If it said "Oral Sex increases risk of HPV which can cause cancer" then fine. Oral sex can also increase the risk of many other sexually transmitted diseases some of which can cause DEATH if not treated. Oral sex is no less safe today then it was the day it was first performed. So to me the whole thing stinks of some asshole trying to impose his pathetic morals on the rest of us.

[Hannah Bell]

69. It's been known for a long time that various HPV viruses cause a variety of cancers.

Not the first study by a long shot.

I don't find it a bit surprising; I already assumed it was the case.

[Bake]

24. Is that what happened to old Colonel Angus?

:hi:

Bake

[postulater]

48. Colonel Angus? I loves me some Colonel Angus!

[WCGreen]

51. and don't forget that old blow hard, Connie Lingus

[cherokeeprogressive]

56. Connie Lingus was a cunning runt. n/t

[Fuddnik]

27. I'm going to have to conduct further experiments.

Looking for volunteers.

[tridim]

28. Studies show that Cannabis users have less neck and throat cancer..

So, smoke up before you go down.

[muntrv]

29. Boy this blows.

[The Straight Story]

30. From what I have learned here - ban it, because it cost money (more important than freedom)

If something impacts health care costs, we need to ban it or at least tax it to offset the health case costs associated with it.

If you are for taxes on smokers, then you are for this as well.

[underpants]

31. second knuckle deep - point it back at your nose

have at it

and die younger but everyone is happy

[backscatter712]

32. Has Gardasil ever been tested on guys?

We've already got a vaccine against HPV, assuming we can put it on the list of vaccines routinely given to kids.

Of course, in this case, not only do we have to fight off the anti-vax loonies, we have to fight off the fundies who actually want people "living in sin" to get cancer, because the imaginary bipolar skydaddy said sex was naughty.

[JackDragna]

35. Great..now my girlfriend has even more of an excuse.

:P :)

[bullwinkle428]

36. Great - like women needed another excuse!

:hide:

[dixiegrrrrl]

37. I only have one thing to say about it

[marmar]

38. .................

[ElboRuum]

40. This sucks. n/t

[pokerfan]

41. sucks and blows at the same time (nt)

[JackDragna]

42. Not anymore it doesn't!

Ba dow!

[silverlib]

43. I found this thread from 2007 - Oral Sex Causes Cancer - LOL

Just a few days ago, I was looking for another of many threads I've bookmarked over the years. I saw this one and wondered what I was thinking when I bookmarked this one! And here we are again, several years later...

And it was in the LOUNGE! (and with some similar funny responses).

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6809955#6809993

[rug]

44. Some things are worth dying for.

[Canuckistanian]

45. I think this is a misdiagnosis

He found out that "overall incidence of head and neck cancers is going down", and misunderstood.

:D

[Nikia]

46. Many people forget about protection when it comes to oral sex

And are at risk of developing sexually transmitted diseases because of it. I have to admit that I never used protection during oral sex although I have been monogamous since I was 19. Is oral sex with protection any fun? Doesn't latex taste kind of bad? Despite this, people need to be educated about the very real possibilities of tranmission and that protection is necessary for this form of intimacy too.

[originalpckelly]

53. There are flavored condoms.

I've never used them, though. So I can't say as to how they taste. I've probably already been infected though.

[postulater]

49. Oral sex? Isn't that just when you talk about it?

[Codeine]

52. Better hide this thread before my girlfriend sees it!

:evilgrin:

[Hugabear]

55. Life is a terminal disease

You're going to die of something eventually. You're either going to get some form of cancer, or your organs are just going to give out. Why not have fun and enjoy life.

[Hugabear]

57. Don't forget that abortion causes cancer as well...

Or at least so I'm told by the anti-choice crowd...

:sarcasm:

[somone]

59. What are they going to go after next?

[Tsiyu]

61. I only have one question

who will be the lucky poster of

Post #69?


Love the pin. :rofl:

[JuniperLea]

81. OFFS...

#69 was deleted! Well if that doesn't just break my heart!

:rofl:

[SaveAmerica]

60. heh heh "the overall incidence of head and neck cancers is going down

they always know just what to write

[eleny]

63. i laughed, i cried, i spit

[Montauk6]

66. This news doesn't go down very well...

[guitar man]

67. oh no

I'm a dead man :(

[TriMera]

68. Uh, oh! n/t

[merh]

70. I've always thought that dying while you do something you love

is a cool way to go.

If you got to get cancer there are worst ways to get it.

[jberryhill]

72. Any Sex Causes Cancer - But it's just the cigarette afterward

[bluedigger]

73. Life is risky.

[intaglio]

76. I have also heard that

Oral Roberts causes stupidity :evilgrin:

[FLPanhandle]

77. So does that steak I grill on charcoal, so does being out in the sun, now oral sex

I'm doomed, but happy.

Hiding from every cause of cancer is no way to fully live.

[lawodevolution]

80. I've gone down on every gf I've had and it's something I enjoy, and I also like beef jerky which can

Cause stomach cancer. Not going to stop doing either of them. At least I don't smoke.