Photo Illustration: James Porto
|
Sex, Drugs, Rock 'n' Roll
By Sue Woodman, originally published in My Generation
The Damage Done: A Health Report
|
Do you ever wonder if your daily hunt for your glasses has anything to do with those magic mushrooms you took in 1971? Or whether the painful years of infertility you endured could be linked to the stranger you went home with after a party one night when you were 22?
For most of us, the days of multiple sex partners, fistfuls of drugs and cranking Led Zeppelin up to maximum decibels are long gone. Today, we try to at least exercise and take vitamins and, most of the time, feel we're holding our own against mortality.
So what became of the dire predictions that drugs would demolish our brain cells, that changing sexual partners would harm us and that rock music would blow out our eardrums?
We're not the only ones wondering. Across the country—in universities and hospitals, in cancer labs and neurobiology centers—medical and social scientists are examining the alleged fallout of sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll on our brains, organs and well-being.
The results are complex, sometimes influenced as much by politics as by science. The short answer: If you did it then but don't do it now, you're probably fine. "The human body is amazing in its ability to heal over time," says Richard Seymour, managing editor of the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs. The longer answer, though, is often not as optimistic. Below is the latest information on the potential lingering effects of your crazy, hazy youth.
SEX
The sexual revolution brought some important gains, notably the birth of the women's health movement, with its emphasis on sexual, as well as reproductive, well-being. But that freedom came at a price. Baby boomers have lived through numerous medical disasters as a result of their sexual habits—including injuries and pelvic inflammation from contraceptives such as the Dalkon Shield IUD and from epidemics of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Many of these STDs have contributed to serious illnesses that are surfacing only now.
For example, women who contracted the human papillomavirus (HPV) are at higher risk for developing cervical cancer, which strikes some 12,800 women a year. This disease often develops when women are between the ages of 40 and 60, and HPV is now recognized as its leading cause, says Dr. Richard Rothenberg, a physician at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta.
Fortunately, an annual Pap smear can detect abnormal cervical cells before they become malignant. Experts strongly suspect that the rise in chlamydia, a common bacterial STD, may have contributed to the increase in couples who suffered fertility problems in the 1980s.
"Women were also postponing having children at that time [and fertility declines with age], so there were other causes," says Dr. Ward Cates, president of Family Health International, a nonprofit health research and information organization in North Carolina. "But we know that there was suddenly a time in the mid-eighties when visits to infertility specialists went up. A lot of women in their thirties were trying to get pregnant and couldn't."
Far worse, many physicians believe that the powerful infertility drugs women took may have increased their risk of ovarian cancer. Fertility drugs cause ovulation, and the more a woman ovulates, the greater her risk of developing cancerous cellular changes in her reproductive organs, according to the National Cancer Institute. The drugs also raise certain hormone levels that may heighten the cancer risk. The data are still inconclusive, but there is evidence that women who used fertility drugs but didn't conceive have an increased chance of ovarian cancer. (Women who became pregnant show no higher incidence of the disease.)
"I have come to believe there's a link (between fertility drugs and ovarian cancer), though in my circles, it's not politically correct to say so," concludes Dr. Mitchell Essig, a New York City gynecologist and infertility specialist. If you underwent infertility treatment, inform your doctor and be vigilant about having regular, thorough gynecological examinations.
|
