Prostate Expert Dr. Rick Wirtz shares Prostate management news and commentary at ProstateCommons.com. The HealthCentral Network, Inc. (www.HealthCentral.com) is one of the top health destinations on the Web, with more than 35 condition-specific, wellness and general health Web properties. http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/rss self application/xml en-us 15 120 19 http://www.healthcentral.com/images/hc_logo_sm.gif http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3441/bedroom-part-3 Fri, 02 Feb 2007 15:31:55 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz Over the past two weeks I have addressed some of the physical issues that are involved in the sexual difficulties of individuals with chronic illness. This week I want to mention briefly another of these common issues and then touch on some of the emotional issues that have to be tackled.Among the physical difficulties is an often over looked influence, fatigue. Whether the fatigue is from the disease, surgery, or some other form of treatment... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3441/bedroom-part-3 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3442/bedroom-part-2 Thu, 25 Jan 2007 15:13:48 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz Although we know so much more about serious, life threatening diseases than we used to there are still many unanswered questions and many myths and fears that live on unnecessarily. We might find ourselves laughing at the idea that cancer is contagious and could be passed back and forth between people, but trust me, if you have had at least a momentary fear about being sexually intimate because of the nature of the contact, you are not... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3442/bedroom-part-2 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3085/elephant-bedroom Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:55:07 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz Having cancer or any other chronic illness brings lots of changes to our lives. In fact, not very much is left unchanged once we have received the diagnosis and undergo surgery or treatment. So it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that our sexual lives will be affected!Let’s face it, we have such a hard time talking about sex and negotiating our sexual needs under the best of circumstances that it’s no wonder that we would really have... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/3085/elephant-bedroom http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2864/cancer-part-3 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:58:09 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz During the past two weeks I have written about just a few of the reasons why people some times “shut down” or stop talking about their thoughts and feelings after receiving a diagnosis of cancer or some other life threatening disease. If you are a family member or loved one this can be very disturbing because you have no way of knowing for sure what’s going on in their head. This obviously can be the source of worry and concern about your... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2864/cancer-part-3 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2863/cancer-part-2 Fri, 15 Dec 2006 08:56:55 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz Last week, in an attempt to address a question that a colleague of mine posed, I wrote about just a few of the factors that may cause someone to not want to talk about their illness and their thoughts and feelings about the process of testing, diagnosis, and treatment. If you missed it, you might want to go back and take a look before you read on. As I pointed, not talking may be a way for the person with the disease to manage or control their... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2863/cancer-part-2 http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2699/diagnosis-cancer Fri, 17 Nov 2006 06:33:02 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz During the past several weeks I’ve been writing a lot about communication and the factors that influence it. The topic is so interesting and complex that I could write about different facets of it for months and only begin to scratch the surface. When you think about the many ways in which we communicate, both verbal and non-verbal, there’s a lot to look at. A few months ago, a colleague of mine asked me if I would write a piece on what... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2699/diagnosis-cancer http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2655/health-part-ii Fri, 10 Nov 2006 04:41:00 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz Last week we took a peek into the depths of Eeyore’s personality and looked at how his pessimistic demeanor would affect how he takes care of himself and how he might manage a serious illness. It seemed pretty clear from our highly unscientific look at the gloomy, gray guy that he would probably not be a major spokesman for wellness approaches or be likely to follow through with his doctor’s orders. But this is not the only way in which his... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2655/health-part-ii http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2630/affects-health Fri, 03 Nov 2006 06:28:55 -0500 Dr. Rick Wirtz We take our personality with us wherever we go—to work, school, in our relationships, on the golf course—everywhere. In fact, our personalities are reflected in everything we do. They are reflected in the TV shows we like to watch, what foods we eat, how much we drink, our hobbies, political affiliations, etc. So it would only make sense that our personality would be reflected in how we manage our health and the way we react to illness... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2630/affects-health http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2590/silver-lining Thu, 26 Oct 2006 04:42:21 -0400 Dr. Rick Wirtz There are lots of different sayings that have communicated the idea that good stuff often comes out of bad situations. In fact, this is not a new idea because some of those sayings are quite old. Whether it’s cancer, heart disease or any other potentially life threatening, chronic medical conditions, there is almost always something positive that comes out of it. The almost universal gift is actually to the person with the disease and comes... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2590/silver-lining http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2528/loving-silence Fri, 20 Oct 2006 05:33:31 -0400 Dr. Rick Wirtz I hope you’ll forgive me for being so serious but, as you may know from last week’s blog, a wonderful woman in our community lost her battle with cancer less than two weeks ago and it has stirred up a lot for me personally. Having lost my first wife to breast cancer 16 years ago, I found a lot of similarities in the experiences of my wife and this woman, as well as in the experiences of her husband and me. What I have found myself thinking... http://www.healthcentral.com/prostate/c/64/2528/loving-silence