U - Use It or Lose It (#AtoZChallenge)

This is a very common advertising slogan to buy soon and not put off a purchase. But like all good slogans, there is an element of truth in it in many walks of life, from physical fitness, to mental acuity to sexual fitness.

Image, from e-book by Violet Karma
at GoodReads

I was reminded of it again recently in researching ED recovery programs - I'll get back to this later. This in turn reminded me of a conversation with one of my favourite Ladies of Pleasure. I had been seeing her on and off for almost ten years. During some of our pillow talks, we discussed her outside alternative work and relationships. It seems her husband had left her, which left her hard up financially and relatively unskilled. So she turned to sex work to support her family. For alternative work, she had tried directing traffic at road construction, packing boxes in a distribution centre, a little bit of personal training in her body building hobby/sport. At our last meeting, she told me she had just obtained her heavy duty truck driving license. I asked if this meant she would be giving up her sex work. She told me she couldn't because she loved the sex too much - it was a matter of 'use it or lose it'. Because of the way her marriage broke up, she had no desire to have a man back in her life, but didn't want to lose the enjoyment of sex.

As I studied medical journal articles about recovering from Erectile Dysfunction after prostate cancer radiotherapy, the common theme coming through, was the need for prolonged, ongoing therapy to support the healing and regeneration of prostate tissue, cavernosum blood vessels and nerves. Daily low dose Viagra helped blood flow, vacuum pump and masturbation forced stretching if not full-on erection. But over time there has been improvement, so once this COVID-19 lockdown is over, I will be ready to get back in the saddle for a 2nd 'test drive'.

So not only does 'use it or lose it' apply, but in rehabilitation, 'use it to recover it' is key. I see this frequently in medical rehabilitation, eg. regaining use of limbs, walking, writing or speech after a stroke.

 

Click to see who else is taking the challenge.