I have been told that I have a beautiful voice. I am sometimes called upon to sing at functions, but I am always worried that my voice might sound awful. Also, my voice is affected badly if I breathe any cold air. My throat gets sore at times, and when I sing, I feel an urge to cough. Then my throat feels like it is coming apart.

You ought to have a doctor check out your ears, nose and throat to see if you have any ears, nose and throat disorders. For example, there may be some little problem in the sinuses that needs dealing with.

However, I suspect that - like many singers - you tend to get somewhat 'up tight' about your throat. When that happens, the singer's throat muscles go into a sort of muscle contraction situation.

That makes the throat feel sore and a little blocked, so that the singer has to cough. The remedy is to consult a good singing teacher, who can show you how to breathe properly and to relax the throat. I wish you well in your music career.

I am a 20-year-old girl and I am not sure whether I am still a virgin. Could you enlighten me, doctor? You see, one day recently, I was curious to see whether my period had started, so I pushed my index finger into my private part. When I took it out, there was no sign of the dark menstrual blood, but there were some real bright red spots on my finger. Also, it hurt a little bit. So is it possible that I have taken my own virginity?

Well, let us be quite clear about what virginity means. In Jamaican law, a woman is legally a virgin until a man has put a penis inside her. Then she ceases to be a virgin - even if the penis only goes in a short distance.

Similarly, in medical terms, a girl is considered a virgin until she first has intercourse. Most doctors would not diagnose 'loss of virginity' until they have seen evidence that a guy's organ has broken the hymen. This is the thin membrane - often termed 'the virgin's veil' - which blocks off most of the lower end of the vagina.

Now, it is perfectly possible for a young woman to break her own hymen with her finger. This often happens. Precisely the same occurs if a girl uses internal sanitary protection because the tampon will break the virgin's veil.

However, the mere fact that the hymen has been broken does not mean that the woman has lost her virginity, either legally or medically.

Yes, you may well have broken through your own hymen with your fingertip I must say that it is possible that it was only menstrual blood - rather than fresh blood from a torn hymen - that you saw on the finger.

Nevertheless, there is absolutely no way that you have 'taken away your own virginity'. Only a male can do that. So you are definitely still a virgin.

Doctor, I am guy of 19 and I am real worried about the fact that I have had so much sex - both with girls and on my own (masturbation). Is it true that if a young man has too many climaxes he will run out of sperm? I do not wish to become infertile or impotent.

Relax! There is still a widespread belief in a myth, which I think came to Jamaica a long ago from India, which suggests that a young guy can somehow 'run out of' or 'run short of' sperm.

That is quite impossible. No matter how many discharges you have, the little 'factories' in your testicles will continue making more sperm. So you can quit fretting.

I let my loving boyfriend have sex with me on the last day of my menses. Will this harm my health, as I have heard, doctor?

No, that cannot harm the health. But if you ever do it again, please remember that it is just possible to become pregnant during the last days of a period. So take care.

I got a bad hit in the testicle playing football recently. I have not lost my nature, and I still produce liquid when I discharge. Is it possible that the blow has done me any serious harm?

In view of what you say about your ability to get an erection and to climax, I think it unlikely that you have done yourself any harm. But, if you are still concerned, have a doctor check out your testicles.

I am 16 and female. Last Saturday night, I let a boy put his organ, just an inch or so, inside me and then he withdrew. Is there any chance that he has got me pregnant?

Unfortunately, there is. In sexual intercourse, even the slightest amount of penetration can cause pregnancy. So, too, can discharging over the outside of the girl's privates.

A great deal depends on whether this boy orgasmed or not. I hope he didn't. But it is possible for a guy to 'leak' some sperm, even before he climaxes.

Although the odds are that you will be OK, you will just have to wait and see whether your next menses arrive. Good luck.

I am 20 and think I might have caught a venereal disease. Is there any truth in what my friends say, that I could cure it by having sex with a virgin?

No, that is just a foolish old myth! All you would achieve is to give the VD to the poor virgin.

I urge you to go to a doctor or clinic in the next few days to get diagnosed and treated. Until you are OK, no sex please!

I am a guy of 18, and I have had a girlfriend for two years, and we engage in sexual activities. In fact, we normally have sexual intercourse two times for the week. My question is this: When I am not around her, I masturbate. Why?

Because you are a fairly highly sexed young man, that's why. Extensive studies in the United States have shown that guys of your age tend to have around four orgasms per week. They have also shown that if a virile teenager does not have sex with a girl for a while, then he tends to make up for it by masturbating.

So, you have nothing to worry about at all. However, I hope that whenever you go with your girlfriend, you are practising safe sex.

Two or three days after I have sex with my girlfriend she says her belly is hurting her. Why?

I don't think this is due to anything you have done unless your sexual activities have given her cystitis - in which case, she would also have urinary symptoms.

Really, a young woman who gets pain in the belly should have that belly checked out by a doctor.

Send your questions and comments to our doctor at editor@gleanerjm.com or fax: 922-6223. Don't miss your doctor's visit in tomorrow's Outlook magazine in The Sunday Gleaner.