SEXUALITY AND CANCER

During treatment, you may feel a certain "sexual fatigue. Apart cancers directly affect sexual organs, the slowdown of desire is most often normal and passenger. For cancers affecting the pelvis or abdomen, treatment (surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy ...) can prevent sex for some time. Furthermore blockages physical, psychological blocks may also occur. It is essential to talk with your doctor and especially with your partner, who also needs to be reassured.

The resumption of sexual life for man

→ Is Cancer Contagious? The lack of contagion of cancer is a certainty.

→ Following treatment, a man can resume normal sexual activity?

There is nothing objectionable, in fact, in the cases of cancer are not directly area male sex "sexual fatigue" and reduced libido are common and are only temporary. Factors both psychological and physiological come into play. Indeed, the mechanisms depend on the sexual secretion of hormones such as testosterone, whose secretion can be disturbed by the treatments. Psychological factors and fatigue are also involved in restoring a normal sex life.

Remember to talk to your doctor, but above all, with your partner. He / She needs to be reassured (e), in his fear of wearying you or hurt you. However, the situation is somewhat different for people who suffered from cancer that directly affect the sexual area (prostate, testis, Hodgkin's disease or ostomy).

→ What are the consequences of testicular cancer on male sexuality? First, we must know that to remove a testicle affects neither the desire nor the capacity for erection and ejaculation. Left testis is able to provide only the production of sperm. The erectile dysfunction after pelvic radiation therapy are common but reversible.

Proportional to the dose of radiation received, they are explained by damage to nerves and vessels which make impossible a blood supply sufficient for an erection. Finally, some treatments such as pelvic lymphadenectomy also lead to ejaculation. The duration of these disorders is highly variable. Therefore, if the patient wishes to eventually have a child, we propose to do before processing a sample of semen to be frozen. Check with your doctor.

→ What are the consequences of prostate cancer on male sexuality? Radical prostatectomy (prostate removal) is almost always followed by impotence. To reduce this risk, less invasive techniques are still under review at present (laparoscopic prostatectomy). Radiotherapy causes, too, in many cases, erectile dysfunction. As with drug treatments, most affect the secretion of testosterone.

Currently, various methods for stimulating an erection local injections (intravenous), drugs vasodilators erectile stimulants. Recall that these are prohibited if cardiovascular problems and many cons indications exist. Only your physician is authorized to prescribe them.

→ What are the consequences on male sexuality for ostomy? If you have had an ostomy, your sexual functions are not affected. It is often difficult to resume a normal life for psychological reasons. Remember to talk to your spouse (e) and with your doctor.

→ What are the consequences of Hodgkin's disease or other lymphomas on male sexuality? The treatments you have received do not affect your desire or your sex life. However, some chemotherapy can impair male fertility. Although this is rare since the introduction of new chemotherapy. If pelvic radiation should be considered and want to have a child, tell your doctor to consider freezing your sperm beforehand.

The resumption of sexual life for women

→ Is Cancer Contagious? The lack of contagion of cancer is a certainty.

→ Following treatment, a woman she can resume normal sexual activity? In the case of cancers that do not directly affect sexual parts, nothing prevents the resumption of a normal sex life. However, it is common to find signs of a "sexual fatigue" or a lack of desire. Usually these symptoms are only temporary. Allow yourself some time, speak with your partner. This is not a taboo subject. He / She also needs to be reassured (e) because he / she is often afraid of hurting you or disturb you. Feel free to discuss both with your doctor who will refer you, if necessary, to a specialist, sexologist or psychologist.

→ What are the consequences of breast cancer on female sexuality? There is no physiological reason not to resume normal sexual activity after a breast cancer. If you have had chemotherapy, know that it often leads to hormonal disturbances and a cessation of menstruation (amenorrhea).

These disorders are usually transient but can lead to early onset of menopause, with signs often more important than for menopause "natural" .. Please understand that in the case of breast cancer, replacement therapy of menopause are typically removed but new thinking on this is ongoing. When breast cancer requires surgery and breast removal (mastectomy), psychological trauma can be extremely intense due to the alteration of self-image.

If this is your case, keep in mind that a breast reconstruction is feasible, ie plastic surgery, the techniques and details have progressed greatly in recent years. Sometimes the scar of the mastectomy or breast reconstruction is painful. We must talk to your partner to adapt the gestures and positions that suit you. Also talk to your doctor, he can advise you.

→ What are the consequences of cancer of the uterus female sexuality? One is at the neck of the uterus is not detrimental to the resumption of normal sexual activity. But you have a little patience. If you do not undergo ablation, about two months will be necessary for healing. If ablation is considered, with or without chemotherapy, healing time will be longer.

If hysterectomy (removal of the body of the uterus) or oophorectomy (ovary removal) is performed, so after a suitable healing time, loving relationship should resume seamlessly. Removal of ovaries causes menopause, and these two surgeries are the cause of infertility. Pelvic radiotherapy and brachytherapy (placement of a radioactive source in the vagina or uterus) generate significant hormonal disorders, which are often only transient.

Finally, these interventions can lead to the resumption of sexual activity, some physical discomfort, due to the shortening of the vagina and hardening, dryness of mucous membranes and increased awareness of infection, which should not be too offended.

Over time, the prescription of lubricants or hormone treatments, everything should return to normal.

→ What are the consequences of a lymphoma or Hodgkin's disease on female sexuality? We may offer, prior pelvic irradiation, an ovarian transposition to protect your ovaries if you are not menopausal and want children. Regarding the resumption of sexual life, nothing prevents.

→ After cancer, can women use contraception? In the case of breast cancer, given current knowledge, prudence recommended prohibiting women receiving hormonal contraceptives. We must therefore resort to mechanical methods such as the IUD. But in other cases, there is no general rule of cons-indication to taking the pill.

Having a Baby

→ You want to have a child. Is this possible? Having a child after being diagnosed with cancer is quite possible and safely. Some questions must be asked, however, before or after.

→ humans Some chemotherapy or radiation made during adolescence can cause infertility, more or less durable depending on the type of drugs used. We can offer you, before starting treatment, to take your sperm and keep it. Is the case for some forms of Hodgkin's disease or testicular cancer. If you are concerned and if you want to be a father, talk to your doctor before.

→ For women Before you get pregnant, you should consider a number of factors: • your age •
intensity of your desire to be a mother • your general health: in all cancers, as with any severe illness, it is desirable to find a physical and mental equilibrium before starting a pregnancy, • prognosis of your illness and its decline since the date of your last salary, • potential harm to the child in terms of treatment received.

After breast cancer, it was demonstrated that pregnancy has no additional risk. A delay is needed. Talk to your doctor and be reassured. Nothing prevents you from being a parent, quite the contrary, but we really have to prepare.

→ You have had cancer. Your children do they risk? Only 5 to 8% of cancers are of familial origin with 5% of breast cancers and 5% of colon cancers. For a cancer is family background, it is necessary that several cases have presented themselves in the family occurred, moreover, at an early age. In all cases, talk to your doctor before alerting your children needlessly.