Many types of cancer and its treatments affect sexual life. As it is known, sexuality is a complex event that is affected by physical characteristics, psychological and social conditions. Although it varies depending on the person’s disease and the treatments applied to that person, sexual life can also be affected according to the person’s gender, age, personality structure, religious beliefs and cultural values. The status of sexual functions is also important for the quality of life considered in cancer treatment.
After the diagnosis of cancer, the patient may experience changes in sexual life. During and even after the treatment, a tendency to abstain completely from sexual intercourse is observed in some of the patients. This distancing causes family problems. Many patients diagnosed with cancer avoid sexual intercourse, thinking that their condition is more important than their sexual life. The opposite of this situation can also be seen. In the denial period of the disease, the patient, who acts as if nothing has happened, may feel the desire to have sexual intercourse more often than the routine in an effort to prove himself against life.
Studies show that approximately half of women who have had breast and gynecological organ cancers have long-term sexual dysfunction, and men who are treated for prostate cancer experience sexual problems at varying rates depending on the type of treatment.
Reasons for avoiding sexual intercourse in women:
Feeling of loss of bodily integrity and related lack of sexual self
Vaginal dryness due to treatments and painful sexual contact
Depressive state brought about by worrying about the future and life
Lack of understanding expected from the spouse, lack of positive reactions from the spouse to body changes
Reasons for avoiding sexual intercourse in men:
Changes in the body As a result, a feeling of inadequacy, loss of sexual desire
Premature ejaculation or absence of ejaculation
Erectile dysfunction resulting from treatments
Depressive state caused by anxiety about the future and life
One of the most important considerations in the development of sexual problems is that sexual life is prohibited during the treatment process. This is a wrong thought. It is not a situation that is prohibited for all cancer patients. Spouses can have sexual intercourse after some side effects (nausea, vomiting, drop in blood count, etc.) that develop after chemotherapy are overcome. This side-effect process takes an average of 3-7 days, although it varies from person to person and depending on the treatment received. The treating physician should be consulted.
Before starting treatment, the patient and the patient’s spouse should discuss their concerns about their sexual life with their doctor. Since it is a situation that will affect the quality of life, it should not be avoided to share and talk about sexual life with the doctor.
Since the decrease in sexual desire during the treatment process is often due to depression, this situation can be easily resolved with medication or psychotherapy.
One of the misconceptions is that cancer is transmitted through sexual intercourse. Cancer is not a sexually transmitted disease. For this reason, there should be no separation between spouses.
The most important duty falls to the spouses of the patients in order not to affect their sexual life. It has been determined that the first reactions of the patient’s spouse to the disease and the patient have a significant effect on their later sexual life. In the first place, if the patient’s spouse’s reaction is loving and accepting, the patient can overcome this process more easily. However, if the spouse of the patient becomes alienated, estranged and has an attitude that prohibits the relationship, loss of self and depression may develop in the patient as a result. Such a negative approach will negatively affect the patient’s quality of life and treatment.
