Cancer and Sexual Side Effects

Besides the slew of other problems associated with cancer, sexual side effects are added into the mix. Many men find that after certain cancers, surgeries to remove tumors, or other treatments, that having sex becomes difficult or impossible for them.

The type of cancer associated most with sexual side effects is pelvic cancer, as the penis and the tumor will be very close. However, don't think that other cancers can't cause the same effects (other heavily associated with erectile dysfunction are: bladder, colon, prostate, rectal; but there is a chance any cancer can cause this effect). While it may not be directly from the cancer if in other areas of the body, the surgeries to remove the tumor can lower libido due to fatigue and resulting depression.

Back to pelvic cancer, if not from the caner, surgery can do more permanent damage to your sexual drives. Surgeons will do all they can to sever no nerves, but if he misses up or cannot help avoid them, a damaged nerve can completely deplete your erectile abilities. There are surgeries that can fix this, such as internal pumps and semirigid rods that can make erection possible again, but it will be some time after the cancer treatment before you can go into surgery again.

Those of you with penile cancer have a chance of retaining erection abilities if the entirety of the penis is not surgically removed (penectomy is a rare surgery to remove part or all of the penis, and though effective in ending the cancer, it has very obvious sexual side effects. A partial removal may allow you to retain erectile function, but that too is only a chance).

You also have to worry about hormone treatment in correlation with erectile dysfunction. As many people know, lowering testosterone can lead to poor sexual prowess. However, prostate cancer is known to feed off of testosterone. Your doctor may opt to remove the testes to halt the cancer, or they may opt to give you medication to lower the cancer rate. For younger men, the chance of losing erectile functioning is lower, but as age increases so does the chance.

Chemotherapy is also known to cause this. More for the common fatigue, but also some of the drugs are known to reduce testosterone (refer to above for the same reaction).

While cancer can indeed reduce your sexual function, there are some drugs that can help. Also you may just need to do some sexual experimenting to find out what can give you an erection again. Make sure to talk to your partner about this problem, since you do not want them to think that you are just ignoring them. Tell them your situation, what you are comfortable with, and seek medical advice on what to do to regain your erectile functioning.

Information on cancer sexual side effects found at: http://mayoclinic.com/health/cancer-treatment/SA00070