Sex and Cancer: Getting Your Swerve Back On

Valentine's Day is a hot day for sex, or so the popular lore goes. But for someone who is dealing with or has dealt with cancer, this can be a loaded holiday.  Cancer treatments can push women into early menopause, bringing issues like vaginal dryness, atrophy, etc. into a bedroom, or, for men, result in erectile dysfunction, decreased libido or other bedroom challenges. So what is someone with a cancer issue to do on this most romantic of holidays?  Believe it or not, it is possible for a cancer kid to have and enjoy sex.  In fact, having orgasms does a body good, leading to less stress and a boosted immune system (What Happens To Your Body When You Masturbate Regularly (Bustle, March 2019) and for the  scientific explanation, Effects of sexual arousal on lymphocyte subset circulation and cytokine production in man. (Neuroimmunomodulation, 2004)).

So there's no reason not to get back into the intimacy business if you're dealing with the side effects of cancer.  The question though is how do you go about doing this? Luckily, there are a host of experts out there talking about just this topic. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) offers guidance to patients through its Sexual Health and Intimacy services. And oncologists like Dr. Don Dizon have focused on the area, creating the Sexual Health First Responders Clinic at the Lifespan Cancer Clinic in Providence, Rhode Island. Also, sexual enjoyment companies like Jo Divine in the UK offers great information on Women's Sexual Health and Men's Sexual Health,  providing information on issues such as, Sex After Testicular Cancer, Sex After Breast Cancer, along with a whole  host of other sexual health topics.

So let's talk about the problem of vaginal atrophy, for instance, which makes the vagina and vulva (the skin on the outside of the vagina) dryer and less elastic; a common problem for many women during and after treatment for breast cancer.  Blogger Jane Lewis tackles this issue in Living with Vaginal Atrophy, and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center offers even more information in its October 2019 information page, Improving Your Vulvovaginal Health. Rather than resigning to a life without sex, there's hope. Non-hormonal hyaluronic acid products such as Revaree can be used to treat vaginal dryness, and for non-hormone sensitive cancers, estrogen-based vaginal suppositories can be used. In addition, pH balanced vaginal lubricants like Yes (my personal favorite) can be used during sex to make the experience enjoyable rather than painful.

Certainly, the resources above don't begin to cover all the information out there to help us cancer kids get our swerve back. If you have helpful info you've found, please feel free to tell us about it in the comments below.  But this is a good start, and hopefully can help you end your evening with the bang you so desire. Or at least this can help you make a good start of it. Find what works for you, take your time, be gentle with yourself and your partner as you go. But most important, you go get your swerve on.