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Sex with Prostate Cancer

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User
Posted 22 Jan 2015 at 17:06

hi there

If you have sex whilst being treated with hormones for prostate cancer, does this make it less likely that the hormones will work?  any advice much appreciated.

User
Posted 23 Jan 2015 at 08:12

Hi,

I would say that having sex will not affect how the hormones work. The hormone treatment stops the production of the male hormone testosterone which feeds the cancer, this causes the PSA to fall which is a good indicator if the treatment is working. Your dad should be having his PSA checked regularly and if it stays low this should reassure him that his hormone treatment is working.

Many men cannot have sex if they are on hormone treatment as they cannot achieve an erection, or suffer loss of libido and are no longer interested in sex. This could be the case with your dad, and he may be to embarrassed to say to your mum and just uses the hormone treatment as an excuse. I am not saying this is the case, but it could be.

If you want to talk to someone about this, please call the free number at the top of this page and speak to one of the specialist nurses. They are absolutely brilliant and will be able to answer any questions you may have, they will not rush you and will talk to you for as long as you need.

Regards,

Gerry

User
Posted 23 Jan 2015 at 14:17

Gerry is quite right, for most men the hormone treatment switches off the sexy bit of the brain so your dad will not have any thoughts that would allow him to get an erection. It has been described by someone on here as like looking at someone attractive and finding them as exciting as a lump of concrete. However, your dad could be on another type of HT which does not cause this side effect so it would be helpful to know what hormone he is on.

In addition, the radiotherapy your dad had 5 years ago could have left him impotent and he may be too embarrassed to say anything. If he is still having sexy thoughts, perhaps you could tell mum that dad is entitled to treatments that will help him get an erection and that there is no reason to be ashamed to see the doctor as it is a known and very common side effect of the prostate cancer treatment.

I feel really sad that your dad might have some of these side effects and not feel able to tell his wife the truth but if no-one explained to him that it is normal then he may have been worrying about this for a long time. On the other hand, if the only reason they are not having sex is a fear that it will make the cancer worse, he needs to know that if that were true there wouldn't be thousands of men out there getting free impotence treatment from the NHS to help them have sex with prostate cancer! If you want another reason for mum & dad to get back on track and deal with this, google 'use it or lose it'

"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." Soren Kierkegaard

 
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