Cervical Cancer Patients - Emotions:
Cervical
cancer, for doctors is just a disease, which they are striving to eradicate.
But for the patients, of course, their whole life becomes a battle as soon as
they know that they are fighting with cancer. The emotions that cancer patients
go through, is not for anybody to understand unless they suffer it.
There
have been many cervical stories and inspirational fights put up against cancer.
There have been support groups and foundations for helping the cancer patients
cope up with their condition. Websites for connecting people for mutual exchange
of experiences and those suffering from the same conditions have been launched.
From those sites, one can gather that extensive chemotherapy and radiation
treatments can result in scar tissues which can make sex extremely painful and
hence, they cannot fulfill their desires. The countless surgeries and radiation
can destroy vaginal tissue and make intercourse impossibly painful. But such
websites help to know that there are others going through the same condition
and they can be pillars of support for one another. This only goes to show that
cancer treatments very much affect intimacy and can the sex life.
Cervical Cancer patients suffer from exhaustion and fatigue, issues associated with body image
and depression due to cancer, which can be caused by erectile dysfunction, low
sex drive, painful intercourse or premature menopause. These may be the side
effects of chemotherapy or radiation and such platforms for mutual exchange of
experiences would help the victims suffering from invasive surgery, traumatic
injuries and birth defects.
This
is not the first initiative by patients of such conditions, but there have been
May and websites like these before - STDsoulmates.com, PositiveSingles.com and
DatingWithHerpes.org. There are people out there who face obstacles silently in
the sexual intercourse but are embarrassed to talk about it. This cannot go for
long because, every one in three Americans go through cancer in their lifetime
and the aggressive treatments have an impact on their sexual function, and now,
there is an emphasis on the quality of life of cancer survivors and sexual
intimacy and cognitive function issues.
The
affect on women is that vaginal tissues can result in scar and women can go
into premature menopause after radiation and chemotherapy. This can result in
vaginal dryness, loss of libido or hot flashes. The symptoms can be treated
with non-hormone and hormone therapy. It is advised that one should continue
with sexual activity after treatment because non-usage of vagina can close it
and stick it and makes it steno tic. Also, a dilator is used to keep the vagina
open, as the tissue is very flexible and can stretch itself back in shape.
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