Sex After Cancer – Five Tips to Help You Get It On

Recovering after a devastating illness like cancer can be a difficult experience for most warriors, but there is hope if you’re ready to take the leap. Today, we’re sharing tips on how to conquer sex after cancer.

Claire Postl, a licensed professional clinical counselor at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centerwho specializes in sex therapy, offers these five tips for getting back to intimacy after cancer:

• Talk about it. It’s normal for cancer to change your sex life. Hormones slow down and sensitivities dull. It’s important to talk to your partner about these changes and work together to understand them. If you’re concerned what you’re experiencing isn’t normal, seek advice from a medical professional to make sure everything is okay.

• Date your partner again. You both have to make quality time a priority. Dream together, take a trip, go out to eat… just make sure you talk about things other than cancer.

• Redefine what intimacy is. You may need to define what you want the purpose of sex to be now. In fact, intimacy doesn’t have to be intercourse at all. If you have sex and you’re not feeling connected, find other ways to connect on an intimate level.

• Pain is not normal. Don’t try to push through any physical discomfort. Doing so can create a negative idea of sex. If you’re experiencing dryness, lubricants and moisturizer are key.

• Physical therapy for sex can help. If the pain doesn’t go away, there are treatment options for you. Surgeries and radiation may cause your pelvic floor muscles to become weak, tense or experience shooting pain. A physical therapist can work with you to stretch and strengthen those muscles to reduce the pain you’re experiencing.

• Have you recovered from an illness and have tips? Got questions? Share them with us!