What is my biggest frustration in trying to help cancer survivors and their partners to overcome sexual problems related to cancer treatment? It is the expectation widely held by both patients and health professionals that one magic medical treatment will make everything better. How I wish that were...
Read MoreOne of the biggest dilemmas for women treated for cancer is how to cope with severe vulvar and vaginal dryness and other changes that make sexual caressing and penetration acutely painful. A variety of pills, vaginal gels, or suppositories containing hormones are available, as well as nonhormonal ...
Read MoreI have recently read two new books intended for patients. The first is by Dr. Lori Brotto, a psychologist in Vancouver who has been doing research and clinical work for many years on incorporating mindfulness techniques into sex therapy. Her projects have included GYN cancer patients and also ...
Read MoreWe are sharing this infographic produced by the popular new online company, hims, for Testicular Cancer Awareness Month. I think they did a great job of presenting the basic facts, but I do want to add a little commentary: Though it is true that the majority of men have ...
Read MoreLast week a brief media splash highlighted a study from my friend Sharon Bober, PhD and her colleagues at Dana Farber Cancer Center on the lack of availability of sexual health aids for patients at major cancer centers (Abstract). Noting that products such as vaginal moisturizers and lubricants or ...
Read MoreNew Practice Guidelines on Sexual Health in Oncology For many years, oncology care has lacked practice guidelines on how to care for cancer-related sexual problems. Guidelines on oncofertility have been available. The American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) first published a practice guideline ...
Read MoreI have spent my career as a psychologist not only helping people with problems, but also creating new programs that can be effective. I have focused on preventing and overcoming cancer-related problems with sexuality, and also helping cancer patients, survivors, and partners cope with cancer-related...
Read MoreMost women and men do not understand how the vagina, vulva and clitoris work. Even scientists have devoted far less research to analyzing what happens to women’s bodies during sexual excitement than in learning about the penis and men’s erections. Up to 80% of women who are ...
Read MoreWhen Rosie found out at age 52 that she had Stage 2 breast cancer, she panicked. She wondered if she would live to see grandchildren, if she would need a mastectomy, and if she could manage to cope with months of chemotherapy. But her biggest fear was that Gordon, her second husband of 4 years, ...
Read MoreFew oncology settings provide optimal care for the sexual concerns of people treated for cancer. According to recent literature reviews, at best half of cancer patients recall any discussion of sexuality and cancer with their oncology team. If sex is mentioned, it is most commonly as a potential ...
Read MoreAs many as 60% of cancer survivors in the United States face long-term, severe problems with sexual function. As many as half still in their reproductive years also cope with damaged fertility. This week an article in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reported that 23% of men with prostate cancer had...
Read MoreWill2Love has just won its third Digital Health Award! This one was a merit award for our home website, Will2Love.com. Our male self-help program won a merit award in 2015, and our female self-help program garnered a bronze award in 2016. The Digital Health Awards(SM) program is organized by ...
Read MoreDistrust in the privacy of our health care system is one of the reasons that only about 20% of cancer survivors get professional help for their sexual problems. We’ve all read about hackers stealing identification and insurance records from health care systems or people on staff at a hospital ...
Read MoreA study of 169 breast cancer survivors in the Netherlands found that women randomized to get an online treatment program for sexual problems improved far more than a group that only received a booklet to read. Improvements were seen in women’s sexual desire, pleasure, and problems with vaginal...
Read MoreAt least half of women notice vaginal dryness in the years after reaching menopause, but very few seek medical help. Without the estrogen hormone that circulates in women's bloodstreams before menopause, the vagina produces less natural lubrication with sexual excitement. It also tends to ...
Read MoreThis was also posted on the blog page of SoulSource.com, a company that makes vaginal dilators. They have the greatest variety of sizes and types of dilators I have found. Vaginal dilators have been around in one form or another for at least 50 years. When I first worked as a psychologist/sex ...
Read MoreWill2Love is a startup company offering online help for cancer-related concerns about sexuality or fertility. Why is that important? Because over 60% of the 15.5 million cancer survivors in the US end up with severe sexual problems that do not go away by themselves, yet fewer than 20% ever get help ...
Read MoreLeaking urine during sex is a problem for men after radical prostatectomy, the operation to treat prostate cancer by removing the prostate. The most common pattern is to leak urine at the moment of orgasm. Since men no longer have semen after radical prostatectomy, it is often confusing at ...
Read MoreLast week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported a frightening rise between 2008 and 2012 in cancers triggered by the human papillomavirus (HPV)--a sexually transmitted virus. During this time period, an average of 23,000 women and 15,800 men received a diagnosis each ...
Read MorePerhaps two-thirds of American women have used a commercially-sold vaginal lubricant, whether to cope with vaginal dryness or just to make sex more pleasurable. Most commercial lubricants are either water-based or silicon-based. It is also quite common for women to use petroleum jelly or various ...
Read MoreWhen a man or woman is infertile after cancer treatment, one way to have a child is with an embryo donated by another couple. Many couples who were successful in having all the children they wanted through in vitro fertilization (IVF) have leftover frozen embryos. A small percentage donate those ...
Read MoreIn March I attended the Young Survival Coalition Summit in Atlanta, a conference for women (and their loved ones) who have had breast cancer at a young age. I had an exhibit booth and asked women to fill out a short survey about their experiences in getting information and help with sexuality or ...
Read MoreBetween news from the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology and recent published reports of clinical trials, more and more women with estrogen-positive breast cancer will be taking aromatase inhibitors. In postmenopausal women, aromatase inhibitors are more effective than ...
Read MoreLast year, about 4,000 pregnant women in the United States found out they had cancer. The most common cancers found during pregnancy are breast cancer, ovarian cancer, Hodgkin lymphoma, and leukemia. As women delay childbirth in order to complete their education or start careers, more are pregnant ...
Read MoreIn third-world countries, women suffer terribly if they get a vaginal fistula. A fistula is a hole that forms when an injury does not heal properly, often after childbirth when medical services are not available. The fistula may be between the vagina and urinary system, so that a woman drips ...
Read MoreStanford MedX is a meeting held yearly that focuses on innovations in health care. In 2015 it included a panel discussion on “intimacy.” In reality, it was a discussion of why people with chronic illness have such a hard time getting appropriate information and care for the sexual ...
Read MoreIn September, 2015, I participated in a Global Health Hackathon, and worked with a team on creating a pilot program to improve maternal health in Malawi, a very poor country in southeastern Africa. Many villages in rural Malawi are miles away from the nearest regional health clinic. Without paved ...
Read MoreI was writing a proposal for grant funding to train physicians, nurses, and mental health professionals to be more comfortable and knowledgeable in discussing sexuality with cancer patients. I read journal article after journal article surveying health professionals about their attitudes and ...
Read MoreThe evidence that flibanserin works is flimsy. Flibanserin is a drug that failed as an antidepressant and was repurposed as a cure for women who believe their desire for sex is too low. In a series of randomized double-blind clinical trials, women reported it to be slightly better than the placebo ...
Read MoreMeeting new partners can be a challenge, even for men who are in perfect health. How do you find the partner of your dreams after you have had cancer? When should you tell your partner about your cancer history, and what do you say when you do? If you are single and have had cancer, you have ...
Read MoreMen who have erectile dysfunction (ED) often complain about the loss of sex, especially if ED is the result of cancer or other medical illness. There is good reason why this happens: men with ED typically withhold such gestures as giving kisses, holding hands, or even grabbing a feel in the kitchen....
Read MoreRobotic prostatectomy. Proton-beam therapy. High-intensity focused ultrasound. These are some of the new methods used by surgeons and oncologists to treat prostrate cancer. Many men who undergo these treatments are promised that their sexual function will be unaffected. Those who experience sexual ...
Read MorePerhaps the most common sexual problem after cancer treatment for women is vaginal dryness and pain. Even among healthy women, over half experience these symptoms after they go through menopause. Without estrogen, the vagina loses some of its blood supply. Spongy tissues in the vulva and vaginal ...
Read MoreAt least 4 of the over 50 men we interviewed before creating our first version of our self-help program, Sexual Health and Fatherhood after Cancer, told us that they went to sex workers instead of approaching their wives to have sex after cancer caused erection problems. They actually felt...
Read MoreFor people who are dating after a cancer diagnosis, one of the most common questions is when and how to tell a new partner about your cancer history. There is no one strategy that fits for everyone, but a few guidelines may help: Cancer becomes so central in their lives of some men or women that ...
Read MoreAbout 70% of women with breast cancer have tumors that are sensitive to hormones. Hormones, especially estrogen, enter the cancer cells and signal them to grow and divide. Hormone therapy is a treatment for breast cancer that prevents estrogen from “feeding” the cancer cells. Many women ...
Read MoreTestosterone has been in the news in the last several months. In October 2013 the New York Times published an article, “A Push to Sell Testosterone Gels Troubles Doctors.” It touched on two of my pet peeves—the gross exaggeration of the benefits of testosterone replacement ...
Read MoreFor over 30 years of my career, I have worked to help people prevent or overcome sexual problems related to their cancer treatment. It has often been an uphill struggle to convince hospital administrators, grant reviewers, and health professionals that these problems are important. In 2014 there are...
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