How Does Prostate Cancer Treatment Affect Your Sex Life?

A man has a 14.28% chance of having prostate cancer during his lifetime, making it the most common cancer type. Cancer hits the walnut-shaped gland, wrapped around the man’s urethra.

This type of cancer is curable. However, treatments, such as radiation, surgery, and hormone therapy that destroy cancer could affect your sexual life as a side effect. These side effects could be erectile dysfunction, unable to have an orgasm and infertility.

Fortunately, you can prevent this from happening by taking supplements like saw palmetto. You can order saw palmetto online to make your prostate healthier.

Below are some of the possible effects of prostate cancer treatment on your sexual life.

The treatment affects the sex organs

Some men said that their penis has become smaller after being treated for prostate cancer. A 2013 study reported that around three per cent of the patients said that the size of their sex organs has decreased. This is after undergoing radiation with hormone therapy or radical prostatectomy. These men said that smaller sex organs had affected their satisfaction in life as well as their relationships.

The blood vessel and nerve damage may have caused the tissues in the sex organ to shrink. Thus the penis becomes up to half an inch smaller.

The treatment affects sex drive

Your sex drive may also be affected by the side effects of prostate cancer treatments. The idea of having the disease and undergoing some therapy can make you feel uneasy about having sex.

Hormone therapy that slows down the growth of cancer may also affect your sex drive as it decreases your body’s testosterone levels. Testosterone hormone is produced by the testicles, making men’s sex drive healthy.

Moreover, hormone therapy causes weight gain and could cause breast enlargement on men. These affect men’s self-esteem that could result to lower sex drive.

The treatment may cause erectile dysfunction

The penis erects when nerves relax the sex organ’s tissues, allowing the blood to flow. These nerves that control the erection are very delicate. Radiation or surgery to treat prostate cancer may damage these nerves, causing erectile dysfunction or ED. ED prevents you from keeping or getting an erection.

Radical prostatectomy is a procedure where the prostate gland is removed. During the process, the nerves and their blood vessels can get damaged. If these nerves get enough damage, you will have trouble getting an erection after the surgery.

While doctors can perform nerve-sparing surgery to prevent permanent ED, the nerves are still touched during the procedure that could cause temporary ED. Most men may experience ED in a couple of weeks, months, or years after the surgery.

The treatment affects your ability to have orgasm or fertility

Removing your prostate can affect both your fertility and orgasm. The prostate produces semen to nourish and protect your sperm. Without semen, your orgasms will be dry, and you will be unable to father a child. Radiation therapy also reduces the amount of semen.

The easiest way to avoid these side effects is to keep your body healthy by eating a healthy diet and taking dietary supplements. You can order saw palmetto online to keep your prostate gland healthy.

Remember that the risk of having prostate cancer increases as you age. While the cases of men aged 40 and below having prostate cancer are rare, you don’t want it to happen that early as it would keep you from enjoying your sex life.

Author Bio: Alice Churchill is a copywriter and content strategist. She helps businesses stop playing around with content marketing and start seeing the tangible ROI. She loves writing as much as she loves the cake.