Gay Men & Prostate Cancer
A place to discuss challenges around prostate cancer from a gay/bisexual perspective. For both partners and patients. Share your thoughts here!
Very grateful to have this thread acknowledge the experience of gay and bisexual men who are coping with prostate cancer. I am newly diagnosed with a fairly aggressive type and it looks like I will be heading towards prostatectomy followed by radiation/hormone therapy.
I am eager to hear how others have experienced changes in their sex and urinary functioning (including being a receptive anal partner). Most of my doctors have not had any understanding of the experience of gay men and how treatment may pose particular concerns in addition to those experienced by other men.
Look forward to seeing where this thread goes!
Rich from CT
Thanks for this forum. I am gay with a partner for the past 16 years. I was diagnosed with prostate Gleason Score 9 cancer in 2013. I ended up doing the prostectomy, radiation and hormone therapy. To say that the impact of the treatment had a negative effect on our sex life would be putting it lightly! I'm thankful for my medical team and my partner who has stuck with me through this journey. Yes, we've had to be more creative when it comes to sex. For a guy like me who loves sex, I do ever soo miss our past sex lives. But, I use ED pills and they help. I can have multiple DRY orgasims. It takes a fair amount of time to get erect. Because men's testosterone levels are higher in the mornings, that's when I can engage with my partner with anal sex. So far my PSA's are staying low I do go for 6 month testing. Best of luck to all of us bi/gay/ heterosexual guys going through this challenging time. Greg
Hi, Rich. Google “Simon Rosser” from Division of Epidemiology & Community Health at U of MN. His articles and books are enlightening in regards to your question. Email him (rosser@umn.edu) if you are interested in joining his RESTORE study, which charts sexual rehab progress among gay/bi men who have undergone RP.
Thank you! Very helpful!
Thanks
for sharing this resource! Including a link to that study on the gov clinical trials website here: https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03343093. I also wanted to tag a couple of people here who might be able to weigh in. just wrote a story here: https://prostatecancer.net/stories/prostate-cancer-gay-man/ and has talked quite a bit about his prostate cancer journey. Thanks to for opening up this discussion! - Nina, ProstateCancer.net Team Also, great resource is “Gay & Bisexual Men Living with Prostate Cancer: From Diagnosis to Recovery,” edited by Ussher, Perz & Rosser.
