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How does prostate cancer affect my sex drive?

  1. Prostate cancer and its treatment can affect your "sex drive" or desire for sex. Hormone therapy (ADT) can reduce your sex drive so you may become less interested in having sex. As your testosterone levels decrease due to ADT it may diminish your desire to have sex. One option may be to ask your healthcare provider about the use of intermittent ADT. This involves halting hormone treatment when your PSA level is low and stable, and starting it up again when your PSA level begins to rise. Your desire for sex may increase when ADT is stopped, but the recovery of your sex drive may take several months. -Brian, ProstateCancer.net team

    1. Another point is that the time period your ADT is supposed to last can vary. In my case, I got a shot of Lupron before my radiation therapy that was supposed to last 6-months . Based on my sexual desire, or more precisely, my lack of sexual desire (I used to joke that I had to look up S-E-X in the dictionary to see what it was), it lasted 10 months. But that was desire. When my wife "took over" I was able to function quite normally sexually. But if I were to have that shot again, I would insist on one month shots to start with to see what it does to me and for how long. But I don't want to scare anybody away from taking it. As I was told by my urology oncologist who gave me the shot, the low testosterone makes it difficult for damaged cancer cells to repair themselves. Next month (1/1😎 will be 2 1/2 years since I had "the shot" and I'm cancer free and my desire is back to normal. I can't ask for more.

      1. Also ED or Erectile Dysfunction is pretty common when a man is diagnosed with prostate cancer, this can or will have an effect on a man's sex life even when a man grows older, it is known that by the age of 50 more then half of all men will experience ED because there are many causes as you will see here. ONE CONDITION, MANY CAUSES
        ED happens when blood flow to the penis is limited or nerves are damaged. The causes of ED include diabetes, heart disease, prostate cancer treatment, depression, anxiety, and the side effects of some medications.1, 5 Stress, lack of sleep, smoking and excess drinking can also affect your performance. In other words, ED affects men of every ethnicity, age and lifestyle.

        1. Great points Freddie! In addition to the articles on ED that we have here on the site, Dr. Nick also just posted an article that talks about the emotional and psychological impact of sexual changes, including ED, that often accompanies prostate cancer. Here is a link: https://prostatecancer.net/living/psycho-sexual-effect

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