5 Tips For Great Sex After Prostate Cancer

- Urology / Nephrology News
Sep 08, 2012
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It’s very likely that whichever prostate cancer treatment you choose - prostatectomy surgery, hormone therapy, brachytherapy, external beam radiation, or HIFU (high intensity focused ultrasound) - will impact your sex life. Exactly how depends on which method you choose and your dedication to getting back in bed.

“Once patients are assured that they will have sex after prostate removal surgery, they can shift their focus to enjoying sex as soon as possible,” encourages Dr. David Samadi, creator of the SMART (Samadi Modified Advanced Robotic Technique) robotic prostate removal surgery.

While his innovative surgical technique and experience give men a tremendous leg up in sexual recovery after prostate cancer, men have to play an active role as well.

Sexual performance after prostate cancer and getting back to enjoyable sex after prostate surgery is possible. Here’s how:

1. Masturbate - solo sex is a great way to help you relax, build confidence, and find out how your body will respond after surgery.
2. Kegel exercises - mastering these pelvic floor exercises before surgery can actually improve your orgasm after surgery. They may even help you achieve multiple orgasms. Bonus - they help strengthen urinary control, too.
3. Involve your partner - remember that sex is best as a team sport so the sooner you work together, the better. Use physical and emotional intimacy to build up to penetration.
4. Stay ahead of Erectile Dysfunction (ED) - oral medication for ED is a great way to speed sexual recovery. Using prescriptions such as Viagra or Cialis, even for a short time, can give you the confidence and sexual potency you need.
5. Have sex - the more sex you have, the more sex you’ll have. Meaning, penile rehabilitation through touching, intimacy, and erection “practice” will actually get you back in the game faster.

Limit prostate cancer to just another part of your evolving sex life. “The reality is that sex changes for every man as he goes through each decade of his life. For some men, prostate cancer is part of that progression,” says Dr. Samadi who works closely with men and their partners before and after prostate cancer. With dedication, eighty-five percent (85%) of his patients regain sexual potency in just 12-24 months.

“The harshest onset of erectile dysfunction (ED) comes with facing the reality of prostate cancer. One day you are healthy (or so you think) and the next day, after a standard yearly physical and a blood test, the prostatic specific antigen (PSA), you find out you have cancer. Your first reaction and that of your sexual partner will be to get through it, save your life, fight the cancer and get rid of it, nothing else matters. But something else does matter, especially to you - your sexual wellbeing, your ability to have an erection. Although you cannot ignore the prostate cancer, any of the various treatments for it can rob you of your sexual ability. And once the cancer threat is passed, and you know you’ll survive and you get your normal life and routine back, sexual performance will suddenly be very important again. Facing ED as a result of prostate cancer treatment can be devastating, but let me reassure you that there is successful rehabilitation of your sexual function after treatment of prostate cancer.

Learn precisely how SMART robotic prostatectomy surgery protects sexual function and read more about your sexual recovery options after prostate cancer surgery. Dr. David Samadi has performed more than 4,000 successful robotic prostatectomy procedures as Vice Chairman, Department of Urology and Chief of Robotics and Minimally Invasive Surgery at The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York City.

Resuming Sex after Prostate Surgery:
If you encounter ED in the early months after surgery, there is still a possibility that normal function will resume in about 12 to 24 months. And even if you face ED during or beyond that amount of time, there are many treatments available to you. With the use of these treatments, the large majority of men with ED after radical prostatectomy can resume satisfactory sex life.
Oral Medications:
As you start feeling better after surgery, begin being intimate again with your partner to reestablish the physical and emotional closeness you had prior to surgery. Celebrate together the fact that you’ve been victorious over cancer! Anticipate that you will soon regain the ability to have an erection. You might want to start by trying the simplest method of treatment, the oral medications such as Viagra, Cialis and Levitra.
Penile injection therapy:
If oral medications are not effective, don’t put off having sex. It is important to continue to be sexually active, or in other words to “exercise” the penis after the prostate surgery. This is thought to give you the best chance of return function. Some researchers believe that erections enhance tissue oxygenation and suppress fibrosis (scarring). Until the nerves regenerate or recover sufficiently to respond to oral medications, penile injection therapy is the most effective and reliable way of restoring erectile function. In a recent study it was shown that it is very valuable to use injection therapy to aid erections soon after surgery to increase the chances of the return of normal function.

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