Your Sexual Health and Cancer
The founder of Above + Beyond Cancer, Dr. Richard Deming discusses Sexual Well-being and Cancer with this week’s guest, Erin Sullivan Wagner. Erin is an Advocate and Cancer Care Consultant who grew up in South Dakota and attended the University of Iowa. Erin is the founder and president of After Cancer - which works to find solutions for sexual health. She also helps to provide resources and workshops about sexual health for both patients and health care providers with the All of Me movement. Back in 2008, Erin was diagnosed with anal cancer where she underwent treatment of chemo and radiation for 5 weeks and was told that she would not experience any long-term sexual health issues. Erin said her doctors firmly believe that the cancer was caused by HPV, which she says could have been halted by preventive care.
At the time, Erin says that her priority was not her sexual health, but surviving cancer. Due to the chemo and radiation treatment that Erin underwent, inflammation of the tissues around her vulvar area resulted in scar tissue. After experiencing pain during intercourse, she sought out help for the sexual dysfunction. Still, it wasn't until 8 years later that the doctors admitted that they did not give her proper preventative care for her sexual and vaginal health post-surgery. Erin states that over 50% of (all) cancer patients have sexual health issues from their treatment and less than 20% of them actually get addressed. The sexual health issues including sexual dysfunction are due to both long-term physical effects of treatment as well as psychological and emotional stress. Similar research validates Erin’s statements, stating that cancer treatment is likely to affect sexuality in some way because of the physical and emotional effects of treatment. They also suggest reaching out to healthcare providers on the specific type of cancer and treatment as well as utilizing external research.
There is a communication gap over sexual health issues with cancer patients and the topics are often avoided for several reasons, primarily including the stigma and lack of training and knowledge on sexual health. Patients look for guidance to their survivors almost too much that it causes a god complex around the physicians, Erin says. She makes the valuable point that cancer patients are in their most vulnerable position and automatically assume their caregiver has their best interest in mind, and often don't even know what questions need to be asked. On the other hand, caregivers might assume that patients will ask the questions they want to be answered. Overall, it is valuable to both empower the patient on sexual health, but also by educating the caregivers is also essential to the movement.
For more, check out this conversation in detail on the Above + Beyond Cancer's Youtube channel. Erin is available to speak at health care conferences, association group meetings, and survivor events about this topic. Contact Erin for more information.
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BA Ethics & Public Policy, BBA Management, minor Social Justice
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