How Prostate Cancer and Testosterone Loss Can Affect Each Men and women
Go to: Previous Article Next Article
Most folks believe of it like a man's disease, but prostate cancer can affect both men and women.
Indeed, this disease affects most women who know and love men who need to contend with prostate cancer and its treatment side effects. Even over other cancers, it tends to improve intimate very own relationships among men and their spouses and partners. And women are also affected after this cancer and its treatment side effects strike their fathers, sons, brothers and other male relatives and friends.
Prostate Cancer's Impact on Women
Prostate cancer can affect both folks in many ways. For instance, most men experience erectile dysfunction (ED) following prostate cancer surgical treatment or radiation. About 70 percent of men develop ED after surgery, and about 50 percent of patients who undergo radiotherapy develop ED, normally inside three to 5 many years following treatment. How could this fail to acquire an impact not only on them, but on their wives or partners?
When ED or impotence occurs, the wives of all too quite a few survivors must deal with their spouses' self-doubts about their manhood. In turn, a man's loss of self-esteem tends to cut to the intimacy he and his wife as soon as enjoyed. Like a prostate cancer survivor, I initially had many self-doubts with no being aware of it. Therefore I withdrew physically from my wife for months following my surgery. And this had an adverse effect on each of us.
In addition to this disease's effect in reducing sexual intimacy, many women are also affected by their husband's urinary problems. These issues could be short-term or long-term, as permanent incontinence occurs in 5 percent to 15 percent of men right after prostate cancer surgery (radical prostatectomy) or radiotherapy. A man's incontinence can also be an trouble for women if they consider compelled to clean up after their husbands.
For two weeks following my surgical treatment in 2007, my wife lovingly took it upon herself to clean my catheter bags. In subsequent weeks, as soon as I was nonetheless not yet "leak-proof," she put my urine-stained underwear in the washing machine. Even when a woman doesn't eat on a care-giving role, she may well have trouble dealing with her partner's self-esteem problems arising from incontinence.
In spite from the high survival rate for prostate cancer, most women find it disturbing, if not downright frightening, to understand that a man they love has cancer. Women often experience anxiety and stress just knowing that someone they love is under duress.
The Testosterone Connection
How strange that a broadly respect website, HealthandAge.com, says, "There are certain wellness conditions that only affect men, such as prostate cancer and low testosterone." Practically nothing could possibly be further inside the truth, as I've already illustrated.
What about testosterone - is it actual that low testosterone affects only men? Hardly! Very first of all, a man's testosterone decreases about one percent a year from the time he reaches age 40. Prostate cancer and its treatment can intensify the pace of a man's testosterone loss. I know first-hand about this, since hormone treatment following my diagnosis lowered my testosterone to a near-castrate level.
Reduced testosterone usually leads to increased male anxiety, a lower libido, increasing muscle flab, and higher distractibility. Any person in a close relationship with such men, particularly wives or partners, can't assist but be affected during what I call "MANopause." Add to this women's entry into perimenopause or menopause - within the time after many cases of prostate cancer come between men - and you've got a actual lead to for marital conflict.
And what about a woman's testosterone? Just as men's testosterone levels diminish with age, so does a woman's testosterone. Of course, her level of testosterone is much lower than a man's to begin with. But a woman's continued loss of testosterone, beginning close to age 40, and also the loss of estrogen as she ages, impacts a woman's life and often reduces her energy, libido and physical fitness.
Article Source: Articlelogy.com
- Credit Cards A big selection of Cards in all flavors: Bad Credit Cards, Secured Cards, Prepaid Cards, Credit Cards for Canada, Low Interest Cards, etc -
Word Count: 684
Reduce Your Debts Without Bankruptcy. See How Much You Can Save. Free Debt Analysis
