Dr. Adam Kibel discusses strategies for maintaining sexual health after prostate cancer treatment, emphasizing that intimacy extends beyond erections and that recovery often involves medications, devices, or other therapies. He encourages open communication between partners and explains how working together with healthcare providers can help couples adapt and maintain fulfilling intimate relationships.
Dr. Adam Kibel:
Men need to recognize that sexuality isn't all about penetration. Okay. And particularly if they have a loving, caring partner, they need to continue to maintain that relationship. There are ways to try and improve men's ability to get an erection, which is a little separate from sexual health. It's part of sexual health, but it's not the whole picture. And some of those things include early starting Viagra or Cialis early. Those treatments improve some blood flow to the penis. But more importantly, get the man and his partner thinking about having sex and improving the possibility that they'll go to get erection afterwards.
The second thing is some people find it useful to use a pump. This is something that pulls blood into the penis and sort of cycles blood through it. I think that's good to maintain penile health. And it can actually be used to create an erection where people can actually use it.
Early use of injection therapy. If it's really important for you and your partner to have an erection early, injection therapy, it sounds terrible, it's not. And it's a very effective way of achieving an erection. The last thing is really to engage the partner. As I said, intimacy is not all about penetration and also intimacy as a couple. And you need to figure out a way to work as a couple together in order to improve both of your sexual health.
It sometimes is a difficult discussion to have with each other, but I think it's important. And the couple gets to a better place when they're very honest about what their needs are and what their desires are and how they can support each other. Because this affects the partner as well.