How Chronic Illness Can Affect Sexual Function
In case you aren’t familiar with the term, chronic diseases are broadly defined as conditions that last over a year and require ongoing medical attention. These often limit certain activities of daily living, and the most widespread ones are diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. These are the leading causes of disability and death all across the globe, and it is important to say that these can also negatively affect sexual function, among many other things. If you want to learn more about how chronic illnesses can affect your sex life, just keep on reading. Here is everything you need to know about this subject, so check out our useful tips and get informed!
How can chronic illnesses affect sexual function?
They can negatively affect sex drive
Chronic illnesses can affect your sex drive in more ways than you can possibly imagine. First of all, the effects and side effects of medications play a huge role here, as well as interference with neural, hormonal, and vascular integrity of the genitalia. Some of the medications that are commonly used to treat chronic illnesses, such as those found in neurotoxic cancer chemotherapies, are highly likely to impair sex drive, which is a real problem many people are dealing with these days.
They can cause a lot of anxiety and discomfort
Chronic illnesses can also negatively affect your psyche by making you feel anxious, insecure, and even depressed, which can significantly impair sexual fulfillment and result in an emotional crisis. Of course, this isn’t the case with all the couples, but there are still a large number of people who can’t easily accept abstinence or any kind of limitation of sexual activity caused by chronic illnesses. Besides that, chronic illness can change the relationship dynamics as the healthy partner is no longer just a lover, but a carer, too. Also, pre-existing relationship problems are likely to be aggravated due to the amounts of stress caused by the illness.
They can make patients feel socially unacceptable
Even though this probably seems irrelevant, the truth is that this issue is very widespread as society tends to be very uncomfortable with the idea that people who are ill or disabled still want to have sex. Also, the sexual concerns of single, divorced, and separated people with chronic illnesses are usually disregarded. Unfortunately, most people assume that they are unlikely to have a relationship due to their chronic illness or disfigurement, which can cause other issues on a deeper psychological level.
What can you do to make things better?
Spice up you sex life
If you suffer from a chronic illness, you shouldn’t be discouraged as there are always ways to make things better and spice up your sex life. For example, if you have diabetes or any other condition that decreases genital sensitivity, you can always look for sex toys and lubricants that can be extremely helpful in such cases. Apart from enhancing your masturbating experiences, these will improve your lovemaking as well, so give them a try and you won’t regret it. They can be found either in sex shops or at numerous online sites, so choose a way according to your preferences and you won’t make a mistake.
Focus on the positive
Yes, we know that it probably seems a bit corny, but guess what? Focusing on the positive sides is always a good way to go, so don’t neglect this tip and you’ll see what we were talking about. We know that this can be very challenging, but it certainly isn’t impossible! So, focus on your strengths and things your partner loves in bed, and don’t be afraid to ask them for feedback. This is one of the best ways to stay strong and optimistic, so focus on positive things only and you’ll see a major improvement.
Embrace the change
When you’re suffering from chronic disease, every aspect of your life will inevitably change. However, it doesn’t mean that you should be desperate about it – on the contrary, embrace those changes and work with what you have at the moment. This also goes for your sex life, as there are so many different ways to switch it around and have fun no matter what. Apart from the sex toys, you can also try role-playing or anything else you’ve always wanted to try. Allow your partner to explore every inch of your body and find new erogenous zones. There’s nothing bad about such changes, right?
As you can tell, chronic illnesses can affect sexual function in more ways than you can imagine; however, there are ways to make everything better and still enjoy making love with your partner no matter what. If that’s your ultimate goal and you want to boost your sexual function and have a lot of fun in bed with your partner, all you have to do is to stick to our tips and guidelines. Success is guaranteed, without a shadow of a doubt!
