Sex and Intimacy

Many women find that breast cancer diagnosis and treatment seriously disrupt their sexual lives. First there are the most obvious issues—the physical changes, exhaustion, nausea and pain from treatment, self-image, empty energy reserves, and the emotional chaos from the diagnosis itself. But there are also many other issues that women and their partners may not even know they'll have to face.

Yet retaining intimacy in your relationship both during and after your breast cancer ordeal is critical to your overall recovery. And single women who want to become part of a relationship worry how breast cancer will affect their prospects, about how and when to tell those prospective lovers about their condition.

Adapted in part from Living Beyond Breast Cancer by Marisa Weiss, M.D. and Ellen Weiss