Sex and relationships after treatment for laryngeal cancer

Treatment for laryngeal cancer can change the way you feel about sex.

Changes to your appearance may make you feel less confident about sex. It might change the way you feel about yourself and how you think others see you.

Talking things through with your partner might help you both adjust to a new situation together.

How you might feel

A laryngectomy changes the way you speak and breathe. It can also change your physical appearance. These changes and other effects of treatment can make you feel less confident about sex.

Cancer can also cause many different emotions such as fear and anger, which can also affect how you feel about sex. It is common to have difficulty with intimacy and sex after cancer treatment.

You can consider:

• letting your partner know how you are feeling
• letting your doctor or specialist nurse know how you feel

If your specialist nurse knows how you're feeling, they might be able to provide some support or suggest where you can find support. Or, one of the laryngeal cancer support organisations might be able to help.

Physical effects of treatment

After treatment for laryngeal cancer, it might take some time for you to recover. For example, you might feel very tired or you might have some skin soreness if you had radiotherapy. You may need to wait until you recover before it is comfortable to be intimate. 

Speech or communication difficulties can affect the spontaneous moments that you and your partner are used to. You can still be intimate with your partner. Eye contact, cuddling, or touching might be alternative ways to show feelings if speech is difficult.

Talking to your partner

If you feel nervous about starting your sex life again, try not to worry. You might need more time to come to terms with all that has happened to you. If you feel worried, anxious, or depressed, you are not likely to feel like having sex.

Give yourself time and talk things over with your partner. Explaining how you feel can help them to understand. You both will gradually get used to your new situation if you can talk about your worries.

Kissing

Some people worry that they can catch cancer from others by kissing. But cancer can't be caught from somebody else. So you can reassure them. 

It is safe for you and your partner to kiss and have any type of physical contact that you feel comfortable with. 

More information

You can read more about how cancer can affect your sex life in our section about sex and cancer.