Living with laryngeal cancer
A 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.
Read more about support organisations
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.
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.
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.
You can read more about how cancer can affect your sex life in our section about sex and cancer.
Last reviewed: 29 Aug 2024
Next review due: 29 Aug 2027
Lots of advice and support are available to help you cope with living with laryngeal cancer.
Laryngeal cancer is cancer that starts in the voice box (larynx). It is a type of head and neck cancer.
Cancer and its treatments can affect sex and sexuality. Get information and support for people with cancer, partners and single people.
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