Living with Cervical Cancer

It can be very difficult coping with a diagnosis of cancer, both practically and emotionally. At first, you are likely to feel very upset, frightened and confused. Or those things are out of your control. It is very important to get the right information about your type of cervical cancer and how it is best treated. People who are well informed about their illness and treatment are more able to make decisions and cope with what happens.

Cancer of the cervix and its treatment may cause physical changes in your body. These changes can be very difficult to cope with and may affect the way you feel about yourself. Such changes can affect your self-esteem and the way you relate to other people, especially close family and friends. Another problem you may have to cope with is feeling very tired and lethargic a lot of the time, especially for a while after treatment or if the cancer is advanced. If you are having a sexual relationship, the changes to your cervical area may affect your sex life. You may have to come to terms with losing your fertility. If you had to have your womb removed (hysterectomy) you may feel very upset, even if you have had your menopause and would not be having any more pregnancies anyway. Unless you have very early cervical cancer, your treatment will mean that you can no longer have children. If you wanted to have a child or to complete your family, this can be very difficult to cope with. Even if you were not planning to have any children in the future, the loss of your fertility can be quite a shock. It is the end of a particular phase of your life. You will have all the feelings that come with a natural change of life, but on top of having to cope with a diagnosis of cancer.

Many women feel very upset if they need to have a hysterectomy. This can be true even if you have had your menopause. It may take you some time to get over these feelings Radiotherapy will cause early menopause because it stops your ovaries from working. It is your ovaries that produce your sex hormones. They stop producing these hormones at the natural menopause. The symptoms of a menopause that is related to cancer treatment are no different to those of a natural menopause, but they can be more intense if it comes on suddenly. You may have:

• Hot flushes and sweating;

• Vaginal dryness;

• Low mood or depression;

• Loss of confidence and self-esteem

; • Tiredness;

• Thinning bones;

• Loss of interest in sex.