Fertility
It is recognised that cancer treatment may affect your fertility, or your ability to have children. This will vary between patients, tumour types and different treatment regimes.
Having children is probably the last thing on your mind right now but you may feel very different in the future. There may be things that can be done to increase your chances of having children in the future. Your consultant and clinical nurse specialist (CNS) will discuss with you about the likely effects of treatment and impact on your fertility,
For Male patients cancer treatments can affect your fertility by reducing sperm production or interfering with production of hormones involved in reproduction. It may be possible to freeze your sperm before treatment in a sperm bank. If this is something you are interested in we will make an appointment for you with a fertility unit to discuss this.
For female patients cancer treatment can affect your fertility by interfering with the production of hormones involved in reproduction, affecting your ovaries. It is also possible that some treatments can result in an earlier menopause than normal. If there is a probability of any of these things happening to you, it may be possible to freeze your eggs, collect tissue from your ovaries or have injections to protect your ovaries during chemotherapy. Your periods may stop or become irregular during treatment, but they usually come back once treatment is over, but let your treating team know if you are worried about anything.
It is important to also wait one to two years after completing treatment before trying to have children, so seek the advice of your treating team if you would like to have a family after treatment. If you have concerns about your fertility after treatment you can have your fertility checked one year after treatment has completed.
Sexual Health
It is fine to be sexually active during treatment however extra precautions will need to be taken to protect your sexual health. It is important that during chemo you use a barrier method of contraception, so condoms or a dental dam, this is because with a weakened immune system you are more susceptible to catch STI’s, but also chemo can pass though semen and vaginal fluids into a partner which could be harmful for your partner. In some treatment centres there is access to C card clinics through your YSC or treating team so please ask if you need condoms.
It is important to be aware that you can still get pregnant or father a child during treatment even if your periods stop there is still a possibility of pregnancy, precautions will need to be taken to prevent this as getting pregnant/ fathering a child on treatment could be harmful to a foetus. If you are female or have a Uterus you may be pregnancy tested regularly throughout treatment as an added precaution. If you have any questions about contraception talk to your Clinical Nurse Specialist (CNS), Youth support coordinator (YSC) or Consultant.
