Many of the medications commonly used to treat breast cancer can lead to pelvic floor symptoms. The pelvic floor symptoms that we hear about most often are vaginal dryness, pain with sex and urinary incontinence, although pelvic organ prolapse and fecal incontinence can sometimes occur too. The pelvic floor symptoms experienced after breast cancer treatment are not always discussed during medical appointments, leaving many women to feel unsupported in their genital and sexual health.
Why Do Pelvic Floor Symptoms Appear After Breast Cancer Treatment?
There is not a clearcut answer as to why you might experience pelvic floor symptoms after breast cancer, rather a number of different factors. One of the more likely reasons is the effect that breast cancer treatment have on hormones. Estrogen is a hormone that helps support vulvar, vaginal and pelvic floor health. However, in treating breast cancer, estrogen blockers are commonly used. This might lead to a weakness in the pelvic floor and supporting tissues, as well as contribute to vaginal dryness. Chemotherapies, used to reduce ovarian function, causing an early menopause. Generally, menopause is associated with vaginal and urinary symptoms, and this chemotherapy induced menopause is no different.
Additionally, many women struggle to maintain an active lifestyle during cancer treatments, due to fatigue, feeling unwell, pain and mental health challenges. This can lead to general deconditioning of the lower body and core muscles, as well as the cardiovascular system. This general loss of fitness can further contribute to pelvic floor symptoms. The lower body and core muscles help to support the pelvic floor muscle. Think of the lower body and core like good shock absorbers. When they are weaker, there is more strain and impact on the pelvic floor with activities like coughing, sneezing, lifting and jumping.
How Can Pelvic Floor Physiotherapy Help?
Pelvic floor physiotherapy can address these genital and bladder symptoms caused by cancer treatments in a non-pharmaceutical way. After an exam, a personalized program is designed and includes treatment options like pelvic floor muscle strengthening, pelvic floor muscle stretching, general exercise, toileting ergonomics, bladder retraining programs, and education about aids like silicone-based lubricants, vaginal moisturizers, dilator training, and Ohnut penetration depth guards, to name a few. Pelvic floor physiotherapists are well-trained to help address these vaginal, bladder and bowel concerns and offer a variety of treatment options to support you in your breast cancer recovery.
Additional Resources
If you are looking to schedule a pelvic floor physiotherapy appointment we are happy to help. You can find our booking link HERE.
Want to know our favorite lubricant for those with vaginal discomfort? Click HERE to find our amazon link.
You can find our favorite vaginal dilator kit HERE. We prefer a plastic dilator kit for patients recovering from breast cancer so that they can use a silicone-based lubricant for their treatment.
You can find the Ohnut sexual aid HERE. Ohnut is used to prevent excessive depth during vaginal penetration, helping to limit discomfort.
If you are looking for more information about breast cancer, treatment, recovery and advocacy, you can access the Canadian Breast Center Network HERE.
ReConnect Health Centre