Ledón LL, Fabré RBL, García ÁCT, Mendoza TM, Agramonte MA, Hernández RJ

Language: Spanish
References: 0
Page: 11-20
PDF size: 116.41 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Background: although literature documents that acromegaly and Cushing's syndrome may cause sexual difficulties, the number of studies about the topic is low, mainly from the subjects' perspective.
Objective: to describe the impact of acromegaly and Cushing's syndrome on the sexuality and some related psychosocial aspects from the perspective of people living with these diseases.
Methods: retrospective, descriptive and qualitative study of 12 women and 8 men who were seen at the National Institute of Endocrinology of Cuba. In depth interviews and projective psychological techniques were used. The collected information was transcripted, coded, construed and triangled. Ethical aspects were taken into consideration.
Results: the clinical, body and psychical manifestations of the disease had an impact on the sexuality of most of subjects. The gender role and the body image played significant roles mainly in women. The couple was formed as a support to face sexual difficulties, particularly in men. There were three profiles of sexual experiences: 1) a group stated that the disease had a negative impact on their sexuality regarding difficulties in erection (men) and sexual desire (women) and this influenced on the couple; 2) this group mentioned similar sexual changes but experienced lower psychoemotional impact due to the support of the sexual partner; and 3) the third group did not mention any change in sexuality or in the couple. Related factors were also discussed.
Conclusions: sexual experiences of the subjects were varied and related to representations about couple, sexuality, body and disease. Women and men showed differences in the effect of the esthetic and psycho-emotional impact of the disease on sexuality. The most flexible representations (generic, body, sexual) were related to lower sexual impact of disease.