After a decade of illness, my sex life is almost nonexistent. There were times that my illnesses have been life threatening and it was all we could do to get through the day. At the moment my health is more stabilized but my orgasm seems to have disappeared. Sex requires oxygen (the very unsexy concentrator sounds like Darth Vader) and it’s hard to maneuver with a cannula (the plastic tube that goes in my nose).

Then there’s factoring in the pain (before, during, after) and fatigue. There is so much recovery required and my wife thinks of that fact so much during what sex we do have that it makes it hard for her to find pleasure and not just feel like the whole endeavor is selfish. She’s been rejected so many times that she’s hesitant to ever initiate (who can blame her?!) and I am too. What if I get things started and then get too tired or hurt too much to finish - one more disappointment. Is it better to still try?

I miss the intimacy. I miss the release of orgasms. I miss sex. How do you all handle this? I thought I could just amputate this part of me but it turns out I can’t....
#Migraine #Polymyositis #InterstitialLungDisease #sjogrens #RareDiseases