Sex, Sexuality and Relationships with a Neurological Diagnosis

Hello everyone,

I would appreciate your help and support here.

I was diagnosed with GBS in March 2019 and was admitted to the National Hospital for Neurology & Neurosurgery (NHNN) for eight months. I work as a psychotherapist and counsellor.

As a result I am invited back to the hospital to give a talk to the clinical team titled “Sex, Sexuality and Relationship with a Neurological Diagnosis”.

What does it mean to commit to someone “in sickness and in health”? Is it possible to keep the romance alive when one partner is ill and the other is a carer?

I’ve been in touch with Caroline Morrice from Guillain-Barre and Associated Inflammatory Neuropathies (GAIN) GBS/CIDP-UK and she has suggested that the feedback and outcome from this survey would be of benefit in helping the organisation to enhance the support they can offer.

I would be interested to get your feedback on how relationships and sex were affected by your neurological illness. If you have any thoughts that you are comfortable sharing, I would really appreciate if you could make use of the following survey to do so.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Thanks,

Robert

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* 1. What is your age?

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* 2. What is your gender?

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* 3. How long are/were you in a relationship before your illness?

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* 4. Are you still in the relationship?

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* 5. What is your relationship status?

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* 6. Should this topic be explored in rehabilitation?

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* 7. Is inpatient rehab the right place to discuss this topic?

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* 8. What questions did you have or want to ask the medical team? What barriers were there to asking them?

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* 9. Did the staff prompt any questions and should they have?

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* 10. What are your personal experiences of how relationships and sex were affected by your neurological illness?

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* 11. When is the right time to discuss these issues and with whom?

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* 12. Did you need different support at different times (diagnosis, early recovery, going home etc)?

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* 13. We know that sex and sexuality is often a taboo subject. What does it mean for you?

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* 14. What is your gender?

Female

Male