Sexuality

	Home > Living with Cancer > Handling Side Effects Sexuality Sex is definitely not the first thing on your mind after a cancer diagnosis. But maintaining a good quality of life is -- and intimacy is a key part of that Illnesses, like cancer, can affect our sexual response, but usually it affects us temporarily during the immediate aftermath of diagnosis and treatment. In order to counteract this, it's important to first understand the sexual response cycle; which is made up of three parts: 1). Desire / interest in love making 2). Arousal, which involves all the physiologic things that happen in a persons body related to sexual functioning. 3). Orgasm: reaching a certain sensory threshold that then results in the sensation of orgasm, which are muscular contractions that occur in the genital region. Read more on this topic: Strange Bedfellows: Cancer and Sex: from the Spring, 2007 issue of Thrive Ask the Expert: Sex Matters for Cancer Patients: from the Spring, 2007 issue of Thrive Sexuality and Cancer Information Guide See also: Sexuality This article first appeared in the Spring, 2001 issue of PROGRESS	Adjust text size See Also: Sexuality This article first appeared in the Spring, 2001 issue of PROGRESS

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Sex is definitely not the first thing on your mind after a cancer diagnosis. But maintaining a good quality of life is -- and intimacy is a key part of that