Sexuality

	Home > Support & Survivorship > Survivorship > Being a Survivor 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: Sexuality and Cancer Information Guide Sexuality: This article first appeared in the Spring, 2001 issue of PROGRESS 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	Adjust text size University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center 1500 East Medical Center Drive Ann Arbor, MI 48109 This site is part of the U-M Health System. The information presented is not a tool for self diagnosis or a substitute for professional care. © 2008 U-M Comprehensive Cancer Center

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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