Do Treatments Change Sexual Desire?

I have been married for 10 months, to my first sweetheart. It is a very long story, but beautiful. He has been diagnosed with tonsil cancer (squamus cell). We have already been through two surgeries and He is one week into his 6 week radiation treatments. He is already experiencing dry mouth and fatigue. We have been told of the normal side effects, but I am curious about how his desire or sexual appetite will be during this time. Will the radiation make him feel different. This is all new to both of us and we are so happy together. I have heard a few stories about libido, and the lack of desire, so if someone has personal info on how to handle this, please respond. I will tell the rest of our story at another time. We are in our 50's and praying that we have many years to enjoy each other.
Thanks to all,
D.Kimbrell

Dear D.,

The raditaion treament is brutal fo rthis cancer. we are 18 months behind it and I can tell you that although sex was definitely out of the question for awhile during treament (after it's over for the next two weeks is the very worst part of all) our 25 year relationship went right back to great. Fatigue is huge and you need to focus his energy on fighting the cancer.

Good luck,

Ellen

Dear Ellen,
Thanks for responding to my question. You are the only one who has responded. My husband stopped with the radiation treatments, this past December 1, 2004. Things are slowly getting back to normal. We had only been married 6 months when we had to stop and face the cancer. His CT Scan and PET Scan have both come back negative and remarkable. We are still dealing with many of the remaining side effects. His saliva hasn't returned and he still has a very dry mouth. It seems that his hearing was affected a little, too. His taste buds are back to a degree, but still not like the past. The fatigue is slowly going away, too. We have both tried to keep a good attitude through it all. So glad to hear that your relationship is back to 'great'. Hope to hear from you again.
Thanks,
DK

Dear DK,
My experience with radiation was much different than your husbands since I had prostate cancer but the effects of my radiation were probably more directly related to sexual desire (libido) than radiation to the tonsils. When I was finished with my radiation treatments, which was 40 months ago, I had lost about 99 % of my libido and did not experience any erections for about 24 months. However with the absence of libido I didn't really care except for thinking that my wife might be feeling depressed or deprived. Now it appears something has changed down there. My libido is coming back, not like it was pre-treatment, but all of a sudden I'm starting to get spontaneous erections, mostly in the AM but often times during the day and seemingly for no reason at all since I wasn't thinking about sex in any manner. I don't know if this is normal or what causes it but I'm wondering if any other men have experience this change post radiation treatment. Bob

Dear Bob,
Thanks for the response. Glad to hear you are doing better. My husband is doing fine now. I don't know much about radiation to the prostate area, but my Dad had his prostate removed, years ago, and he has had major problems. Hope your improvement continues and you never have to have anymore treatments of any kind. My husband had seven weeks of maximum radiation and was told he could never have radiation again. He is cancer-free and we can only thank GOD for his miracle.
DK