Michael Douglas On How An STD Gave Him Cancer

"I will always remember the look on his face, we need a biopsy. There was a walnut-size tumour at the base of my tongue that no other doctor had seen."

Actor, Michael Douglas, now 68, was diagnosed with throat cancer in August 2010, following many months of oral discomfort. A series of specialists missed the tumor and prescribed antibiotics instead. Douglas went to see a friend's doctor in Montreal who looked inside his mouth using a tongue depressor which is when he found out the news.

Douglas was diagnosed with stage four cancer which is often terminal, and forced him to embark on an intensive eight-week course of chemotherapy and radiation.

The actor refused to use a feeding tube, despite being burnt on account of the treatment. He lost 45lbs on a liquids-only diet.

"That's a rough ride. That can really take it out of you," he told the Guardian. "Plus the amount of chemo I was getting, it zaps all the good stuff too. It made me very weak." Douglas said.

Douglas is now more than two years clear of cancer.

"I have to check in regularly -- now it's every six months -- but I'm more than two years clear," he said. "And with this kind of cancer, 95 percent of the time it doesn't come back." He said.

The cause of Douglas's cancer had been assumed to be related to his tobacco habit and excessive drinking. In 1992, he was in rehab for alcohol abuse and has also spoken of recreational drug use.

Though the actor has had his battle with addiction, Douglas claims that the cancer was not a result of drinking and heavy smoking, but rather a sexually transmitted disease.

"Yeah, it's a sexually transmitted disease that causes cancer."

"Without wanting to get too specific, this particular cancer is caused by HPV (human papillomavirus), which actually comes about from cunnilingus," he explained.

"And if you have it, cunnilingus is also the best cure for it," Douglas added.

Research studies from both Malmo University's Faculty of Odontology and The New England Journal of Medicine both suggest a possible correlation between oral sex and throat cancer.