I’m the one going trough this. I can assure you that the pain your man feels is devastating. No illness hurts like a broken heart.
Here’s my experience on this. We were in a relationship for a couple of years, loved each other, cared for one another and so on. Until one day she tells me the magic 21’st century girly words “I love you but I’m not in love with you anymore”. The more I loved her, the more she took me for granted and the more I cared for her the more she lost her respect for me. How silly is that? Of course I can understand her behavior because she’s young and immature and being her first love she doesn’t really understand that love evolves over time and the butterflies die over time no matter who you’re with and that’s not the reason to break someone’s heart. In the end it is all about respect and finding someone who loves you for who you are. And of course it is a never ending work to reestablish that spark not only in a relationship but in marriage also. Every relationship needs to be 50/50. Both sides need to put an effort to work things out. I also wasn’t attracted to her like before but I knew she’s the woman I love and I could never leave her nor break her heart. Maybe that’s because I’m older and I know that no matter who I’m with butterflies die over time and love is then based on respect and commitment. I remember at her age, every girl I was with I always thought there was something better outside the relationship but unfortunately there wasn’t and that’s the only thing that thought me to respect the love and women I have even if the spark is gone because in the end love is something bigger then sparks and butterflies. It’s called respect and commitment. Also there are girls who know how to love and appreciate her man and they know that spark is not equals love but respect and commitment is. In the beginning of a relationship you can never know how your partner is going to react in the next couple of years and it is a big risk loving someone today when people are obsessed with social media and don’t appreciate what they have. Sadly but that’s the world we live in today.