From: Philips, N.A. (2000) Female sexual dysfunction: Evaluation and treatment. American Family Physician. July 1, 2000.

Sexual Dysfunction: It's not just a male thing

An Overview of Sexual Dysfunction in Women

Sexual dysfunction in women is as common than sexual dysfunction in men

Female sexual dysfunction is not specific to men. While there has been considerable attention paid to male erectile dysfunction in television and other media advertisement, not much attention has been paid to sexual dysfunction in women. The information presented here is an overview of sexual dysfunction in women and can serve as a way to initiate a conversation with your partner or your doctor when seeking help to overcome the problem.


Four Types of Sexual Dysfunction
The term sexual dysfuntion refers to having problems with sex. There are four general types of sexual dysfunction in women including:


How Common Is It?
According to the American Medical Association (1999), approximately 43 percent of women experience sexual dysfunction. Age has not been a associated factor since women under age 20 and over age 50 have had problems with arousal, orgasm, and overall sexual satisfaction.


What Causes It?
There a lot of causes of female sexual dysfunction such as medications, diseases, drug or alcohol use, vaginal infections, depression, stress, fatigue, and boredom. The illustration below shows the cycle of sexual dysfunction.

Medications– Medications affect a woman's ability for sexual satisfaction just like they can impact the man's sexual function. Categories and types of medications include:

Medications that cause disorders of desire

Medications that cause disorders of arousal

Medications that cause orgasmic dysfunction

Psychological – The effect of stress can cause anxiety leading to reduced ability to achieve an erection. Some of the stresses include:

Physical

Other than diseases that effect the nervous or cardiovascular (heart and blood vessel) system, physical things such as smoking, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, or morbid obesity can reduce the ability to achieve or sustain an erection.

Diseases – There are a number of diseases that can cause erectile dysfunction incluing:


Can It Be Treated?
While sexual dysfunction cannot be cured per se, it can be treated. The first step is to discover the underlying cause of the problem. It is important to talk with your doctor to determine the cause of the sexual dysfunction. This may lead to changes in lifestyle including cessation of smoking, weight loss, blood pressure control, or control of diabetes.

Improve your desire

Change your routine. Add something different to your sex life. Rent an erotic video, read an erotic book, or share youir fantasies with your partner.

Increase your arousal

If you are experiencing vaginal dryness, use a vaginal cream or lubricant, especially if you have gone through menopause. Excellent lubricants include Astroglide, KY Jelly, and other water-soluble lubricants. Mineral oil may also help.

Problems with orgasm

Masturbation has helped many women achieve orgasm. You many need additional stimulation prior to actual penetration or sex with your partner. Using a vibrator may help your reach orgasm. There are quite a few women who don't have an orgasm with regular intercourse. If you want an orgasm during intercourse, you or your partner may want to gently stroke your clitoris.

If you have never had an orgasm, masturbation may help you learn about and experience orgasm. You may want to experience this alone at first then introduce your partner to a mutual masturbation session.

Painful sex

Try different positions from being on top to being on hands and knees to lying on your side. Being on top gives you more control over penetration and movement (both yours and his).

Have sex on an empty bladder.

Use additional lubricant

Take a warm bath before sex.

If pain persists, talk to your doctor. Occasionally a woman will have an extremely tight vagina. Talk to your doctor about using something like a tampon or other dilating device.


Other things that you can do

Learn about your body and how things work. Examine yourself using a mirror and good light so that you can see all of your genitals. Ask your doctor about any medications or illnesses that you have and their effect on sex.

With your partner, practice "sensate focus" exercises. This is where your partner gives touches you, while you say what feels good and what does not. You can tell your partner to go faster, slower, touch heavier or lighter

Use fantasies since they may increase your desire.

Practice the Kegel exercise by squeezing the vaginal muscles tightly then relaxing them.

Try a sexual activity other than intercourse including massage, oral sex or masturbation (with or without a partner).

Again, if you think you are having trouble with your sexual response, please consult your doctor. Do not try to correct the problem on your own, especially do not take or stop any medications without checking with your doctor.

 

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