What You Must Understand About Female Sexual Dysfunction

Female sexual dysfunction, FSD, actually is a disorder that is multifaceted, ambiguous, and mystifying at all stages of women's lives. It encompasses the various complaints or issues related to low libido, decreased arousal, and difficulties with orgasm. Understanding FSD is more than essential for females and their partners as well as for providers and health care professionals to ensure appropriate treatment and care for those affected. Here in this blog we will discuss female sexual dysfunction causes, symptoms; treatment, and some often-asked questions.

 

What is Female Sexual Dysfunction?

Female sexual dysfunction is said to be conditions that interfere with the woman's ability to function at any stage of the sexual response cycle including desire, arousal, orgasm, or satisfaction. These often result in personal distress and even relationships. FSD manifests as follows:

• Low sexual desire is a decrease or want to engage in any sexual intercourse.
• Arousal disorders refers to a problem concerning becoming or staying aroused during any sexual activity.
• Orgasm Disorders: Failure or marked difficulty in experiencing orgasm-anorgasmia.
• Pain Disorders: Painful coitus or other sexual encounter-dyspareunia

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Causes of Female Sexual Dysfunction

FSD has multiple etiologies, which arise from a combination of physical, psychological, relational, and cultural causes. It is often that cause of FSD which then determines how treatment should be directed.

 

1. Physical Causes

• Hormonal Changes: The change in hormones, in this case estrogen and testosterone changes the sex desire and erotic feeling. These occur when the woman is undergoing menopause time or when she is pregnant and even while she is lactating.
• Medical Conditions: Sexually may be affected by chronic diseases like diabetes, heart conditions, and neurological diseases. For instance, sexual activity can become aching for women with conditions such as endometriosis or pelvic inflammatory disease.
• Medications: There are medications including antidepressants, antihistamines, and blood pressure drugs that have side effects that easily impair their will and sexual functions.

 

2. Psychological Causes

• Stress and Anxiety: Conditions of generalized anxiety or high stress may dash sexual desire and arousal. Anxiety about performance can also be the reason for dysfunctional orgasm.
• Depression: Sexual desire and pleasure is highly disturbed due to depression, and decreased interest in sex further complicates the situation.
• Past Abuse: If she has some previous experience of abuse or trauma, then she can't lead a normal life of sex, and in turn, she will only have dysfunction.

 

3. Relational Causes

• Lack of Proper Communication: If either of the partners fails to communicate with each other regarding sexual desire and need, then a conflict arises and thus their satisfaction level becomes low.
• Lack of or Inadequate Emotional Intimacy: The sexual desire as well as the sexual pleasure usually has a lot to do with the healthy amount of emotional bonding or intimacy that is proper or appropriate.

 

4. Cultural Factors

• Cultural Beliefs: Cultural beliefs about women's sexuality play a large role in most individuals' taking up a sound attitude towards the sexual act. Most cultures mark shame and guilt with sexual activity.
• Education: Sexual ignorance leads to the opportunity for misconceptions about sex and sexual health, a cause of dysfunction.

 

Female Sexual Dysfunction Symptoms

Symptoms of FSD may vary among individuals; some common symptoms include:

• No sexual interest or markedly reduced sexual desire.
• Absent or markedly reduced sexual arousal/maintaining arousal during sexual activity.
• Inability to reach orgasm.
• Genital pain associated with sexual activities.
• Sexual activities provoke distress, frustration, sorrow, or anxiety. Diagnosis of Female Sexual Dysfunction

 

Diagnosis of Female Sexual Dysfunction

The diagnosis of FSD often is elaborate in which a health care provider considers the following;

Some of the aspects that may be assessed in this kind of evaluation include;

• Medical History: The condition may be on account of the diseases, medicines, and many more psychological factors that the individual may have had in the past.
• General Physical Examination: A general overall physical examination may be prescribed out to rule out any underlying clinical condition.
• Some special questionnaires are carried out to assess the degree and effect on the quality of life due to sexual dysfunction

 

Treatment of Female Sexual Dysfunction

FSD treatment depends on the causes behind the medical disease and will be either physical or psychological in nature and it includes drugs and psychotherapy.

1- Drugs

• Hormone Therapy: If the patient has the hormone-balanced condition, then estrogen or testosterone treatment is given to the patient for the patients.
• Medications: At times it is taken just to increase the sexual desire or to make someone turned on. For instance flibanserin marketed under Addyi has recently been approved to be sold in the United States to treat low sexual desire in premenopausal women.

 

2- Psychotherapies

• Psychological counseling: In some instances, seeking individual or couples therapy may be considered to address the psychogenic cause of FSD.
• Sexual treatment: It is therapy specialized to sexual issues and therapy intended to improve sexual relations

 

3- Lifestyle Changes

• Stress management: The practice of mindfulness, meditation, and yoga may make a person stress less and get healthy overall.
• Communication Skills: Improving communication with a sexual partner may allow for increased intimacy and to work with sexual concerns.

 

4- Other therapies

• Pelvic Floor Therapy: It is a form of physical therapy that works out the pelvic floor muscles and makes them stronger; this will make the pain encountered during intercourse minimal.
• Herbal Supplements: Some women sought herbal supplements, although they had to get a prescription from a health care provider first.

Conclusion

Female sexual dysfunction is a multi-dimensional phenomenon that has affected many women silently and with stigma. Awareness of all such aspects of FSD - its causes, symptoms, and treatment options-is essential to raise awareness and allow women to seek medical help. Provided with appropriate support and treatment, most women overcome sexual dysfunction for happy sexual experiences.

These open conversations have to be encouraged with health care providers on sexual health and with partners on their needs so that the stigma attached to women's sexual health may dissolve, making the environment healthier for all.

Please book an appointment with the Best Gynecologist in Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, and all major cities of Pakistan through InstaCare, or call our helpline at 03171777509 to find the verified doctor for your disease.