Female sexual dysfunction is real, but don’t be scared

The phenomenon that some women fail to experience satisfaction from sexual activity is not new.

Medical literature has a name for it—female sexual dysfunction. But experts are still trying to understand it: its prevalence, patterns and risk factors.

Four experts in obstetrics and gynaecologists working in teaching hospitals Katsina and Kano have taken some steps to understand it.

“There is a paucity of data on FSD in our environment, on the prevalence and risk factors,” they wrote in the opening to their study, published in the Tropical Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Several factors contribute to female sexual dysfunction. So the researchers studied a cross section of 342 women attending family planning clinic.

They found 86% of the women had one FSD of another. Among those with an established FSD, the most prevalent was dysfunction of desire. Up to 85% had a dysfunction of lubrication. In 81% of the women, researchers recorded dysfunction of arousal. Pain accounted for a dysfunction in 66% of the women, orgasm accounted for a dysfunction in 42%. The least prevalent dysfunction, it turned out, was satisfaction, in 32% of the women.

The research found that the frequency of sexual activity and chronic pelvic pain were associated with FSD. However there was no association between FSD and the number of years a woman is married or the marital setting. There was also no association with conditions as hypertension, disabetes, previous abdominal or pelvic surgery, previous diagnosed mental or psychiatric condition.

‘There is a high prevalence of FSD in our environment, with disorders or desire, lubrication and arousal being the most common,” the researchers reported.

You are not alone. The least you can do is reach out for help.