All you hear about is male sexual dysfunction. Well women have their problems too.

They can have chronic (recurring) or acute (all the time) lack or loss of sexual function. Surveys show that approximately 43 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 59 suffer some sort of sexual dysfunction.

There symptoms can be:

1. Lack of interest in sex and therefore they avoid it altogether

2. Unable to be aroused, either through physical contact or emotional suggestion

3. Lack of orgasms, none or delayed

4. Pain during sex or very tight vaginal muscles that prevent intercourse completely

The cause:

A woman's sex drive and libido is different from a mans.
They can be aroused through mental suggestions and through physical touching. The blood flow and her hormone levels are both responsible for this. If anything disturbs this, the process cannot be completed.

1. Depression

2. Stress

3. Anxiety

4. Fatigue

5. Marital problems (any relationship)

6. Menopause

7. Insufficient Hormone levels

8. Surgery (hysterectomy)

9. Vaginal or pelvic infections

10. Fibroid tumors

11. Endometriosis

12. Arthritis

13. Thyroid disease (Grave's Syndrome)

14. Medications (birth control pills, anti-depressants, allergy medications)

How to Prevent this:

Make time for yourself.

Go to the gym (if possible), ride a bike, take a nice relaxing walk

Do deep breathing exercises to relieve stress

Spend time alone with your mate

Talk to a doctor who is knowledgable about this and sympathetic to this problem

Ways to treat this:

Try Replens Vaginal Moisturizer every 3 days

Some people are helped by Premarin Vaginal Cream, only by prescription

Estrogen Replacement Therapy - pills that are taken every day for a few years

Vaginal dilators - a small device (about the size of a tampon) used to prevent and repair vaginal spasms

Pelvic exercise - Do your Kegel's everyday This is a muscle that you can contract while doing almost anything else. If done right, it can help with orgasms and the pain of vaginal spasms. Do five them wait, and then 5 more, everyday!

Sex therapy can sometimes help. Talking about your problems helps some people. Either alone, or with your partner.