By Jackie

Many comedic movies like to poke fun at the relationship between men and women in the bedroom. While these portrayals are sometimes humorous, they fail in one regard: showing a real woman. In comedic movies, women are either portrayed as the sex kitten who will bring out the whip at any given moment or the completely bored lover who has to use “fake orgasms” or the excuse of headaches.

What is normal female sexual function? Occasionally having a “headache” or trying to spice things up certainly isn’t abnormal, but for most women, these two extremes don’t represent their sexual relationships.

To help define “normal” female sexual function, doctors designed the Female Sexual Function Index. It breaks-up female sexual function into six quantifiable categories:

• Desire
• Arousal
• Lubrication
• Satisfaction
• Orgasm
• Pain

Doctors have designed a questionnaire to help a woman determine her overall sexual function score. To take the test and see your score, visit the FSFI website.

If a woman scores low on the test, it does not mean there is something “wrong” with her. It may be that a woman isn’t lubricating enough, making sex painful. Or a woman may not be receiving enough foreplay, leading to decreased arousal, lubrication, orgasm, and overall satisfaction. Another possibility is that a woman is experiencing a particularly painful emotional time, thus decreasing her levels of arousal and desire.

But what if you scored low and you feel your sexual function has been low for years? What if you and your husband have tried to increase your sexual experience in multiple ways, but it just isn’t working? What if no matter what you do, you still experience pain with sex?

If any of these questions sound like you, adhesions may be contributing to your sexual dysfunction and pain. Adhesions form after any injury to the body – including vaginal infections, bladder infections, rough sex, etc. The minute an infection occurs, tiny strands of collagen rush to the site. They not only seal off the area from the rest of the body, but also help it heal. Although helpful, these strands of collagen can blanket the sensitive walls of the vagina. When the nerves of the vagina are blanketed, desire, lubrication, satisfaction, and orgasm can be decreased.

In addition to blanketing the vagina, collagen can continue to build and form adhesions. Adhesions can constrict the vagina, pull on the cervix, or pull on nearby structures. Whenever a woman attempts sex, pain is generated as the adhesions are stretched.

To learn more about a safe, non-invasive treatment for sexual function and intercourse pain, please visit our painful intercourse page and sexual dysfunction page.