Unrelenting Arousal -- Rare Sexual Disorder Plagues Women

[Player-X]

Unrelenting Arousal -- Rare Sexual Disorder Plagues Women
Women Struggle to Cope With Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome
May 11, 2006 — In one of the more provocative episodes of "Grey's Anatomy," the hospital staff was stumped when a young woman came in having what first appeared to be seizures … but turned out to be orgasms.
They smirked and giggled. There was even a touch of envy as the interns gaped at their patient. As bizarre as it seems, though, the story line is based loosely on a real though rare disorder called persistent sexual arousal syndrome, or PSAS. A 2001 study published in the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy was the first to identify it, citing "persistent feelings of sexual arousal in the absence of sexual desire" that are "intrusive and unwanted." Since that study, however, word has been very slow to get around.

Nancy Brown said her life was devastated about six years ago by the onset of unrelenting, unwanted, sexual arousal.

"It was so intense I couldn't concentrate on anything else — only the desire to have sex with someone who isn't there," she said.

Nothing relieved the symptoms. Nancy says she turned over all the household chores to her husband, Glen Brown, and fell into a deep depression.
"I was embarrassed, I felt shame. And there's no help. There's nothing," she added.

Sleepless for nights on end, she said, her symptoms even brought her to the brink of suicide. "I told him that he didn't deserve this, my kids didn't deserve it, they didn't deserve to live this way and I couldn't go on with it anymore," she said.
Heather Dearmon understands Brown's desperation. She had just gotten married and was pregnant with her son when symptoms of PSAS began for her.
"I woke up one morning, and I just felt these strange sensations," she said.
Though she had no sexual desire, she had to bring on an orgasm to get any relief from the constant pressure. But relief didn't last.

"As time went on, the sensations grew stronger, and it would take me longer and longer to be able to achieve orgasm," she explained.
But the relief was only temporary.

"It got to the point where I was having it in the morning. I would make it go away for an hour or so. It would come back. I would have to masturbate again. And I would actually be crying while I was masturbating. There was no pleasure in it at all," she said.

Dearmon's life was turned upside down. She no longer went out. She couldn't take care of the house or her son. Frantic, she looked to her gynecologist, who sent her to a psychotherapist.

What followed, Dearmon said, was a series of visits to doctors and therapists, with no results. She became suicidal and had two stays in psychiatric hospitals, which, she said, only made her feel worse.
"The psychiatrist there suggested that I was sexually suppressed and maybe I should try lesbianism. And then the nurse there got very upset with me. And she said, 'Oh, well, I wish I could stay home and masturbate every day like you.' So, it was just a very hurtful experience," Dearmon said.

Like Dearmon, Jeannie Allen began experiencing nearly constant unwanted sexual arousal long before doctors knew what it was.

"My own gynecologist, who was a male, smiled and told me I was every man's dream. And I was mortified. I wasn't thinking about sex. I didn't have any fantasies; I wasn't involved physically with my husband. I wasn't watching anything, reading anything. But it was there," she said.

Dr. Susan Kellogg, director of sexual medicine at the Public and Sexual Health Institute of Philadelphia, has diagnosed five patients with PSAS in the past five years — all of whom report terrible physical and emotional distress. "It doesn't have to do with sex for them. They don't have any sexual desire, thoughts, fantasies, nothing," she said.


"Women have told me that they felt that it inferred that they were hypersexual or that they were, in some way, less than honorable and, in fact, it couldn't be further from the truth. These are lovely women, usually in stable, monogamous relationships, and they are not hypersexual at all," Kellogg said.

Jeannie Allen believed she had to keep her condition secret — even from her husband.
"It's just an embarrassing thing. When you don't know what's wrong, how are you going to explain it to your partner? I knew he would probably feel he wasn't enough for me, [that] he didn't satisfy me. So I didn't tell him. I took a soulmate that we had everything in common with, that we did everything together with, and just told him I wasn't happy anymore. That I wanted a divorce," she said weeping.
Lisa Martinez, a nurse and an attorney, created the Women's Sexual Health Foundation to educate women and doctors, most of whom don't know the syndrome exists.

"Typically, they're totally unaware of it, whether it's PSAS, or some of the other [gynecological] conditions," she said.

And Martinez said ob-gyn professionals aren't receiving adequate training to identify or treat the syndrome.

For now, the cause of persistent sexual arousal syndrome remains largely a mystery, except to say it differs from woman to woman. Treatment has been just as elusive.

"There is no percentage of wellness for instance, like 50 percent get better on a given medication. We don't have enough patients with this syndrome yet to have done research. … We don't have any funding to do the research right now. And so every woman is treated as an individual case," Kellogg said.

Since PSAS was identified in 2001, about 400 women have been diagnosed with the condition. But Allen says just finding out she wasn't alone was an enormous relief.
"I just burst into tears, because it validated that I knew that there was something wrong, and it wasn't in my head," she said.

Allen then started a support group on the Internet so PSAS patients could share stories and what little information about treatments could be found. Dearmon's husband read about the Web site in the newspaper.

It was a much-needed source of support for Dearmon.

"It was a good day. I mean, I was crying as I was reading their testimonies. You know, some of them had the exact same story as me," she said.
As for treatment, Dearmon says she found moderate relief with the popular antidepressant Paxil. She is no longer a slave to her condition.
"If the sensations were from one to 10, and 10 being the highest, it kind of stops it at 7, so it's not where I'm completely losing my mind," she said.

Brown has tried about anything anyone has suggested, including some drastic measures.
"Approximately 18 months ago I underwent nerve decompression surgery. I even went through electro-convulsive therapy," she said.

She ended up getting 42 electric shock treatments, and suffered severe memory loss as a side effect, but her symptoms have diminished only a little. "It's livable; I can do things and not constantly feel it. But it's there 24 hours a day; it never goes away for me.
Allen said her best hope is to bring attention to PSAS in the medical community, so that research to find the cause and cure for her misery can begin. In the meantime, she has a message for doctors who may still be in the dark.

"We want our doctors to know we're not crazy, it's not in our heads, that it does exist and to pay attention. Don't dismiss us just because it wasn't in your textbook. Maybe you ought to put this one in yours. That's what I would tell them."

I wonder shoud the term for patients be sufferers or enjoyers

[Kurbster]

"It was so intense I couldn't concentrate on anything else — only the desire to have sex with someone who isn't there," she said.

the japanese invisa-penis strikes again :O

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[Sklasko]

At first I thought this was just another look-at-me-i'm-a-perv article but after I read it I realize how bad these women must have it.

Also, I would have *****-slapped that nurse for being so smug.

[Cid Highwind]

That's pretty fecked up for them

I'll leave any cheap shots that pop up in my sick mind where they are and won't bother anyone with them.

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[Player-X]

the japanese invisa-penis strikes again :O

I expected more from you

At first I thought this was just another look-at-me-i'm-a-perv article but after I read it I realize how bad these women must have it.

I am not Kirby

[The Captain]

Even though the women seem normal mentally, I still wonder if it's caused by some kind of psychological phenomenon. If all else fails, couldn't the nerve endings in the affected areas be numbed through surgery or drugs or something?

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[Yamhead]

Originally Posted by The Captain

Even though the women seem normal mentally, I still wonder if it's caused by some kind of psychological phenomenon. If all else fails, couldn't the nerve endings in the affected areas be numbed through surgery or drugs or something?

Ouch dude, no.
There are plenty of drugs that supress sexual arousal. The problem seems to be that these "professionals" will not accept that there is a problem.
I bet there are some interesting stories in that internet group though.

Allen then started a support group on the Internet so PSAS patients could share stories and what little information about treatments could be found.

[RPGWizard]

The only correlation I can see between these women is that, as the article states, they are all generally in monogamous relationships with families.

Does this mean they were sexually deprived in some manner, either because their husbands blew in bed, or because they just did not have sex often enough for the individual demands of their anatomy? Perhaps it will be attributed simply to a chemical imbalance...

Maybe it is a genetic thing. However, it is curious that with a genetic disorder, such a malady would mainly arise later in life when married with children (Perhaps childbirth has something to do with triggering the onset?).

I fail to see why these women have not entered the pornography industry. They would be able to fully satisfy the malady, make money, and live far more normal lives than they are in these psychiatric wards.

Of course, the question to be asked there is, which is more shameful to these women, living in a psych ward, or living the life of a porn star?

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[industrian]

Originally Posted by RPGWizard

I fail to see why these women have not entered the pornography industry. They would be able to fully satisfy the malady, make money, and live far more normal lives than they are in these psychiatric wards.

Of course, the question to be asked there is, which is more shameful to these women, living in a psych ward, or living the life of a porn star?

Maybe it's because they're ill. And so are you. Read up on the f**king illness before you say stupid s**t like that. What don't you understand about the part of this illness that goes: "Persistent sexual arousal syndrome results in a spontaneous and persistent genital arousal unrelated to any feelings of sexual desire. In particular, it is not related to hypersexuality, sometimes known as nymphomania or satyriasis."

I remember seeing a documentary on this a while back, and it was pretty f**ked up.

[RPGWizard]

I did some more reading, and from what I can tell, the condition is basically like an unexplainable muscle twitch, which might explain why shock therapy has worked for some. Some connection/nerve has been screwed up in some way, and now it's like these women have continual blue balls.

One of the women said that her increase in sex drive started slowly, and slowly built up. The way that sounds, it would seem like a gradual increase in a chemical imbalance in the brain causing incorrect signals to be sent toward the muscles controlling the urge for an orgasm. She said it started with a compressed nerve in her neck. That may have changed certain signals being sent to various areas of the brain/body that may have produced certain levels of certain chemicals or caused certain "commands" to be issued from the brain, the severity of them increasing over time and eventually becoming a habitual command, being sent out at regular intervals.

And don't tell me I'm saying stupid s**t. I guarantee there's been at least one or two women with this disorder who have entered the pornography industry, but just don't say anything. It's just another way to deal with it until a cure is found, whatever that may be. I'm not saying all these women should do it or anything, and it would vary depending on the physical severity of each case and the individual's moral boundaries, but I believe it would be a valid option for some that would likely bring some relief.

I do hope a cure is found though. I know I sure as hell would be pissed if I had to sit around with blue balls all day. Then again, I'd be one of those entering the porn industry if that were to happen.....That is, if orgasms weren't painful.

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[Cid Highwind]

It's not like all the women who have this are pretty enough for the big screen. Most of them fit in the category of being in a happy monogamous marriage... I think that explains enough right?

It's the messed up nymphs who will look for the pr0n world, they are the ones who enjoy sex for the lust and will look for a way to please. If you'd read the article once more you might see that these women are not looking to please, they are looking to get the feeling away.

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[industrian]

Originally Posted by RPGWizard

And don't tell me I'm saying stupid s**t.

You generalised a serious condition into a joke, so go f**k yourself. I have Asperger's Syndrome, are you going to ask me to "do some card tricks, Rain Man?" Or would you get a kick from dancing infront of a cripple instead?

Originally Posted by RPGWizard

Then again, I'd be one of those entering the porn industry if that were to happen.....That is, if orgasms weren't painful.

What do you STILL NOT UNDERSTAND about this: "Persistent sexual arousal syndrome results in a spontaneous and persistent genital arousal unrelated to any feelings of sexual desire. In particular, it is not related to hypersexuality, sometimes known as nymphomania or satyriasis and this They don't have any sexual desire, thoughts, fantasies, nothing."

If you got a hard on, came, then got hard again and came, and got hard again and came around 200 times a day, I think THE LAST F**KING THING ON YOUR MIND would be "man, I should be in porn!!!"

[moomoomoo]

Take the argument somewhere else guys.

Cheers Player-X, you create wonderful threads.