Women's Health (cont.)
Sexuality
Sexuality deals with a woman's sexual attitudes and practices.
During her lifetime, a woman goes through many changes, not only in
her body, but perhaps also in attitude and lifestyle.
The sex
hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, have a profound influence on a
woman's sex life. Women also produce testosterone and may need it for sexual
arousal. In humans, the sexual impulse is not tied to reproduction and women
will engage in sexual activity even when they are not fertile.
Little is
known about what facilitates or inhibits feminine sexual arousal. It is
estimated that 50 million American women have difficulty with sexual arousal.
Problems include low sexual desire, sexual aversion, difficulty with sexual
arousal (like impotence in
men) and pain during intercourse (dyspareunia).
Physical
exercise may increase sexual arousal whereas chronic illness, arthritis, cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, mental
illness, or depression can inhibit sexual arousal. Alcohol and
certain drugs such as tranquilizers can also inhibit the sexual
response.
Following the success of sildenafil (Viagra), the male impotence drug, there is
considerable research now being conducted on drugs that improve blood
flow to the vagina and the vaginal region which may assist female
sexual arousal.
Fertility,
Birth Control, and Infertility
Fertility is the ability to have children. But most women wish to
restrict when and by whom they conceive. In the U.S., 94% of women
age 15-44 use some method of birth control in order to prevent
unwanted pregnancies.
Ideally,
the use of birth control is the responsibility of both sexual partners. The
choice of a birth control method should be a joint decision as well. In reality,
the ultimate responsibility for birth control more often than not rests with the
woman. Her choices include oral contraceptives, spermicides, diaphragms,
cervical caps, rhythm methods, contraceptive implants, and
intrauterine devices
(IUDs). In general, longer term protection (for example, oral contraceptives, implants, or IUDs) not requiring last
minute decision-making provides better protection (a 0.1-3% "failure
rate") than methods (for example, condoms or spermicides) used just
before intercourse (5%-15% "failure rate").
Every woman
who wishes to use birth control needs to decide which method is best suited for
her. She must also determine which methods offer her the most protection against
sexually transmitted diseases, including
HIV infection and AIDS.
The
opposite of fertility is, of course,
infertility or the inability to have
children. Infertility affects one in five couples in the U.S. Female infertility
tends to become more of a problem as a woman gets older, especially after age
35. Irrespective of age, a woman and her partner need to be medically evaluated
by an infertility specialist to determine the cause for the infertility and to
correct the situation, if possible. The options available to infertile couples
have expanded and include the advanced reproductive technologies being offered
by infertility programs, such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic
sperm injection (ICSI), or donor eggs and/or sperm. Adoption, as always, is another
solution for many couples.
Next: Pregnancy »
- Birth Control Pills (Oral Contraceptives) - Read about the different types of birth control pills (oral contraceptives) such as monophasic, biphasic, and triphasic. Find out which birth control pill may be the best for you.
- Pap Smear - Read about Pap smear, a test to screen for cervical cancer, and precancerous changes in the cervix. Risk factors for abnormal Pap include HPV, smoking medicaitons, and a weakened immune system.
- Urinary Tract Infection (UTI In Adults) - Learn about urinary tract infection causes, symptoms, signs, diagnosis and treatment of UTIs in men and women. Antibiotics may be used to treat recurrent bladder infections.
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