Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder causes agony for women

Gretchen Molannen (Photo: Tampa Bay Times)

Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder causes agony for women

Imagine being constantly aroused and not being able to find any relief. Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder causes agony for women that suffer from it and most people have never heard of it.

Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD) also known as Restless Genital Syndrome (ReGS) affects mainly women.

It used to be referred to as Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS) but most do not use this term since the woman affected are not aroused due to sexual feelings.

When many hear about this disorder for the first time, they tend to think it’s a great thing to have – especially men,  however Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder causes agony for women.

The women that are afflicted do not feel sexual desire however they feel as if they are in a constant state of arousal and that they need release.  This causes many women to masturbate for hours on end, to the point of them damaging their internal organs and many times they can’t achieve their release.  Even if they do orgasm, the feelings of arousal returns shortly thereafter.

Researchers do not even know exactly what causes some women to suffer from this disorder and it is not even recognized as an official medical disorder.

The most current research suggests some type of nerve damage causes the women to feel like they are in a constant state of sexual arousal. Some women developed the disorder after being prescribed antidepressants, others became afflicted after having surgery and for numerous others there is no known trigger that caused then to become afflicted.

One constant is that so far, there is no cure.

Two suffers that went public with their plight battling PGAD are Jeannie Allen and Heather Dearmon.

Both developed the disorder quite suddenly and it set them on a course in life that they were unprepared for.

Gretchen Molannen, 39 of Florida suffered from PGAD for years. She claimed that she could not even hold down a job.

She was trying to obtain disability for her condition and was devastated when her application was rejected.

The Tampa Bay Times had done a story about Molannen, with her cooperation and permission. One day after the story was printed, Gretchen Molannen was found dead. She committed suicide.

There are support groups for women that are affected with PGAD.

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