These are the desire phase, the excitement phase, and the orgasm phase. Seeing sexual response in phases can be helpful, because women can begin to understand where their problem is occurring. This can be beneficial, if only to help women and their partners understand the impact of attempting to maintain a healthy sex life while coping with chronic pain. The desire phase refers to a woman's interest in engaging in sexually arousing activity. We know that how a woman feels about herself and her body, what she expects from sexual experience in general and her partner in specific, and her experience with intimate relationships, whether sexual or not, all come together to influence sexual desire.
Chronic pain can be a secondary cause of low sexual desire.
For example, in the University of Michigan Center for Vulvar Diseases, women frequently tell us that the quality of their sexual interest and desire before they had pain was just fine. In other cases, some women state that they have always had some difficulty with sexual interest. This can vary from feeling they aren't nearly as interested in sex as their partners to feeling that they would like to avoid sex forever if it was possible. In cases where sexual desire has always been problematic, this issue should be addressed. If this issue isn't dealt with, for some women resolving pain could mean that there is no longer an acceptable reason to avoid sexual contact.