Women suffer 'permanent' arousal too

It's well known that men run the risk of painful, long-lasting erections, but not many know that women can also experience this embarrassing condition.

A recent report of one woman who experienced just such unrelenting arousal has been published on LiveScience. Known as "priapism", it most commonly occurs after men take drugs to assist them with harder or longer-lasting erections that aren't relieved through orgasm, but remain erect for hours - sometimes days - after the fact, usually thanks to a blood clot, or constricted blood vessels.

Priapism in women pertains to an engorged clitoris and labia and can be incredibly painful and sensitive to the slightest touch.

A 29-year-old woman who participated in a study for low libido reported her situation after she began increasing daily medication. While she did stop taking the medication as soon as she experienced adverse effects - intense swelling and pain in her clitoral region - the symptoms weren't alleviated. In fact, she reported that the throbbing and swelling got worse over the next five days.

According to the study, which was published in the Journal of Sexual Medicine, she was unable to walk, sit or stand without experiencing additional pain. As a result, her condition was treated urgently.

Doctors found that the clitoris had swollen to the point that it measured 2cm by 0.7cm and had a purple discolouration. Since the trial medication blocked a receptor called alpha-adrenergic receptors, which are partly responsible for diverting blood-flow from non-essential areas of the body, doctors reasoned that the patient should try a common decongestant which would have the opposite effect, hopefully alleviating the extreme inflammation. After three days, the pain and swelling decreased entirely.

While it is painful, priapism in women is not considered a medical emergency as it is in men, since men run the risk of experiencing blood clots that may lead to loss of erectile function. This risk is unlikely in women since blood supply to the genitalia is consistently abundant.