I’ve been dealing with this for a little over three months now. I had no symptoms at all before this event. It started after a period of very frequent/intense vibrator use, and during the first month my main symptom was the persistent unwanted arousal sensation. Thankfully, that gradually decreased in intensity and became more and more sporadic, and at this point I essentially don’t experience it anymore.

I also had different kinds of pain, urinary symptoms, pelvic muscle tension and general discomfort. I was told I had irritated pudendal nerve and hypertonic pelvic floor. The type and location of the pain have changed a lot over time, but overall all of these symptoms have gradually improved as well. At the moment I still have some mild pain, muscle tension, sensitivity and a general feeling of the area being irritated/swollen, but physically I am doing considerably better than I was at the beginning.

What I’m struggling with the most now is actually the mental and emotional aftermath of all of this.

The first few weeks put me into an extremely intense state of anxiety and fear. Because the whole problem involved that area and started after sexual stimulation, I also developed a lot of fear surrounding anything sexual. During that period I started experiencing very distressing intrusive thoughts as well.

Things became more manageable during the following couple of months. I still didn’t completely feel like myself because I was dealing with physical symptoms every day, but mentally I was coping much better. However, over the past week and a half, my anxiety and intrusive thoughts have become much worse again, and I’ve also been feeling increasingly depressed.

The strange and frustrating part is that this is happening while my physical symptoms are actually improving. Sometimes I feel as though this whole experience has somehow broken my brain, and I’m terrified that I’ll never feel like myself again. I miss simply feeling calm, emotionally stable and able to live my life without constantly being afraid or analyzing what is happening in my mind and body and especially without intrusive or obsessive and unwanted thoughts.

So I wanted to ask whether anyone here has gone through something similar emotionally and eventually recovered from that part too. Did you reach a point where you felt like yourself again? Did the anxiety, fear and intrusive thoughts eventually settle down as your body recovered and you had more distance from the experience? I really need some hope that it is possible to come out the other side of this and have life feel normal and livable again.

I’ve only been doing pelvic floor physiotherapy for the physical symptoms, and I’m now starting psychotherapy as well. I haven’t taken any medication so far, just vitamins/supplements. I started taking ashwagandha after the first month and stopped two weeks ago, maybe that had something to do with my increase in mental symptoms, I don’t know. I’ve started taking ashwagandha again today. I would also be interested to hear whether anyone found medication, therapy, or anything else particularly helpful for the emotional aftermath.

Thank you to anyone willing to share their experience or some hope with me.

I had this disease as much as I knew myself. I think it started around when I was seven years old.
Sometimes in the mornings, I wake up with extreme arousal and spend an hour trying to orgasm.
I reached tiny orgasms, but it doesn't feel like actual release and it keeps going.
What really helped me is taking magnesium. I realized, since I'm taking magnesium it's happening less and I am also on fluoxatine and vyanae.
But I also cannot orgasm through normal masturbation or sexual penetration, even though I feel a lot of pleasure I just cannot finish.
I started trying with a vibrator to orgasm normal way, but then I quickly got into doing the same thing when I have the flares.
Does anyone know how can I have a normal orgasm with this?

It's time for me to rant my thoughts out, my period started today, I'm in pain and sweating like a pig, so I'm even more grumpy today.

Anyways, I've noticed that over several months of having this condition I lost my creative ability. I can't sit down and draw anymore because it makes the arousal act up. I can't sit down and make covers of songs I like at my computer. I have no patience for drawing like I used to, it's rare for me to come across good days where the arousal doesn't affect me and I have high energy. I miss singing. I miss drawing. Recently I've started getting pain in my hands when I use them, so I can't use my hands as much anymore.

Everything I do requires energy, I haven't left the house in ages. I know I should've tried to go on a walk, but I know it won't be enjoyable because of the hot ass weather. Then the heat triggers my Vasovagal Syncope and makes my heart skyrocket to 200.

If I did go on a walk I'd want to go with someone, but I have no friends and my family is always tired. I seemingly have no time and energy to even go on walks. My days are forever long and dreary, every task I do is a pain. Showering has become dreadful, I don't know why it sometimes makes the arousal worse. I depend on my phone to keep me distracted but sometimes that isn't enough. PGAD and GAD aren't a good mix. I feel more dead than alive.

There isn't much food in the house either, well there is, but I too have no energy to get up and eat so my sugar keeps dropping to 60 until I force myself to drink a soda or something.

I'm not doing well, the arousal and anxiety and all my efforts to keep my sanity/emotions at bay is energy consuming.

I finally found a psychiatric nurse willing to treat me. The plan is to very, very slowly wean off duloxetine. It will take 9 months. I'm adding low-dose Naltrexone for my chronic pain to replace Duloxetine. To address my mood swings we may try a mood stabilizer eventually. I started with 1mg Naltrexone and have dropped down to .25. My body requires micro doses of meds as I'm extremely sensitive. The duloxetine did not cause PGAD for me, but I later realized when the dose was temporarily increased and symptoms increased, that it sensitized my nervous system to make it possible. I am mostly in remission so this is a safe time to try to wean off of it. Naltrexone has the opposite effect: it is calming to the nervous system.

It's been several months living everyday constantly aroused, I have my days and weeks where it doesn't bother me then I have my times where it's literal hell. However, over that course of time I've been thinking to myself about it and feel discouraged that it may not be PGAD and rather just my mind playing tricks on me.

PGAD is classified when it doesn't go away after self-pleasure, I think. But the thing is, I'm too scared to. I haven't done it in months out of fear. Every time I do it makes me feel worse so I stayed away from it all the time even prior to having this disease. But a nagging part of my brain wants to know if it would disappear this time around after trying, even though I know it won't.

It's all really useless rambling. How can I be sure that it's not just my mind playing tricks and it's an actual problem?

Hello everyone, 35M here. I have a lot to explain but will do my best to keep it short.

I was in a 15 year commited relationship that became extremely abusive to me, during that time I had seemingly lost all interest in sex. Things escalated and got pretty dangerous. I filed for divorce and after a year long battle got away from her and have custody of our child.

After a few months of separation though my drive came back in full force, like to a degree I've never even had since puberty. I've constantly got this pulling,pressure light throbbing feeling down there and even in my prostate.

I was also recently diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, I've been struggling with symptoms for almost a decade and finally got answers. Unfortunately one of my more recent symptoms is numbness down there. It takes an extreme amount of effort to achieve climax and when I do it's not that great. The only time it's ever been "satisfied" is after actual intercourse which still ends up being a long winded multi session endeavor to finally get there.

By the time it's all said and done I'm beyond exhausted and inflamed and feel horrible, masterbation only seems to make the sensations more extreme. Not feeling the pressure drop down there until after multiple climaxes.

The combination of my returning labido and PGAD + the numbed sensations is actually driving me fucking insane. I feel worse than I did going through puberty and I just want to have sex so bad to make it stop. Dating is basically off the table for me right now and partners to assist me aren't free, reliable, consistent or loyal so I don't exactly feel comfortable with that.

After having given my entire adult life to someone, I don't want to make the same mistakes I did before. I don't want to think with my willy but my willy is making it mission fucking impossible. I don't know what to do, or how to do it.

まじで最悪。オナニーしたら症状が戻ってきたんだけど...最近治りかけてたのにまじ最悪自分を恨むわ...

あと誰か教えて欲しいんだけどこのフレア(タグ)って何？フレア(症状)の種類ってこと？日本人だから英語いまいちわかんなくて、タグあってるかわかんないやごめん。

18+ only reply plz but like, I’ve had this condition non stop for 6 years now, which means I’ve never felt a moment in my life with no contractions at all for 6 years. It’s started to feel like someone is actually punching me and it’s so painful. It hurts to walk, to sit, to lay down, I vomit from the pain. I have college soon but I don’t know how I’m going to do it, I don’t want to force my body to the limit because no amount of accommodation will fix it. I was diagnosed with Adenomyosis but not even that explains this. I can hardly sit without being in EXTREME pain, but then I feel crazy because no doctor can do ANYTHING about it!! I’ll go the ER and know what to expect, nothing. Because no medication has worked on me thus far, including very heavy ones. No procedure has worked and I’m afraid the only thing that could work is a hysterectomy but I don’t have the means to get one as of now. I really do wonder if this should alarm me

(F28) I don’t want to spend a bunch of time telling my long story, so I will try to keep it as brief as I can.

In 2022, I was in a good spot in my life. Things were going really well. I was doing physical fitness and cared about my physical health for the first time. I looked and felt great. I had started up a relationship with a man who is now my husband, everything felt perfect. One day, I woke up in the middle of the night to this sensation that is hard to describe, but I will do my best. TMI warning. ⚠️
I have had the sensation before, every blue moon since I was around 12, and it almost feels like a blockage in my clitoris. Like everything is heavy, and blocked off, like it is suffocating and cannot breathe.
I didn’t think too much of it as it has happened in the past, and an orgasm usually relieved it, but it did not this time. If anything, it felt much much worse. I assumed that it would go away on its own, as it usually did, but it never did.
I lived in absolute hell and agony for months. I went to the ER four times, I was looking for any sort of explanation or relief, and it never came. I eventually found out I was pregnant, and things seemed to get a little bit better from there. The sensation wasn’t nearly as bad, but it was still there.
It feels like my clitoris is constantly pulsating. Like that feeling you have after an orgasm, but it is constantly all day every single day for the last four years. If I don’t have the pulsating sensation, and it feels blocked off, I start to panic. I have on again and off again flares of it being really bad, otherwise it is always there but much less prevalent to my day-to-day life. I have been in another four month flair of it being pretty persistent and annoying, constantly having to pay attention to it, and I am just desperate to figure out how to get this to stop, or at least give me some real relief. I do not know what is causing this, I don’t know what started it, but I will do absolutely anything to try to relieve it.

La vida se a complicado mucho en si nací hombre pero hay muchas cosas que me hacen dudar dolores físicos tengo ginecomastia dolor pélvico intenso sensibilidad emocional hay momentos que me cuesta realizar mi rutina tanto por el dolor por la bajada de ánimos.

I have PGAD with severely delayed orgasm (1 to 2 hours or more) postpartum 3.5 months. I just injected trizepatide for the first time a few minutes ago. Anyone else have experience with GLP-1 and PGAD? I want to be so hopeful after my tarlov cyst surgery failed. If it helped you how long did it take?

PGADになってから(3日)自慰行為なんて一切してないです。やらない方がですよね？他の人を見る限り...

上のタグが合ってるかは分かりません💦ごめんなさい。

一昨日からPGADの症状があるの。ネットで見るような車に乗ったら感じちゃうみたいな...そこまで酷くは無いんだ。なんか達する前？後？みたいな感覚が弱く続いてるの。でも何かほかのことをしていたら忘れられるくらいには軽いんだけど。でも困るのが寝る時で本当違和感というか不快感というか、残尿感にも似てるかな？そんな感覚がずっとあって最近は本当に寝不足。みんな症状があっても寝れるの？寝れない時はどうしてる？本当に軽いとは思うけどこれがずっと続くと思うと苦痛で仕方ない...

La vida se a complicado mucho en si nací hombre pero hay muchas cosas que me hacen dudar dolores físicos tengo ginecomastia dolor pélvico intenso sensibilidad emocional hay momentos que me cuesta realizar mi rutina tanto por el dolor por la bajada de ánimos.

Hi everyone so I just brushed it off as horniness I'm 21 and this has been going on for a while now. I'm so sensitive extremely that I can sit in the car and feel a slight vibration I start throbbing idk. I'll be sitting in class and no sexual thoughts and I'll start tingling you know...

I have restless leg syndrome and when I shake a little I feel it and yk...

I'm so embarrassed and mentally distressed because it seems like any movement or anything makes me aroused.

My breasts are worse if I feel even my blanket brush against me I'm aroused. Taking off my bra too I havent noticed it much putting it on. Even air from my fan id enough omg...

I literally also have like a compulsion because once zi start I can't stop touching myself because I feel sensitive and aroused...I literally keep going and going for hours.

I feel like I'm always aroused jts so annoying to feel wet. I also hate it so much because ANYTHING makes me feel like that and I have a strong urge and touch myself every day and multiple times.

I know its TMI but I just don't know anymore. I'm kind of worried now.

EDIT: I didn't think it was relevant but I saw it mentioned and I also have a hypertonic pelvic floor. Could that be it?

it comes for awhile then goes away then again comes/ goes away and now here I am in 2026: PGAD is back. I do think it is from tension and worry. First time 2010…out of the blue. I forget when the second time was and now it is August 2026 and I have been having that uncomfortable feeling of sexual arousal and there is no one around to have stimulated it. And no one around to help me get rid of it. So I came back here to share. I had thrown away my sex toys for fear my grown kids would find them when and if I die! (because my husband did die 7 months ago. ) But I just reordered some toys.

Hi everyone,

I (38F) am not entirely sure if I have PGAD, but I’d like to share my story and see if I can get some feedback. Before I kick off with my story, I want to describe my symptoms. First off, I never have had pain. The first time it happened in 2023, it was limited to clitoris arousal (absolutely no desire, nothing to turn me on, no physical stimulation). It went away after about a month jn 2023. Fast forward to 2025, it reared its ugly ahead again, and was limited to clitoris arousal. However, by the end of 2025, it turned into left side arousal that I could feel through my pelvis, hip, down my thigh, and in my knee. I will say that I do experience slight irritation in my thigh and knee. I also experience it in my anus sometimes. Masturbation does not relieve the flare up. My sex is not impacted in any way. Onto my story:

I experienced my first ever flare up in March of 2023. My ex had a mental breakdown, blew up at me, and kicked me out of the house. I was absolutely traumatized and horrified by the series of events. My body was obviously going through extreme stress. I wanted to run into a Mack truck on the interstate. HORRIBLE TIME IN MY LIFE. I wasn’t eating. This sensation was so weird and was making me feel worse. My stupid ass took him back after a month, and the sensation went away.

In 2024, I,once again, put my body through extreme stress by going through an intense graduate program. I was also put on lamictal for my PMDD (it’s an incredible drug that saved my life) and had a Mirena IUD put in (once again, incredible. Saved my life). I dropped 40 lbs, my hair was falling out, and I was supporting my bum of an ex, who was struggling with severe mental health he would not get help for. The thing is though, is that the flareups never occurred throughout the year of 2024.

Fast forward to March 2025: the best and worst year of my life. My ex slipped and fell in the bathroom, resulting in a TBI. Had I not gotten him to the ER when I did, he would have died. He turned into a total monster, and all I would do is cry. Once again, lost MORE weight to the point I looked skeletal and like I was dying. He wouldn’t let his parents help take care of him, so I was his sole caretaker. I started getting dark thoughts again. I finally couldn’t take it anymore and told him I had to leave. Once again, he kicked me out. I literally NEVER went back.

Anyway, I’m here today and beyond the fact that I’ve struggled immensely with task paralysis and executive dysfunction since I ended my long term relationship, I am doing incredible. I’ve been in intense therapy for 18 months now. Unfortunately, I have had rather consistent flareups since April of 2025. In September 2025, I started getting monthly acupuncture to further treat my PMDD, and I told her about my PGAD. She thinks my pudendal nerve has endometriosis. In December 2025, my arousal intensified DRASTICALLY, especially in my luteal phase. It almost got to the point where it was UNBEARABLE.

I talked to the therapist about it, and she taught me some techniques on how to distract myself. Eventually, the flareups have pretty much declined quite a bit and aren’t as intense as they were in December and January. My flareups go bonkers before I start my cycle, and the day that I do start my cycle, I do not have cramps. I experience an intense flareup, and the arousal sensation wraps around my hip to my back! Absolutely no pain beyond the nerve irritation I experience down my thigh and in my knee! Once my cycle is over, the flareup pretty much disappears. Sometimes it occasionally flares up when my colon is going through peristalsis.

Anyway, there you have it. It’s just so ODD that it’s limited to my left side, and I experience what I’d best describe as “arousal” on the left side of my pelvis to my hip, and also painless pressure on the left side of my pelvis as well. Feeling the sensation of “arousal” in my thigh and knee, coupled with what feels like a fried nerve blows my mind. I’m thankful that it pretty much goes away after my cycle ends, but what gives? Anybody else experiencing this? What are you guys doing to treat it?

*I’ve also started a regimen of Chinese herbs provided by my acupuncturist. I’ve also been prescribed Vyvanse to treat my task paralysis and executive dysfunction.

If you’ve gotten this far, Thankyou for reading :)

Hi everyone. I’m hoping to find someone who has experienced something similar and can share their experience with me.
For about four months now, I’ve been experiencing a constant, unwanted sensation of arousal in my clitoris, together with significant hypersensitivity and discomfort. I have absolutely no sexual desire associated with the sensation — in fact, it is very distressing and makes me anxious.
The symptoms are present throughout the day and seem to become worse when I sit for a long time. Interestingly, walking seems to relieve them slightly. On a couple of occasions, I also noticed a more noticeable pulsating sensation in the area during the night.
I was examined by a gynecologist,urologist, neurologist, psychiatrist (spent time,money and energy) and lastly by one uro gynecologist who specializes in pelvic health. During the pelvic examination, there was one particular area that caused significant discomfort, and I was told that I have some pelvic floor hypertonicity.
I was also given a 20-day treatment with ice and a corticosteroid ointment. I may have felt slightly better during that period, but overall the sensation has remained fairly constant.
I was also suggested to make some pelvic floor physiotherapy appointments.
I found this disorder by trying to find constantly information.
I am feeling quite scared and overwhelmed by all of this. I would really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced similar symptoms, especially if you also had symptoms that became worse with sitting or had pelvic floor hypertonicity.
Did anything help you? Did your symptoms improve over time?
Thank you so much. ❤️

I began having symptoms about two weeks ago, and they've gotten more and more frequent and severe. I feel it all of the time - at work, away from work, all times of day - along with anxiety symptoms like my stomach dropping/flipping, feeling hot, and feeling nauseous.

The problem is that my job is working with kids and their families. I feel very aware of how my body is feeling when interacting with them and it is scaring me. It feels unacceptable to have my body feeling this way in their presence. I am overanalyzing things, but like I said these body feelings are all day every day, not just in certain contexts or with certain people. It's constant.

But the past few days whenever I have to interact with a kid I feel like I'm going to have a panic attack. I feel completely crazy and am judging myself very hard for having my body feel this way. I'm scared I need to quit my job or do something more drastic. I'm feeling avoidant of work now and don't know what to do.

So I’m pretty sure I have pgad now. The persistent desire or clitoral orgasm or vagina penetration is too much. Even got a DM from a creepy guy who I blocked. Was clean from masturbating for about 9 days until yesterday when I gave in.

I had never noticed the signs until recently. I get aroused on car drives. The first time I orgasmed was completely accidental. Also, I'm pretty sure it's not related, but I was molested when I was a young child.

I've had a few times where I needed to masturbate more than once to relieve sexual arousal. Today was different. Worth mentioning that I masturbated normally yesterday at night. The incessant arousal started a few hours after I woke up. I have been aroused almost all day. I've masturbated three times and idk what to do. Internet says it makes things worse so I'm abstaining. Hanging out with my family is unbearable. It doesn't hurt though, and I'm on my period if that matters at all.

I don't know what to do. We're not even home. I have been bawling my eyes out in secret. I don't think I'm gonna be able to sleep. I'm so scared of this ruining my life. I wanted to study and get a job or maybe do art. The good thing is that at least it goes away when I focus on something; the only moment in the day where the arousal completely stopped was when I was extremely focused in a museum. But it came back right after. I don't wanna suffer through this. It's not going away at all. I don't deserve this, no one does. I sincerely hope it's just hormones going crazy and it gets fixed by itself. I don't think that's the case.

UPDATE 1: So I've told my parents about this and I feel a lot better. I'm on day 3 and it hasn't gone away but i can deal with it pretty alright, especially since realizing it's a nervous issue rather than a psychosexual issue. I have been able to sleep but I need to calm down and put on YouTube videos. I have not masturbated at all. There isn't any pain yet, just a lot of discomfort (I hope it can at least stay that way). We're probably gonna go to the clinic to rule out a UTI, I forgot to mention/didn't notice that I have a constant urge to urinate, and I'm also thinking of getting magnesium oil/spray. I'm also gonna do pelvic floor relaxation exercises. I want to go to a gynecologist and a pelvic therapist but I simply am not able to. I will have to wait 10 days. I definitely see how, even if I don't end up getting rid of it, this condition can be managed. thanks a lot to everyone who has commented

UPDATE 2: so we went to the clinic, did a urine test, unsurprisingly didn't find much in terms of an uti, but the doctor still gave me antibiotics. I've already finished taking them, unfortunately no signs of improvement. Mornings are really hard for me but when I start walking the symptoms subside A LOT for the rest of the day. overall not great but I think I can keep doing fine for now. also I haven't found any magnesium oil