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case study: the painful world of sex headaches

a twenty-four-year-old man suffered headaches whenever he watched pornography.

by dave yasvinski

feb 4 2021

3 minute read

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a young man was struck with bad headaches at a most unfortunate time. getty

each week we comb through science journals to explore a baffling medical issue.

it’s not often that an untimely headache prevents people from having sex with themselves, but such was the case for a 24-year-old bachelor living in india.

the patient, whose story is documented in the archives of sexual behaviour in 2012, began to experience gradually worsening pain in his head within the first five minutes of watching pornography. the pain reached its climax within 10 minutes. “the intensity was so severe that he had to abort watching,” researchers noted in the case study. “there was no accompanying nausea, vomiting or phonophobia. progressively, he started to refrain from viewing videos as a means of avoiding headaches.”

there are only two types of “primary headache associated with sexual activity” (despite what your partner tells you) and the patient in this case is believed to have had the less common type — one that intensifies right alongside sexual arousal. the alternative, if you can believe it, may be worse.

“the more common type is a sudden and severe headache that occurs at orgasm,” amy gelfand, a neurologist at the university of california, san francisco school of medicine, told live science . this type of headache might only seem more common, gelfand said, because the explosive timing of the pain makes people more likely to make the connection and broach the touchy subject with a doctor.

“headaches associated with sexual activity can be extremely painful and scary,” said jose biller , a loyola university medical center headache specialist. “they also can be very frustrating, both to the individual suffering the headache and to the partner.”

primary sex headaches are more common in men and only affect around one per cent of the population, gelfand said. with 50 per cent of patients also experiencing migraines, there may be underlying factors connecting the two conditions but, unfortunately, the cause remains elusive. previous studies have not been able to shed much light, but researchers in this case pointed the finger at muscle contractions in the neck and jaw that combined with increased pain sensitivity related to “a heightened emotional state associated with viewing pornography.”

there was nothing amiss in the patient’s neurological and physical exams, however, and he reported no previous history of migraines or headaches during sexual activity — alone or with others. head injuries and meningitis were similarly ruled out.

aside from pouring cold bucket of water on your sex life, such headaches are typically nothing to worry about, according to the mayo clinic . patients often report experiencing sex headaches frequently for a few months before the condition subsides for a year or longer. some only experience the issue once and then never again. in rare cases, however, the condition could be connected to the flow of blood vessels to the brain, prompting officials to recommend immediate medical attention (if the fear of forced abstinence didn’t already do the trick).

the patient in this case was prescribed a mix of acetaminophen and ibuprofen and instructed by doctors to take the medication an hour or so before a romantic night on porn hub . the medication proved successful and significantly reduced his discomfort.

for others still stuck between a rock and a hard place, the mayo clinic helpfully recommends managing the pain by halting sexual activity prior to achieving orgasm or taking a more passive role in the bedroom — two options with questionable appeal. with luck, medical intervention will help provide the relief patients are seeking. “we recommend that patients undergo a thorough neurological evaluation to rule out secondary causes, which can be life-threatening,” biller said.

“this is especially important when the headache is a first occurrence.”

dave yasvinski is a writer with   healthing.ca

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case study: the painful world of sex headaches

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case study: the painful world of sex headaches

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