United kingdom Daily news: Isn't it meant to make you go blind? Man suffers excruciating headaches every time he looks at pornography

Jumat, 29 Juni 2012

Isn't it meant to make you go blind? Man suffers excruciating headaches every time he looks at pornography

Isn't it meant to make you go blind? Man suffers excruciating headaches every time he looks at pornography

By Claire Bates

PUBLISHED: 06:43 EST, 29 June 2012 | UPDATED: 07:13 EST, 29 June 2012

It sounds like the set up for a joke, but a medical journal has revealed how a man approached doctors after suffering blinding headaches every time he watched porn.

The 24-year-old software engineer from India experienced exploding pain across his whole forehead every time he tried to view a sex video over a period of two years.

The first twinges of discomfort would strike just five minutes after he started watching a film and would build to a climax within eight to 10 minutes.

The case in India was a more unusual form of 'primary headache associated with sexual activity'

Neurologists in New Delhi who treated the otherwise healthy single man were at first baffled because he had no history of headaches, no family history of migraines and had never received a head injury. Physical and neurological exams also came back normal.

They suggested his case was caused by changes in the pain-sensing nerves in the face and jaw, which became more sensitive during a 'heightened emotional state associated with viewing pornography.'

Surprisingly, sex-associated headaches are not as rare as you might think. One in 100 people will experience at least one at some point in their lives, with men worse affected.

Around half of people who have them also experience migraines, but it's not known how they may relate to each other.

There are two types: preorgasmic, which is a dull pressure-like pain that starts during sexual activity and worsens over time and orgasmic, which is a sudden onset of pain at orgasm. Preorgasmic cases account for less than a third of sexual headaches reported in literature, and it was this type that affected the young man in India.

Scientists are still unclear as to exactly what causes them.

In the latest case review, published in the journal Archives of Sexual Behaviour, the team led by Dr Kuljeet Singh Anand theorised that 'muscular contractions' involved in sex could trigger the pain in general.

However, they added that sex could also influence the system controlling the blood flow of the arteries inside the brain.

As for the Indian patient, he eventually found relief after he was told to take ibuprofen and paracetamol half an hour before watching X-rated footage.