This Adds a Whole New Level of Meaning to the Phrase “Safe Sex”

(www.livelywomen.com) — Have you ever heard anyone talk about “mind-blowing” sex or a “mind-blowing” orgasm? One 35-year-old Illinois woman will never look at those terms the same way again: She had a stroke during sex.

Fortunately, quick thinking and decisive action by her medical team saved the woman, and she’s suffered few long-term effects from the stroke. But she’s not the only one it’s happened to.

…She shared one thing in common with six other young people who suffered sex-related strokes: a small opening in the wall between the two upper chambers of her heart.

One in four adults has this minor heart defect, called a patent foramen ovale or PFO. A PFO allows some blood to flow from the right side of the heart to the left side. This blood bypasses the lung and goes straight to the brain.

Most people with a PFO have no symptoms and don’t know they have it. But 40% of people who suffer a cryptogenic stroke — stroke of no known cause — have a PFO.

Blood flow through a PFO increases when a person strains, such as bearing down during a bowel movement or breathing out with the mouth closed and nostrils pinched shut.

It also happens during sex, particularly during orgasm, says Brett L. Cucchiara, MD, director of the Penn Stroke Center at the University of Pennsylvania. Cucchiara was not involved in the Biller report, but studied two cases of sex-related stroke in 2006. (source)

Does this mean you should be afraid to have sex? Absolutely not. But would it be worth making stroke-risk-reducing health changes? You betcha! But you should be doing that stuff anyway…

Have you or a partner ever suffered a bizarre health problem resulting from sex? Leave a comment!

Contents © Copyright 2008 Kristen King

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