Woman Suffers Orgasm-Related Stroke

Rare Sex-Related Strokes Occur When Several Risk Factors Converge

(WebMD)  Sex triggered a life-threatening stroke in a healthy 35-year-old Illinois woman, her doctors report.

Sex- and orgasm-triggered strokes in relatively young women and men are rare, but not unheard of. They require a combination of factors and events not unusual in themselves, but which are highly unlikely to occur at the same time.

The 35-year-old woman's symptoms were typical of this unusual kind of "cryptogenic" stroke, says Jose Biller, MD, professor and chair of the neurology department at Loyola University, Chicago.

"This young woman ... while having intercourse had numbness on the left side of her face, slurred speech, and weakness in her left arm," Biller tells WebMD. "When she was transferred to our care six hours after onset, she was completely unable to move her left arm, her face was paralyzed, her speech was garbled, and she was in a state of panic."

It was too late to inject the woman with the clot-busting drug tPA, which must be given within three hours of a stroke. So Biller's team quickly ran a catheter from an artery in the woman's groin up into her brain to find the blood clot by angiography. Once it was found, they had only one option: to apply tPA directly to the clot.

It was a risky decision. "We did this with a lot of sweat," Biller says.

The woman's symptoms began to improve almost immediately; within an hour she was out of the woods and within 12 hours the symptoms were almost gone. Today she is well, with only an almost imperceptible fold in the skin under her nose and slight loss of dexterity in her left hand.

Stroke From Sex

Why did sex trigger this young woman's stroke? 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.

"In one of the cases we presented, it is a little embarrassing, one woman had stroke onset coincident with orgasm and having this sort of spontaneous guttural utterance or moan," Cucchiara tells WebMD.

But just having a PFO isn't enough to cause a stroke. A person also must have a blood clot, and that blood clot must break loose and enter the heart just in time to be sucked through the PFO during sex.

Normally a small blood clot would simply get stuck in the lungs and dissolve. But a blood clot that passes through a PFO can lodge in the brain and cause a stroke.

Biller's team did indeed find that their patient had a small blood clot in her leg, probably as a side effect of the oral contraceptives she used for birth control.

"This is a rare occurrence," Biller stresses.

"The vast, vast, vast majority of people with PFOs go through life and never have any problems," Cucchiara says. "You have to keep this risk of stroke during sex in perspective. The risk is very low.

"If you develop sudden neurological symptoms during sex, it could be a stroke and you need to seek help urgently and go to the emergency room," Cucchiara says.

"But you should not spend a lot of time worrying about this. Even if you have a PFO, of all the things to worr about in life, this ranks near the bottom in risk."

There are devices available for closing PFOs. But Biller and Cucchiara both note that doctors currently don't recommend this procedure -- even for most people who have already suffered a stroke.

That recommendation didn't convince Biller's young patient.

"She was scared to death, and she and her boyfriend and family were pushing us very hard to close the defect, so that is what we did," Biller says. "So she had the device implanted to close the PFO."

Biller's report appears in the September issue of the Journal of Stroke
and Cerebrovascular Diseases.

[cheeta21]

I have never heard of this pfo. how many men or women have had this?

[pierson98]

So? I''ve given ***-related strokes to, like, 10 or 12 girls.

[wogerwabbit]

Talk about mind blowing s e x!

[martin9p2]

Did I miss something in the article? ... what does the *** have to do with a clot passing through the PFO? Couldn''t she have had a stroke while dashing through the grocery store?

[martin9p2]

CBS, you shouldn''t bleep the word s e x in the posts when you have put "***-related" in your headline to attract readers when "***-related" isn''t really what the article is about.

[inventagod2]

Wow - You cannot type ''S ex'', and ''Da rn'' gets censored!
So it''s OK for CBS to type it, but not those who pay the bills?
I miss the good old ''U SA''!

[simplemind2]

S-e-x gone bad.

[godseyesore-2009]

So this is a result of strokin''? :-)

[excoachken]

"Different strokes for different folks."

[feedback3-2009]

Stoking it can give you an ***, and an *** can give you a stroke. It seems only fair.

[kuei12]

I admit it. I am the one who gave her the stroke. They say this is rare but it seems to happen quite frequently with women I pleasure.

FetusandMe and the rest of you morons who think this is funny, you should be ashamed of yourselves for those comments, but I doubt your parents were smart enough to teach you compassion. Your parents were probably retarted, and you all were conceived form someone being raped.

[jsutaguy]

Ha, another distraction article to keep the sheeple from realizing that the GOP run Wall Street firms have just cost their pension funds, their mutual funds, and their retirement funds another 200 Billion dollars in losses.....all while the CEOs and top execs skate away with 30 to 50 million dollar severance payments.

Ha ha. Funny about the *** stroke thing....hey, why are all those old people living in poverty and why did the value of my house fall by 40% overnight?

*shrug*

[u-r-right]

I once made a woman cry (I think from joy)

The guy involved with THIS incident is going to be either really popular or he will be feared by some.

I guess it is possible to *** someone silly!

[kuei12]

"Falling asleep is not the same as having a stroke. "

Oh, my mistake. LOL

[homee2010]

To mitchoncbs:
I find it amusing that you denigrate others for comments you find in poor taste, when you reply with nothing but insolent vitriol. I must now cast you as a moron, to use your words....

I applause the doctors for there quick thinking to save her life. But my question is what prescription drugs was she on including birth control that led up to this condition? it was a perfect storm and not a random seizure but they won''t tell us like they didn''t tell us what prescription drugs Tim Russert was on.

[jsutaguy]

Russert was on prescription Cholesterol lowering medication....Lipitor, I think. He had previously been diagnosed with high blood pressure and chronically high cholesterol levels...so he was also on an exercise program. I''m not sure about the drug being Lipitor, but it was one of those in that class of drugs I think..

[bdvpa]

I can''t believe how some people can just rant & rave about POLITICS, when this article has nothing to do about politics. You all need to get a life... You want to push a point, find another forum.

[jamesetling]

So now women have another convenient reason to deny *** to their husbands. Don''t want to have a stroke.

[raskal_2]

... Is this or is this not spousal abuse?

[ziadora]

This possibility just freaks me out!

[erichsh]

Guess the woman''s husband won''t be getting "stroked" any time soon...

[kennergirl]

Wow, must have been one heck of a session.

It''s a miracle she survived. Of course, after reading it all over the internet she may feel differently (like her friends and family don''t know who this is).

[andsab]

I bet it was still worth it ;)

[clovisbuford]

"... while having intercourse had numbness on the left side of her face, slurred speech, and weakness in her left arm," I had all of these symptoms during intercourse but it turned out to be due to excessive alcohol consumption and a muscle cramp.
Posted by FetusandMe at 06:53 PM : Sep 16, 2008
Haaa I almost choked on that one . too funny , thanks

[babooph]

Hope all those girls that complained about me in bed read this news.

[cfin5]

Whoa, that was a big one. Probably happen to me someday because my wife is a babe,....even after a quarter century of marriage. The Book of the Lord says that after we die, then the judgment of his people first. I''m sure I''ll be standing in line with a big''ole grin for a bit :) She''s so cool,....and easy on the eyes!

[legacyabq]

Wow. Poor thing, glad she''s OK!

[spadeisspade]

"Sorry honey, I can''t tonight; I have PFO"

[ajmarine111]

Anyone ready to give up s-e-x?

I didn''t think so.

[tapsettle]

"Woman Suffers ***-Related Stroke"

Wow, what was she stroking?

[tapsettle]

"Woman Suffers ***-Related Stroke"
-----
Posted by tapsettle

I copy and paste the CBS headline, and THEY CENSOR IT !!

.... Now THAT''s funny.

[gmabianca]

This is so not funny. My husband suffered a hemorrhagic stroke (not a clot but a bleed in the brain)at age 55 shortly after we made love. He was in the hospital for 3 months at a cost of $650,000. He has some very mild after effects 5 years later. The doctors do not know exactly what caused it - they think he might have inflammation of the blood vessels in his central nervous system- or if the lovemaking I know that is petty but you try it...

[mikeyaj]

Ah, come on. Really

[Meg003]

In the words of Roseanne Roseannadanna "Well, it just goes to show you, it''s always something."

[Meg003]

Tapsettle

That is funny! I guess it takes on the weight of an important journalistic contribution to the public''s right to know when THEY say it.

[gmabianca]

Something got left out of my post. Doctors do not know if the lovemaking had anything to do with the stroke It is really embarrassing to have to give inimate details to hospital personnel. I know that is petty but I challenge you to try it-AWKWARD!

[tapsettle]

Doctors do not know if the lovemaking had anything to do with the stroke ... I know that is petty but I challenge you to try it !
----
Posted by gmabianca

That''s very sweet of you but I dont even know you. Shouldnt we share a coffee or something first?

[carlylaine]

Wow! That''s some wild "O".

[missingamerica]

This reads like a "battle of the sexes" golf story:

"After the 1st hole, she was a stroke up on him."

[linfinster]

There are devices available for closing PFOs. But Biller and Cucchiara both note that doctors currently don''t recommend this procedure -- even for most people who have already suffered a stroke.

That recommendation didn''t convince Biller''s young patient.

"She was scared to death, and she and her boyfriend and family were pushing us very hard to close the defect, so that is what we did," Biller says. "So she had **THE DEVICE** implanted to close the PFO."

Hmmmm
I think this is actually an advertisement and we just don''t know it yet. Imagine why the need for this story ... lol WHY did they waste space for this story? It isn''t a major health risk, and alerting the public was needed. Whoever sells and profits off of this device is somehow related to getting this story written and published.
Such shoddy work CBS. The only need to this story was in the strange section.

[erasmus81]

"Anyone ready to give up s-e-x?
I didn''''t think so."
Posted by AJMarine111 at 10:36 PM : Sep 16, 2008

I don''t think that the "possibility" of having a stroke would be enough for anyone to give up having "mind blowing" s-e-x with you, AJMarine.

[erasmus81]

Of course I can only speak for myself.:)

[grammawhamma]

Posted by linfinster at 12:47 AM : Sep 17, 2008

I think you are 110% correct!

[slim1h2o]

I wonder why the doctors in this story, as so many want to do today, "Well, if she wasn''t having s/e/x, this wouldn''t have happened"

So it''s her fault, to hell with her.

I just love our medical system! NOT!!

[tapsettle]

She should have settled for the earth moving, rather than s;e;x to die for.

[sjw1253]

My career was in echocardiography and we did echoes with contrast to evaluate for PFO''s in many patients who had strokes or stroke type symptoms.

The PFO can create strokes in many different circumstances including having a bowel movement (another embarrassing activity to say you had a stroke from)...

The fact from this article that everyone needs to take from it is that if you have "stroke" type symptoms during an activity such as intercourse or having a bowel movement - you need to go to the hospital to be evaluated for a stroke as time is of the essence.

The most important part of this article is that the woman was young and healthy and many people who are young and healthy will not even consider that a stroke may be possible.

One thing the article does not mention is that a person can also have a heart attack or other ischemic type events that can be life threatening during similar activities.

My suggestion is to pay attention to the "valsalva effect" which is what the writer describes as "when a person strains, such as bearing down during a bowel movement or breathing out with the mouth closed and nostrils pinched shut."

[ajmarine111]

"Anyone ready to give up s-e-x?
I didn''''''''t think so."
Posted by AJMarine111 at 10:36 PM : Sep 16, 2008

I don''''t think that the "possibility" of having a stroke would be enough for anyone to give up having "mind blowing" s-e-x with you, AJMarine.


Posted by erasmus81 at 02:01 AM : Sep 17, 2008



Erasmus, my love,.......a simple kiss from you is enough to give me a stroke.

[erasmus81]

"Erasmus, my love,.......a simple kiss from you is enough to give me a stroke."

Posted by AJMarine111 at 03:20 PM : Sep 17, 2008


That''s very sweet of you to say AJMarine.