[cheryl j]

Yes, I had this happen once or twice, and it really hurt but went away in about 5 minutes. Although I didnt worry about it at the time, it can sometimes be caused by serious things according to the Mayo clinic, such as basal artery dissection.

[djcorsair]

I joined this forum like many others because i have been having these headaches. I am 18, Male, physically fit, and have no signs of high blood pressure. my fist headache of this type happened about a month ago. it started happening more and more and now it's every time I have sex or masturbate. I NEVER had a problem with this before and to know that every time I try and have sex this will happen.. well it F*@<ing sucks!

Writing this I have a headache from masturbating. my doctor gave me this med called indomethacin. I tried it tonight and It makes me impotent and it doesn't help with the pain. The pain is a headache that lasts anywhere from an hour to a 24hrs. It begins and ends at the back of my head at the top of my neck.

I know that people think it could be vascular and i'm starting to think that is the problem.

LISTEN UP because I'm about to tell you something that hasn't been said on this thread yet... A bit more than a moth ago I started donating plasma. A BIT MORE THAN A MONTH AGO I started having this problem!!!!!! It makes sense RIGHT?! I donate on mondays and wednesdays. this would do something to the blood pressure! I'm no expert on this but to me, this makes sense!

 I'm going to stop donating plasma for a month and see if this will solve my problem. I will write back every week and let you guys know how it's going

(2hrs later)side note: The plasma center where I go to donate tells it's people to stay very hydrated before and after donating to avoid headaches. I do not drink water like I should. one more reason to stop donating. I really want the money for gas but at the cost of not being able to have sex... Screw donating!

I'm going to get a cat-scan asap to see If there is bleeding

Some glimmer of hope for my sex life!

[survivingih]

I was reading a few articles on the internet and most say these headaches are nothing to worry about but some with the pain down the bottom of your head and neck can be a possible problem.  I'm going to attempt to attach a link but i'm new here. So bare with me lol. I have other headaches so when I had a horrid one last week just prior to orgasm it only scared me but my bf also. I suffer what the believe are migraines but also have intracranial hypertension. Basically it's an increased cerebral spinal fluid production which puts too much pressure on the brain and spinal cord yada yada.

newbielink:http:// [nonactive] newbielink:http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/sex-headaches/DS00645 [nonactive]

[spatzle]

i thought i would add my experience to the collection...  I am 21 years old, male, i remember getting a handful of orgasm headaches about 3 years ago   and they mysteriously vanished after a week or two.  Last week i was running, i was pushing myself harder than usual and all of a sudden got a throbbing headache in the center of my head that felt like it was pulsating from the center of my head out to the sides. It seems to be in rythmn with my heart beat.  it lasted for about an hour and slowly disapated. The next night, after i had ran the day before, i experience that same headache at the moment of orgasm and it lasted for about an hour as well. I don't typically get head aches, and I wasn't exerting myself like when i was running, i was rather relaxed, i was receiving some enjoyable oral sex until it ended in a throbbing head ache. So im convinced that its the very act of orgasm that has given me the headaches, because its happened the last three times even when i had very low levels of physical activity.

am i a rare case being so young and  experiencing this?  and i also saw that this is something typically experienced by females? any thoughts there? could i have injured blood vessels in my brain when i was running?  i have been experiencing minor head aches hear and there, outside of the sexaches, ever since i ran.  I have rarely experienced headaches before this.
they are very uncomfortable but they are not as painful as i remember when i had them three years ago.  So this makes me feel like they will probably go away but i have no idea if this is something i should take more seriously.

[Oneeyedguy]

You may not like this: I'm beginning to think orgasm headaches might have something to do with a heart defect. A very common heart defect; ever heard of patent foramen ovale, or PFO? I'm guessing not; I hadn't come across it until I started looking for possible causes of my sex headaches. Well, it's a 'hole in the heart', but not the most serious type. Apparently, 1 in 4 people have a PFO! But they don't all have orgasm headaches... Please bear with me on this, bit of medical stuff first.

You can look this up in detail - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0002102/ [nofollow] or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atrial_septal_defect [nofollow] - but basically the foramen ovale is a channel in the heart between the two upper chambers - the right atrium and the left atrium. Why is this hole needed? Well, before birth, oxygenated blood from the mother via the umbilical cord flows towards the baby's heart along veins, which enter the right atrium of the heart. It doesn't then take the normal route via the right ventricle and the lungs, because before birth your lungs are full of fluid, so the pressure in that whole 'loop' to the lungs and back to the left side of the heart (and then out to the body), is too high. So there's a hole with a sort of cat-flap of tissue - the foramen ovale - that lets it flow straight through.

When you're born, you cry and your lungs start working. The pressure in the loop drops and blood now flows via the lungs, picking up oxygen, back to the left side of your heart. The cat-flap closes and, over the next few weeks, seals up. Well, it does for 3 out of 4 of us. In the others, the flap remains open - or at least openable. This is what's meant by 'patent', so: patent foramen ovale.

It sounds serious but, for most people, it isn't. In healthy people, the blood pressure in the left atrium is generally higher then the right, so the flap stays closed. People who have dangerous, life-threatening 'holes in the heart', 'blue babies' etc, are usually suffering from much more serious defects. So what makes a PFO ever open up? Well, anything that changes the pressures. Serious lung disease can cause pulmonary hypertension, i.e. high blood pressure in the 'loop' via the lungs. this will raise pressure in the right atrium. Alternatively, anything that raises pressure in the left atrium - e.g. plain old high blood pressure - can cause blood to flow from left to right. If this keeps on happening, the right side of the heart gets overloaded with extra blood and this can cause pulmonary hypertension. When this gets high enough for the pressure on the right side to be higher than the left, the flow of blood (known as a 'shunt') reverses and you're back to a R-to-L shunt situation.

OK, enough anatomy. What problems are caused by this? Well, you've got de-oxygenated blood crossing over and getting pumped round the body. In chronic cases, this causes cyanosis (blueness), fainting, kidney problems, heart failure. But what if the high pressure is temporary? It's well known that increasing the internal pressure of the chest cavity (known as a Valsalva manoeuvre) can cause this, and in fact it's part of the diagnostic procedure for detecting a PFO. The patient is asked to exhale against a closed glottis, i.e. holding their breath. Then tiny bubbles are injected into their bloodstream and an echocardiogram looks for the bubbles passing through from one side of the heart to the other.

Temporary Valsalva manoeuvres include straining during defecation, coughing, sneezing, clearing your ears during a flight, even laughing or just bending over. And - sometimes - having an orgasm. There are lots of references in this forum to tensing, straining, involuntary breath-holding during sex and masturbation. What if some of us are 'opening up the cat-flap' during sexual activity? Heart-rate is already increased, blood pressure is already up. If this sounds far-fetched, read this - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Migraine_surgery [nofollow] - on the possible link between PFO and migraine headaches. Many people have had their PFOs closed by insertion of an 'occluder' via a catheter, and reported reduced or banished migraines - but the picture isn't that clear; others have had the procedure without success, some have even reported worse migraines. Anyway, here's a quote:

In certain scenarios, such as when a person sneezes, the pressure in the left atrium decreases and the flap over the still-present foramen ovale opens temporarily. When this happens, blood is able to bypass the lungs and therefore the filtration process in the pulmonary system. There are at least 4 theories as to how this defect leads to migraines.

Toxic circulation:
Early speculation regarding this link centered on the idea that, because blood bypasses the detoxification process in the lungs and reenters the circulatory system uncleaned, this "toxic blood" may contain various substances that then trigger migraines. There is speculation that one of these substances is 5-HT, more commonly known as serotonin.

Micro-emboli:
There is speculation that microemboli that develop in the venous system pass through the PFO and are able to reach the central nervous system. The paradoxical embolism then reaches the cortex, triggering cortical spreading depression, a phenomenon that leads to migraines.

Genetic linkage:
One study has found a genetic linkage between migraines and PFOs. It was found that PFOs have an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance, and that migraine with aura appears to be coinherited in some families.

Atrial natriuretic peptides:
It has been shown that the changes in interarterial pressure that occur with a PFO cause an increase in atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP), and that the ANP concentration in migraineurs with aura is lower than the concentration in control subjects. A study has shown that when the cortical spreading depression phenomenon was induced in mice, ANP was expressed in the brain. As well, ANP levels are elevated in patients with a PFO. All together, this suggests a possible correlation between ANP concentration and migraine with aura.

One further thought: during the build-up to orgasm and immediately afterwards, the body produces a lot of hormones and neurotransmitters. They must be secreted into veins; how else can a blood-borne chemical from a particular gland reach the bodily circulation except via veins to the right side of the heart, then via the lungs, then out to the whole body via the left side of the heart? Is it possible that some of these substances bypass the lungs via a PFO in the period leading up to and immediately following orgasm, especially when a Valsalva-type event is taking place? And is it possible that their concentration is thereby increased? - after all, the lungs are recognised as one of the sites where breakdown of such chemicals occurs. My prime suspect is still norepinephrine; it's known to spike around orgasm and it's known to cause severe headaches and abdominal cramps - my symptoms exactly. And heart palpitations; while it's normal for one's heart to beat more strongly during sexual activity, I've noticed mine thudding away really heavily during very headachey orgasms.

And maybe that's why propanolol sometimes works for orgasm headaches - it's a beta-blocker, it blocks the action of norepinephrine and epinephrine. I'm sure the picture isn't quite that simple. Maybe we just have increased levels of some of these hormones, and the PFO thing is a red herring. But one of the things that's baffled me on this forum is that some of us are healthy young men and women. I can understand older, less fit people getting symptoms during an exertional activity like sex, but there are people on here who work out in gyms - maybe there's a clue there? And why is the occurrence of headaches so frustratingly random? - just when you think you've found something that works, it stops working. Maybe the opening of a PFO is a bit unpredictable; maybe it's related to exertion, breath-holding. But there's a lot to chew over, and I'm sorry none of it is particularly inspiring; who wants to suspect a heart defect on top of an embuggerance like sexual headaches? But we're naked scientists, right? Unwilling, maybe, but we've got to go where our research, experiences, or hunches, take us. I have a neurologist appointment 14 Feb; I'll report back.

[Oneeyedguy]

http://www.pfodoctor.org/pages/5/index.htm [nofollow] :
'How could a PFO trigger migraine? It is thought that certain vasoactive substances in the body (those that are active on blood vessels) that are normally taken up by the lungs, could pass unfiltered via a PFO to the blood destined for the brain,  triggering a migraine in susceptible individuals.   By closing the PFO, it is though that these vasoactive substances are prevented from reaching the blood vessels in the head, removing a major migraine trigger.'

[HappyHubby]

I suffer from ThunderClaps and I also have a moderate sized PFO that my doctor wont close despite my already suffering from hemiplegic migraines which appear identical to Transient Ischemic attacks as well as regular cluster headaches following a neck injury following a gang attack back when I was a teen but I had never been to the doctor about it.

I know from my GP that I have an increased risk of stroke anyway but the specialist refused to operate as he said the op also carries a risk of stroke despite the crossover transfer of a large quantity of air bubbles during a cardio echogram like oneyedguy mentions.

The Thunderclaps are painful and the pain is a bit like a severe electric shock to the head followed by a dull painful ache.
It comes out of nowhere at the exact second of ejaculation.
I do hold my breath at this time also which is a habit I guess.

I'm just throwing these into the mix really.

For me it's

PFO Hole in Heart
Right Bundle Branch Block
Neck Injury (Thecal Compression of spine)
History Of Migraine
Daily cluster headaches
and last but not falling apart least fibromyalgia

Other than that I feel errr ok 

[leeniesono]

I would have to say I had a "Thunderclap" headache during climax.  Actually 3 times now. I am a female age 46 and I was freaked out enough that I went to the ER.  After a Cat scan that was negative, I was sent home with migraine meds.  I was using a vibrator for the first time and the headache was immediately after climax and the most severe headache I had ever had.  It made me grab my head in agony.  It settled down to just a bad headache probably 30 seconds after it started.  After the first Thunderclap it, it took 3 days for it to completely resolve.  The second time it happened, it was also immediate and intense but not as bad as the first time. The third time, the pain was somewhere in between the first and second times.

This forum had been very educational.  I am in the medical field and would also advise everyone to go get it checked out.  The first time it happens, you could easily think it was triggered by climax but there are plenty of worse things it could be.  Now that I have had a cat scan, I am assuming that it is a benign condition. 
I too am overweight and have back issues like some of the others.  I do not have hypertension and do not have a history of migraines. I do however have some sinus issues and unexplained headaches x about 35 years. 
Hope this helps

[Yamitoko]

So, as just about everyone in here, I have begun to suffer from incredibly painful headaches upon orgasming.  I'm a 19 year old male, 6'2" about 245lbs.  A bit overweight but I'm in decently good shape and have been pretty active lately.  My first time experiencing the headache of this magnitude was while I was doing jumping jacks while working out.  The next day, I was with my girlfriend and when I orgasmed, I felt immense pain in my left temple just above my eye and then again today, I had the same issue.  I have a family history of high blood-pressure and I'm fairly certain I contracted lyme disease this past fall but I'll be heading to the doctor's hopefully tomorrow to get a blood test for it.  I was rather scared by this recent medical onset and am kind of relieved to find out that it's so common but less relieved to find out that there seems to be no solid cure or treatment for it.  At 19 years old, I hope to have quite a bit more sexual activity in my life and with these massive headaches that are seemingly overwhelming and nearly untreatable, I don't know how enjoyable it's going to prove to be.  Hopefully I can get it worked out and just get on with my life, it has never happened to me previously and I really don't like the idea of it becoming a long-term condition.  I don't really have many sinus problems as some people mentioned though lately I have been kind of ill with a very low appetite and a poor sleep schedule.  Wish me luck.  You all have my best wishes.

[leeniesono]

I think these headaches will eventually go away or become less in intensity.  In my experience, a lot of my medical issues resolve themselves over time.
Hang in there!

[Grace80]

When I was 16, I had a ministroke after orgasm. I could not talk for about 4 hours, everything that came out of my mouth was mumble, and my right arm was numb. I went to the hospital & had many tests run, and it was confirmed I did have a ministroke on the left side of my brain.. doctors could not find a blood clot &I never told them it happened after orgasm because I was too embarrassed.   I am 18 now and I am fine, no high blood pressure, no more strokes, but I am overweight. Does anyone know what could have caused this? I live in fear everyday it will happen again and I'm just looking for answers! It will be greatly appricated. Thanks!

[leeniesono]

If you are on birth control, that could have caused a stroke. However, I would think the doctor's would of figured that one out.

[silvergirl70]

I'm a 42yr old female.  I just experienced this for the first time!  I was, ahem, having phone sex, and I had my phone resting on my cheek (I needed both my hands :I), I had my head turned to the side, and when I came, this unbelievably painful, sharp stabbing pain hit me on one side of my head, it was throbbing and unrelenting.  It's still with me now an hour later, hopefully the painkillers I've taken will kick in soon.  I haven't read all the items in this thread yet, just the first page, but will keep reading to find an answer.  I'm thinking it's neck joint related?

[WolfVixen]

I'm 38 yrs old and last year I had my first encounter with these types of headaches. During the beginning of an orgasm I would get what felt like an ice pick being stabbed into my temple. I would immediately lose the orgasm and have to grab my head because I felt like my head would literally explode. The first one lasted for 3 days and no amount of pain meds even brought the pain down. I went to the doctor, concerned as anyone would be and we did blood work as well as a CAT scan. Everything came back negative. He prescribed me something for migraines and told me to take it an hour or two before any sexual activity. I did just that and still had them. I went back to him and he prescribed something else, that still didn't work.

My husband and I tried to work on it ourselves, where I relaxed and the first sign of it I was to stop him and calm back down. If I kept a clear head then I was able to go through an orgasm with minimal pain. After about a month they went away. And I was a happy woman.

Sadly last week they started coming back again. But this time they hit and it hurts but in about 5 minutes the pain goes away with no medication. I think in the long run relaxation does help. Clear your mind, don't 'reach' for the orgasm, just let it happen. Hopefully that will help some of you. I'm going to start working on those same exercises again to see if it helps this time.

[feduppain]

I thank you all for your posts I'm glad I'm not alone. Here is my story so far I hope you may be able to advise me what to do next.
I am a 41 year old male, a bit overweight and often anxious or stressed. I suffered my first thunderclap headache a week ago. It came on at orgasm within 2 seconds I was holding my head and I could not open my eyes. I panicked and went to A&E. They gave me a ct scan which came back clear, blood test came back clear, blood pressure, temperature, pulse and oxygen levels were all ok too. The hospital in Surrey Uk which I attended tried 3 times to give me a lumber puncture, but we're not successful. I went home still in pain but by the next day I went back as I was still in great agony. I agreeded to another lumber puncture test which was successful and the results came back clear on this also.
Now having been discharged from the hospital I have I think the side affects of the lumber puncture, a headache that only goes away when I lay down, pins and needles randomly anywhere on my body ( I think this could be nerves ), The pain in my head is behind eyes, bottom back of head and in the kneck.
I am scared to now have sex again and I like most enjoy sex.
I have been carrying lage weights on my arms in my job and have had pain in my chest, under shoulder blade but mainly in my neck for some time. I wonder if this has played its part.
Anyone who can relate to this or offer any advise I would be most grateful, I would not wish this on my worst enemy. Thanks for reading.

[leeniesono]

In my experience, the pain was less and less each time.  Now I don't have them at all.  Hopefully, that will be the case for you too.

[mademosielle]

I am a 22 year old female. I was having sex yesterday and I had an orgasm twice. The first time right before I climaxed I felt a huge pain in the back lower left portion of my skull, the headache lessened and I continued to have sex. I climaxed a second time and the pain from the headache didn't lessen or become worse (maybe I was more relaxed). I took some pain killers a few hours later and forgot about what happened. A few hours after that I began having stomach pains, like I was bloated which then turned into cramps like I was going to get my period. Once I got home I decided to masturbate to lessen the cramps, once I was about the climax the same exact pain in the exact spot happened.

Some others have mentioned issues about neck injuries and I am wondering if maybe this could be the root of the problem. A week and a half ago I was practicing a headstand in my yoga class and immediately felt like something was wrong in my neck. My neck was sore and stiff for a day or two then the pain went away. I did another headstand more recently and my neck felt stiff the next day. This is the only thing that is making sense to me since both incidents have happened very recently. 

[gnasher61]

I am a 50 year old male and just got out of hospital after 24 hours because of this,all they could do was monitor me and a scan plus medication,this is the 2nd time first about 4 years ago,dont know if it will happen again but its scary.

[mimosa]

I am a 51 year old female, and I had the most frightening pain in my head two nights ago, which began very suddenly and severely, at the base of my head and spread throughout my head and settling in my temples, right before orgasm.  We stopped of course and I cried for a little while due to the pain which mostly subsided to a tolerable level fairly soon, and then I went onto the internet to search for what happened.  I called my ob/gyn the following day, since I'm 5-6 weeks postop from a partial hysterectomy, and this was my first time resuming intercourse with my husband, was told since it was my first time experiencing this pain, it was probably not anything like a stroke, etc. but to try drinking more water beforehand (something to do with vasoconstriction and dialation.)  She said if it occurred again, to see my regular doctor.  She said it didn't have anything to do with my hormones (I am not yet menopausal and still have hormones - and I still have an ovary and a small part of my uterus.)  After reading all the posts - I mean ALL the posts on this particular posting, tried a few things mentioned by other members on this forum, that I thought might be an issue for me.  I decided to try a few things.  we tried it again last night.  I realized I had been experiencing a very sore and stiff neck this week after straining myself around the house.  So my husband massaged my neck for me.  I also realized that maybe I was getting too tense during lovemaking with the build up, and made a conscious effort to stay more relaxed and paid attention to keeping my muscles more relaxed.  I worked on my breathing, making sure to breathe deep and regular.  I also made sure my head and neck were in a comfortable and supported position.  A few times when I began feeling my head become more achy or tense (a residue of a tight and achy feeling was left from the episode the night before) I massaged that place on my head.  We were successful and I didn't have another one of these horrible headaches!  I also plan to see my osteopath which does back adjustments and see if he can check my vertebrae - I'm sure I put my neck out this week.  I was very happy.  There were many helpful posts that helped me come up with the ideas to try these things.  Good luck everyone.

[Flint]

Hello,

The first time this happened to me I got up and staggered out of the room holding my thunderclapping head in my hands.  My girlfriend thought I was having a stroke and was going to call 911.  The headache went away fairly quickly though and I did not associate it with sex right then.  It did not take too long to associate it with orgasm though.  I avoided having sex, then started to lookup home remedies.  My last home remedy was to snort the capsacicin nasal spray.. quite an eye opener!!.  That really did not work either, but I had hoped.  I read through this discussion board several times looking for people to come up for an answer.  The one thing I did notice is that there were a lot of people who talked about the issue and then I never saw another post from them.  This will probably (hopefully) be the case with me.  It took a while but the thunderclaps and sometimes the 2 day headaches finally ended.  I found that if I abstained from sex for over a week that the pain was less intense, so thats what I started doing, and just dealt with it.  For me the thunderclaps finally stopped.  I took about 3 months, but now I'm about 3 months without it.  It was so odd and painful.  Why did it ever happen?  After it stopped, I kept bracing for it to happen everytime I had sex, then one time I just forgot that it was suppose to happen and that anxiety was gone.  So my message to so many that find this site, is that for me at least, it did just go away.  I feel very bad for anyone who has to go through it.  My best advise is to just abstain the best you can and hope it passes for you as well.  I read good things about capsaicin and had a capsaicin drink twice a day for about a month, but after the thunderclapping stopped I soon stopped  the drinking it.