Sex Headaches: Are You Dreading Your Next Orgasm?

Everyone’s heard of the “Sorry, I have a headache” gambit when you’re just not in the mood, but did you know that a special kind of headache could affect your wellness after you have sex? Any kind of sexual activity can negatively impact your wellbeing, but orgasms are especially well-known for causing sex headaches. These headaches can be a serious dampener on your sexual health; after all, would you want to get intimate if you knew a nasty headache was to follow? Let’s take a closer look at the causes of sex headaches, and what you can do to prevent and treat them.

 

Most sex headaches are nothing to worry about, but if you don’t understand the signs as they’re happening, you may be a bit concerned. Sometimes, sex headaches begin as a dull ache in your head and neck, often on both sides. You might also find that your neck and jaw muscles might tighten up. Then this pain builds over several minutes as your sexual excitement increases. However, the most common form of sex headache is a sudden, severe pain just before or during orgasm. Though this can hurt, sex headaches are usually no more than a general annoyance. However, some sex headaches can be a sign of something serious, such as problems with the blood vessels that feed your brain.

 

Generally speaking, a sex headache will last for a few minutes, but some can linger for a few hours. For most people, sex headaches will occur in clusters over a period of a few months, and then they’ll disappear for a year or more. While we’ve already established that sex headaches aren’t usually a cause for concern, if you do experience a headache during sexual activity, you should consult your doctor as soon as possible. This is especially true in the case of headaches that begin abruptly, or if it’s your first headache of this type. No matter the kind of sexual activity – be it masturbation, anal sex, oral sex or intercourse – you should speak to your doctor.

 

If your sex headache comes on abruptly, it may be associated with:

• Intracranial aneurysm: This is a widening or bubble in the wall of an artery inside your head.


• Arteriovenous malformation: This is an abnormal connection between the arteries and veins in your brain that bleeds into the spinal fluid-filled space in and around the brain


• Dissection: This is a case of bleeding into the wall of an artery leading to your brain.


• Stroke


• Coronary artery disease


• Use of some medications: This includes birth control pills


• Inflammation from certain infections

 

As well as these underlying medical conditions, there are some nasty side effects that can come along with sex headaches. Accompanying symptoms of sex headaches include loss of consciousness, vomiting, stiff neck, other neurological symptoms and severe pain lasting more than 24 hours. If these occur alongside your sex headache, this means that it is more likely to be due to an underlying cause. You’re also more likely to get a sex headache if you’re a man or your generally prone to having migraine headaches. However, sex headaches can affect anyone. If you want to prevent sex headaches, stopping sexual activity before you reach orgasm can help, as can taking a more passive role during sex. For those who have a history of sex headaches and there’s no underlying cause, your doctor may recommend that you take preventive medications regularly. These may include daily medications, such as beta blockers, or occasional medications like indomethacin (Indocin) or one of the triptans.

Categories: Brain, headache, headaches, Medications, orgasm, severe pain, sex headache, sex headaches, sexual, sexual activity, Underlying Conditions

Low Sperm: Do You Have an Underlying Medical Condition?

Having a low sperm count not only affects your sexual health, it can really take its toll on your emotional wellness. However, the best thing to do is to try to determine what’s causing your low sperm count, so that you can protect your wellbeing against any underlying medical factors that may be depleting your sperm. So, what has made your guys stop swimming?

 

1. Varicocele: Pronounced VAR-ih-koe-seel, varicocele causes your veins to swell and this drains your testicles. As a result, your testicles can’t cool as they normally would, leading to reduced sperm count and fewer moving sperm.

 

2. Infection: Infections lower your sperm count in two ways; either they interfere with the production or health of sperm, or they cause scarring which blocks the passage of sperm. Infections to get tested for include sexually transmitted infections (STIs) – such as chlamydia and gonorrhoea – prostatitis (inflammation of the prostate), mumps orchitis (inflamed testicles due to mumps); and other infections of the urinary tract or reproductive organs.

 

3. Ejaculation problems: Some conditions and medications cause your semen to enter your bladder during orgasm instead of emerging out of the tip of the penis (retrograde ejaculation). Causes of this include diabetes, bladder surgery, prostate surgery, urethra surgery, spinal injuries and blood pressure medications (alpha blockers).

 

4. Sperm-attacking antibodies: These immune cells make the mistake of identifying your sperm as harmful invaders, and attempt to destroy them in order to protect your body. These well-meaning but misguided antibodies are more common in men who have had a vasectomy.

 

5. Tumours: There are many ways in which having a tumour can alter your sperm count. Whether it is cancerous or non-malignant, a tumour can directly affect your reproductive organs, or they can tamper with the glands that release hormones related to reproduction (such as the pituitary gland). On top of this, your fertility may be affected by the surgery, radiation or chemotherapy used to treat your tumours.

 

6. Undescended testicles: When you’re a foetus, your testicles descend from the abdomen into the sac that normally contains the testicles (scrotum). However, sometimes this doesn’t happen during foetal development – either to one or both testicles – and this can lower your sperm count and cause decreased fertility.

 

7. Hormone imbalance: In order to create sperm, your hypothalamus, pituitary and testicles need to produce hormones. However, when these hormones are altered – for whatever reason – your sperm production may become impaired.

 

8. Sperm duct defects: Your sperm ducts are the tubes that carry sperm, but illness or injury can damage these ducts. You may have been born with a blockage in the part of the testicle that stores sperm (epididymis) or a blockage of one of the tubes that carry sperm out of the testicles (vas deferens). In fact, if you have an inherited condition like cystic fibrosis, you may be born without sperm ducts altogether.

 

9. Chromosome defects: Your reproductive organs can develop abnormally if you have an innherited disorder such as Klinefelter’s syndrome. This means you’re born with two X chromosomes and one Y chromosome instead of one X and one Y. Other genetic syndromes associated with infertility include cystic fibrosis, Kallmann’s syndrome, Young’s syndrome, and Kartagener syndrome.

 

10. Celiac disease: Although this gluten-sensitivity digestive disorder can cause male infertility, you may be able to up your sperm count if you adopt a gluten-free diet.

 

11. Certain medications: There are a lot of medications that can impair sperm production and decrease your fertility. These include – but are not limited to – testosterone replacement therapy, long-term anabolic steroid use, cancer medications (such as chemotherapy), certain antifungal medications, and some ulcer medications.

Categories: carry sperm, Causes, cystic fibrosis, low sperm count, nbsp, reproductive organs, sperm, sperm count, sperm ducts, sperm production, Underlying Conditions, underlying medical