Thunderclap headaches during sex

[MrsGSpot]

For anyone who has never had one, a thunderclap headache is just as it sounds. The most horrible, sudden headache (way worse than a migraine, if you can imagine!) you have ever had.

Picture this:

You are having sex and almost to climax. At some point, you realize that you are suddenly getting a headache, and the closer you come to orgasm, the worse it gets. To heck with it, I want to climax, ride through that! Big mistake! At the point of orgasm or just after, you suddenly get this horrendous pain and you stop everything, absolutely positive that you have just had a brain aneurism. Seriously. It is THAT bad.

I experienced first hand what these are like a total of twice. I was scared ****less that I had just blown a blood vessel. The pain took 5 minutes to go away, and I had a dull throbbing sensation for a whole day later. A trip to the doctor's confirmed that it was a TC headache. The good news: they are harmless, and thankfully something that most people do not experience very often. Sometimes you will have one or two and never have another (thankfully!).

I thought I should post this in case someone else has experienced this, and are scared. They are not about being tense, overexerted, or cutting off the blood supply in any way. They just happen, and from what I have found, are quite common as well. They do happen to occur more often to people with a history of migraines though.

If anyone has had one, feel free to add your opinion. What a scary thought, to think you have just done serious brain damage somehow, and double scary: maybe never have sex again to avoid that pain? Unthinkable!

[MrsGSpot]

Oh, and I should also add: do NOT assume that if you get such a pain, that it is just a TC headache. Please get thee asap to a doctor to confirm that it is not anything more serious.

[EvilEvilKitten]

Okay but I have two questions for you:

1. WHY do they happen?

2. What can you do about them?

I don't get them, but as a responsible soft dominatrix, I want to know what to do in case one of my playmates gets one.

[Brandye]

Very useful and important post, MrsG. No one who has experienced a thunderclap will soon forget it. Usually this is an idiopathic condition - no identifiable cause. BUT, and that is a big BUT, it must be checked out. The alternative explanations are all very serious. Should this occur to anyone, they should seek medical assistance quickly. Most of the testing is simply to eliminate serious cause and you may be left with no explanation. Believe me, this better than the alternative if those causes are not ruled out.

There is some theory in medicine, to which I subscribe, that when these arise during sex there is a circulatory cause. This could be either a great spike in blood pressure, most likely, or the opposite of blood being needed elsewhere because of the intensity of orgasm thus depriving a part of the brain of blood.

The taxonomy of headaches includes both tc headaches and sex headaches. When it is one and the same, the pain usually lingers for hours to days. These are the ones to be checked out especially if accompanied by other symptoms such as nausea or ocular symptoms such as tunnel vision or blurring.

[EvilEvilKitten]

So a possible cause might be restricted blood flow, for some reason, to the brain?

For first aid then, does one give them aspirins?

[funinthesun]

First aid is rubbing arousal gels on the forehead, of course!

[Brandye]

Thunderclap headaches are not for fun. Those who suffer them suffer more than those who have migraines. Yesw, evil, restricted flow MAY be involved. More likely, a terrific spike in blood pressure that lasts less than a few seconds.

ASA? Perhaps. The important thing is to get checked if this happens because there may be a breach of an arterial wall and then the ASA is quite wrong. These headaches (which I have never experienced) will not be confused with anything minor.

Sex headaches, which are less intense and less long lasting, are more likely to be because of a blood shortage. Amazing what a glass of water will prevent! They are also not unusual and do not preage any horrible condition.

[EvilEvilKitten]

Okay, so in the absence of medical testing equipment and medical training - what am I to do? Aspirins AND water? I already stress the importance of proper hydration and being nicely relaxed.

[Brandye]

For the "usual" sex headache, water before (keep hydrated) will often overcome them and ASA is fine. A thunderclap headache, whenever it may strike will not be confused with what we sometimes get during sex. It is debilitating. Anyone who gets one will likely be scared silly and very ready to seek medical assistance.

[MrsGSpot]

Brandye is right, you will definitely seek medical help when you get one. It's worse than a sit in the dark, no noise, barfing your guts out migraine.

The doc just told me if I was having more than one episode (thankfully they are rare), to take FOUR Advil liquigels (not the usual 2) an hour before sex. Huh, there goes spontaneous sex! I don't always get them though---this would be for those who get them frequently.

Doc says it's more likely due to blood pressure rising or sometimes just idiopathic (unexplained) reasons.