http://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/body...sm-lucinda-allen-paralysed-brain-haemorrhage/
An orgasm left this woman paralysed
Lucinda Allen had a brain haemorrhage immediately after she orgasmed, and now remains in a wheelchair.
orgasm
Getty
By Catriona Harvey-Jenner
Jun 26, 2017
We know orgasms are supposed to be explosive, but not to the extent that they cause life-altering damage to the body. For 38-year-old Lucinda Allen, however, that's exactly what happened following a sexual encounter with her husband five years ago.
Lucinda, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, was 26 weeks pregnant with her now-four-year-old daughter Marri-Alice back in the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2012. Her pregnancy had endured some ups and downs - she was suffering from gestational diabetes which impacted her blood pressure, and it just so happened that it was quite low that weekend. It was for that reason she got back into bed with her husband Tony and the pair began to have sex.
"It was a bit like brain-freeze"
Immediately after orgasming, however, Lucinda felt a sharp pain in the head, just above her right eye - something she'd experienced frequently before, she told journalist Jacqui Deevoy. "I’ve experienced what’s known as post-orgasm ‘thunderclap’ head-pain all through my adult life, so I really wasn’t worried. The pain I usually have after orgasm is a bit like brain-freeze – quite painful but never lasts long."
On this occasion, though, the pain refused to go away.
It went on and on, leaving Lucinda "writhing on the bed in agony and crying", so Tony called an ambulance. "That’s when I started to panic. That’s when I thought I might be having a brain haemorrhage. After that, it was a blur," Lucinda said.
As she was rushed to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in Birmingham, Lucinda realised she was unable to speak, and scans revealed the mum-to-be had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She was put into an induced coma during which time she had brain surgery to release the pressure on her brain where the blood had leaked out, and the hospital put an emergency delivery team on standby in case Lucinda's daughter needed to be born.
Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Marri-Alice stayed safely inside Lucinda's womb, and six days after the surgery, Lucinda was brought round from her coma. But this was a long and difficult process, she recalls, adding that at times she felt distressed and even suicidal.
An orgasm left this woman paralysed
Lucinda shortly before the orgasm that changed her life.
Courtesy of Lucinda Allen
She had suffered one major stroke, followed by four further, smaller ones - all of which would cause long-term damage. But at the time, all Lucinda focussed on was delivering her baby daughter, which she did by c-section less than three months after her haemorrhages. Marri-Alice is now 4-years-old and is completely healthy.
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Lucinda, on the other hand, has been irreversibly impacted by the stroke that followed her orgasm five years ago; she's completely paralysed down her left side and uses a wheelchair for mobility full time.
And it's led her to question whether things would have been different if she'd have mentioned her HSA, the post-orgasm pain she felt in her head so regularly, to a doctor. "My neurosurgeon believes I have a congenital abnormality in a blood vessel in my brain and that’s what causes the lifelong intermittent head-pain after orgasm. I just thought it was normal," she told Jacqui Deevoy.
There are areas of Lucinda's life in which she's managed to retain some level of normality; like where her sexual relationship with Tony is concerned. "At first, it was a bit distracting getting jiggy in the room where the ‘brain explosion’ had occurred, but that’s no longer a problem as we’ve now moved into a gorgeous new bungalow and have made a fresh start," she said.
What is HSA?
An HSA is a headache that’s associated with sexual activity. Jacqui Deevoy explains there are three types of sexual headache:
1. The tension headache – a mild ache in the neck and head, which starts before orgasm and gets increasingly more painful the more aroused you get.
2. The ‘thunderclap’ headache – a searing intense head-pain that comes on as orgasm occurs and continues for some time – often hours - afterwards.
3. The post-coital headache – head-pain that varies from mild to intense, which is caused by an internal leak of spinal fluid from the skull down into the spine. The pain is worse when you stand up and is alleviated by lying down.
If you experience post-coital head-pain for the first time, go to see your GP. If the pain persists, go to the A&E department of your nearest hospital.
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An orgasm left this woman paralysed
Lucinda Allen had a brain haemorrhage immediately after she orgasmed, and now remains in a wheelchair.
orgasm
Getty
By Catriona Harvey-Jenner
Jun 26, 2017
We know orgasms are supposed to be explosive, but not to the extent that they cause life-altering damage to the body. For 38-year-old Lucinda Allen, however, that's exactly what happened following a sexual encounter with her husband five years ago.
Lucinda, from Stourbridge in the West Midlands, was 26 weeks pregnant with her now-four-year-old daughter Marri-Alice back in the August Bank Holiday weekend of 2012. Her pregnancy had endured some ups and downs - she was suffering from gestational diabetes which impacted her blood pressure, and it just so happened that it was quite low that weekend. It was for that reason she got back into bed with her husband Tony and the pair began to have sex.
"It was a bit like brain-freeze"
Immediately after orgasming, however, Lucinda felt a sharp pain in the head, just above her right eye - something she'd experienced frequently before, she told journalist Jacqui Deevoy. "I’ve experienced what’s known as post-orgasm ‘thunderclap’ head-pain all through my adult life, so I really wasn’t worried. The pain I usually have after orgasm is a bit like brain-freeze – quite painful but never lasts long."
On this occasion, though, the pain refused to go away.
It went on and on, leaving Lucinda "writhing on the bed in agony and crying", so Tony called an ambulance. "That’s when I started to panic. That’s when I thought I might be having a brain haemorrhage. After that, it was a blur," Lucinda said.
As she was rushed to Queen Elizabeth’s Hospital in Birmingham, Lucinda realised she was unable to speak, and scans revealed the mum-to-be had suffered a brain haemorrhage. She was put into an induced coma during which time she had brain surgery to release the pressure on her brain where the blood had leaked out, and the hospital put an emergency delivery team on standby in case Lucinda's daughter needed to be born.
Thankfully, that wasn't the case. Marri-Alice stayed safely inside Lucinda's womb, and six days after the surgery, Lucinda was brought round from her coma. But this was a long and difficult process, she recalls, adding that at times she felt distressed and even suicidal.
An orgasm left this woman paralysed
Lucinda shortly before the orgasm that changed her life.
Courtesy of Lucinda Allen
She had suffered one major stroke, followed by four further, smaller ones - all of which would cause long-term damage. But at the time, all Lucinda focussed on was delivering her baby daughter, which she did by c-section less than three months after her haemorrhages. Marri-Alice is now 4-years-old and is completely healthy.
Advertisement - Continue Reading Below
Lucinda, on the other hand, has been irreversibly impacted by the stroke that followed her orgasm five years ago; she's completely paralysed down her left side and uses a wheelchair for mobility full time.
And it's led her to question whether things would have been different if she'd have mentioned her HSA, the post-orgasm pain she felt in her head so regularly, to a doctor. "My neurosurgeon believes I have a congenital abnormality in a blood vessel in my brain and that’s what causes the lifelong intermittent head-pain after orgasm. I just thought it was normal," she told Jacqui Deevoy.
There are areas of Lucinda's life in which she's managed to retain some level of normality; like where her sexual relationship with Tony is concerned. "At first, it was a bit distracting getting jiggy in the room where the ‘brain explosion’ had occurred, but that’s no longer a problem as we’ve now moved into a gorgeous new bungalow and have made a fresh start," she said.
What is HSA?
An HSA is a headache that’s associated with sexual activity. Jacqui Deevoy explains there are three types of sexual headache:
1. The tension headache – a mild ache in the neck and head, which starts before orgasm and gets increasingly more painful the more aroused you get.
2. The ‘thunderclap’ headache – a searing intense head-pain that comes on as orgasm occurs and continues for some time – often hours - afterwards.
3. The post-coital headache – head-pain that varies from mild to intense, which is caused by an internal leak of spinal fluid from the skull down into the spine. The pain is worse when you stand up and is alleviated by lying down.
If you experience post-coital head-pain for the first time, go to see your GP. If the pain persists, go to the A&E department of your nearest hospital.
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