Coital Headaches

Orgasm is usually an enjoyable and positive experience for most people, however it can become less enjoyable for others who find that it triggers coital headaches. For these people, sexual activity of any type can result in coital headache attacks.

Technically, a headache, or cephalalgia, is a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and sometimes the neck too. They can be classified into two main categories: primary or idiopathic, and symptomatic, although there are other ways of classifying them too; for example by severity.

Put simply, primary headaches have a known or unknown cause, whereas symptomatic headaches are often the result of injury. Primary headaches include: migraine, tension headaches, cluster headaches and coital headaches, amongst others.

Coital headaches, also called coital cephalalgia or sexual headaches, is a rare, but painful form of headache that starts in the nape of the neck during sexual intercourse, but before climax. It can occur in all conditions where climax is the expected result. The pain can move to behind the eyes and can then become even worse. Typically the pain will last from a few minutes to an hour or so, but it has been known to last for days in the worst cases.

It is surprising to many to discover that men are three times more likely to experience coital headaches than women and the age groups most at risk are those between 20 and 25 and 30 and 44. Doctors do not really knows why this should be. Coital headaches afflict about one percent of the population, although this number could be a lot higher because of people being embarrassed to discuss it.

Coital headaches are benign, meaning that they have no long-term ill effects, as far as we know. It seems that people taking sexual stimulants, like Viagara, are about 10% more at risk to a bout of coital headache. In fact, besides the obvious, temporary pain, the worst effects of coital headaches are differing levels of dizziness, confusion and stiffness of neck.

However, it is still worth while visiting a doctor though, especially in the beginning, just to exclude the more severe causes of headaches, such as brain tumours and blood clots. However, the doctor can do rather little to help by way of treatment. He could suggest a complete abstention from any form of sexual activity for a period varying from days to weeks or he may recommend trying taking medication some time before sexual foreplay commences.

Some of the headache medications that may be taken are indomethacin, imitrex, zomig and propranolol, although if the headaches continue, your doctor could recommend daily preventive medication. People suffering from frequent coital headaches may experience a positive response to migraine preventive medications, such as beta blockers or verapamil. Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen may similarly be helpful. Coital headaches and migraines are also more likely to occur if a person is in poor physical shape.

However, the treatment for coital headaches for a lot of people can be as simple as bringing your weight up or down to the normal weight for your size. Coital headaches can also be cured in some sufferers by an increased level of exercise, although this could bring on exertion headaches in a few cases.

Now the good news is that most headaches related to sexual activities are not at all serious in nature. In fact, research actually states that orgasm can relieve headaches and even migraine in some cases. This means that for some adults, refusing sex may actually be the cause of their headache in the first place.

If you suffer from migraine or headaches, you should definitely visit our website at Stopping Headaches.

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