Orgasm headache - A&E?!

[Lilyloolock]

Sorry for the TMI but I'll get it over with quickly.

90 mins or so ago my Saturday morning lie in ended in the way it often does, with a masturbation induced orgasm.

TMI over 😀

immediately afterwards,.for the first time in my life, a thunderclap headache.

I have read about these before (including on here). I now feel fine, and have since got up, had some toast, had a shower etc. exactly as normal. But I have googled it and it said that if it's the first time I should go to A&E immediately! This seems to go against the advice on here, and I feel absolutely fine now as if nothing happened.

I really don't want to spend the day in a&e but I also really don't want to die! AIBU to ignore Dr Google (who also told me I had skin cancer when I was actually just wearing the wrong clothes in hot weather) or do I really need to have the world's most embarrassing trip to a&e?

I probably spend too much time on the legal forums on here to put any faith in the crowd wisdom, as there’s invariably 20 wrong posts parroting the same advice and one correct person that invariably gets lost in the noise.

It’s bad enough when it’s bad legal advice, but bad medical advice can be dangerous and I actually think it’s negligent for other posters to be discouraging contacting 111 on the basis that it’s untrained people following a script in favour of what could be entirely misguided groupthink on Mumsnet. Having both sources of info can only be helpful to OP.

As it happens, having read this thread and the group wisdom I’d be non the wiser as to whether this is an emergency that requires immediate attention or it’s a massive overreaction to a head ache. And given the tendency for humans to seek out confirmation bias, the OP will likely just listen to the ones that say what she wanted to hear (hospital not required) vs those which could be the “right” answer of seek help. Given the clear split, I’d think 111 might be a helpful tie breaker not something to be ridiculed.

Well done OP and hope it goes ok. To anyone else reading this, please never be embarrassed to tell the truth to a healthcare professional. They will have heard it all, and worse, before. Providing most accurate info possible about what happened helps them do their job.

@Lilyloolock hope you'll be fine. And you don't have too long a wait. You've done the right thing.

well done would have been to call 111 immediately for a medically trained advice, instead of going to a forum where you are always advise to "run to A&E" as quickly as you are advise to claim your "free" half hour legal consultation every time you have a question😂

Yes I echo the 'dont be embarrassed' line. I have had to explain twice now, and obviously nobody has batted an eyelid. Obviously not my preferred topic of conversation with strangers but I told the whole truth and it's been fine.

I'm sure you're fine op. Post-orgasmic headaches are not unusual, I've had them (and yes, I was embarrassed about seeking help).

Most likely cause is buildup of muscular tension in the jaw, head and neck during arousal. Feel the muscles at the back of your head, right at the top of your spine - are they stiff and sore?

Anyway it's good that you're getting it checked out, hope everything is ok.

I had to tell a really hot GP about mine 😅

Did you have all the symptoms or just a headache?

My OH gets these - he has medication for them (we always have them handy when we are ahem! having a good time). The medicine is very effective, it’s a wee inhaler then a tablet afterwards.

They are very scary. Start at the base of his head, very intense headache. He suffers from
migraines too but these are different.

He had to go to the Dr and have a hugely embarrassing conversation then was sent to neurology for scans to rule out anything more sinister.

They are worse if he doesn’t regularly orgasm (he sees this a huge positive and excuse to have lots of fun 🤣)

please get checked.

“I actually think it’s negligent for other posters to be discouraging contacting 111 on the basis that it’s untrained people following a script in favour of what could be entirely misguided groupthink on Mumsnet.”

Yes this was exactly my point. I’m not saying these sorts of threads should be banned or anything, but the irony of someone posting a warning about 111 not being a reliable source of information on a thread where people was suggesting anything from “FGS what a load of nonsense!” To “OMG it could be a stroke!” - all without taking any medical history from the OP was both funny and terrifying.

Yes 111 are only following a script - but it’s a carefully thought-out script designed to separate out the obvious emergencies and (mostly) set a level of priorities for the rest. Not perfect but it can have some value (I don’t work for the NHS, btw!)

And @Lilyloolock might get lucky and find an A&E nurse reading on here - but OTOH I saw a poster the other day saying she was a trained medic to justify her comments - and someone else then posted a quote from a different thread where she’d said she was a cleaner. So, you know. Not sure the trained script is really so silly myself.

A thunderclap headache tends to be more of a smashed over the head by a bat or brick type affair. So one moment you were fine, and the next you feel like you've been smashed over the back of your head. Whereas an icepick headache tends to be like a sharp stabbing pain in one particular area of the head. Generally, with a thunderclap headache, if you were asked "where is the headache" you'd motion to a region of your head. With an icepick headache you'd be more likely to point to a spot on your head where the pain is most intense. Icepick headaches tend to be very intense then go more quickly than thunderclap headaches, because thunderclap headaches are generally caused by bleeding in the brain and the headache is the irritation of the blood where it shouldn't be.

Nobody can tell someone on the internet that they do or don't have a life threatening condition and I do wish they wouldn't think they could. Plenty of people can sit and type while critically ill.

They need a thorough history and a neurological examination. Some may need a scan after that.

Telling people “they need a scan” just makes them more anxious that something might be missed if they don’t get one.

My sympathies to your DH and you. I hope this is a one off. I don't get migraines. I don't know what counts as 'regular' orgasms. Saturday mornings tend to be my time.

Still in A&E. I have a book and feel fine!

They won’t care - about the masturbation - my friend is a nurse and says no one bats an eyelid when a man attends with something up his bum 🤷🏼‍♀️.

My (then) 2.5yo had one. She was playing, then screamed, held her head, fell to the floor in pain grabbing her head, sobbing inconsolably for a couple of minutes. Then it passed, and she went back to playing.

GP wasn't phased by it and suggested Calpol if it happened again 🙄.
111 didn't care (even in the context of increasing more regular daily headaches).

Within 48hrs she was being blue lighted for emergency removal of a huge tumour. She's pretty much ok now.

That headache though was a huge red flag and I think shows exactly what a thunderclap headache is like.

I'm glad the OP is getting her headache checked out, though even with my daughter's background I probably wouldn't have myself.

To be clear - absolutely nothing is up my bum 😊

This happened to DH. He waited until Monday then contacted his GP. Gp said go straight to emergency.
He had a lumbar puncture to look for bleeding.
It's good you didn't listen to all the idiots on here minimising something that could be serious.
Good luck and it's most likely nothing but well done for taking your health seriously.

I was in minor injuries last weekend and had to tell Public Health while in a very public corridor that I apply steroid cream to my vulva once a week while they decided whether I needed a rabies vaccine (contact with a bat) and whether the steroid treatment would effect it, I feel it's better to ignore embarrassment and just be honest.

If you feel embarrassed telling the medics, you only have to say you were happy, excited and having a good time, then the headache hit.

If it lasts a long time/doesn’t go away then it’s an emergency. It’s VERY common to have a migraine/headache after orgasm.
I had a thunderclap headache for 3.5 weeks and it turned out to have been caused by a mini brain bleed but the specialist said they are very common and happen every day and the only problem is when they don’t stop. People have them every day and never know. You have to have a lumbar puncture and mri to confirm

😂

Then you are winning at life 😂

Thankyou i hope your daughter is ok now. I've never experienced a thunderclap headache I do however have icepick headaches regularly and they only last seconds so I assumed a thunderclap one would be more intense and last longer so that people can differentiate. Ive had a subdural hematoma before but didn't have a headache just passed out I have no memory of the whole thing.

I had a subarachnoid haemorrhage when pregnant. OP - you have 100% made the right decision. The headache feels like someone puts a knitting needle in your head for a split second. Huge agonising pain but for a split second. I was sick straight afterwards but then felt pretty much back to normal. After a few hours I felt fluey and had to lie in a darkened room (couldn't look at bright lights). My GP always says that you need to get an unusual headache checked out.

See this is what makes me nervous because the initial bit you described sounds just like a icepick headache which I ignore as I get them all the time. Often multiple times a day

For the most part she's on, though not fully without an ongoing impact. Could have been a lot worse.

I thought it was basically a textbook example of a thunderclap though, which is why I mentioned it.