Unspeakable headaches

  In life, many people experience dizziness and headache, maybe because of the cold, maybe because of poor rest, in short, the causes of headache are many and complex, but like the case of patient Auntie Zhang, you may not have heard of it.  About 2 months ago, Auntie Zhang, who was troubled by headache, came to the Department of Encephalopathy of the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine to see Zhu Kaiyun, the director of the Department of Encephalopathy. In the registration line, generally speaking, we all hope to get to ourselves as soon as possible so that we can see the patient quickly, but on that day, when it was her turn to see the patient according to the registration order, she took the initiative to let others see first, which made Zhu Kaiyun feel confused. Only when other patients were finished, she quietly entered the consultation room, with a shy face and stammering, told the doctor about her condition.  Auntie Zhang said that for more than 10 years, every time she had an orgasm, she would experience an explosion of pain in the top of her head, and the headache usually lasted for about 10 minutes before returning to normal. The headache made Auntie Zhang feel very distressed. At first she was too embarrassed to go to the hospital, but after a period of time, she went to the hospital. Over the years, she had been to many large hospitals and had CT and MRI tests on her head, but none of them could identify the cause, and none of the doctors who had treated her could say why. Later, under the introduction of others, she found the headache specialist Zhu Kaiyun, director of the Department of Brain Diseases of the District Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine.  After understanding Zhang’s condition in detail, Zhu Kaiyun diagnosed Zhang’s headache as orgasmic headache. It is understood that orgasmic headache is a relatively rare kind of primary headache. After determining the cause, Zhu Kaiyun provided preventive treatment for Auntie Zhang. After a period of treatment, Auntie Zhang told the doctor that the treatment was effective and she no longer had headache attacks during orgasm. During the follow-up phone call, Auntie Zhang also informed the doctor that she is now not as demanding about her sex life as she used to be.  Zhu Kaiyun said that the patient used to have sexual demands every day probably because she intentionally controlled not to reach orgasm every time she had sex, thus not releasing her sexual tension sufficiently. Experts point out that the current international headache classification divides primary headaches related to sexual activity into 2 categories, the first being pre-orgasmic headaches and the second being orgasmic headaches. Pre-orgasmic headache is a dull head and neck pain that occurs during sexual intercourse and increased sexual excitement, accompanied by conscious contraction of the neck or jaw muscles; orgasmic headache is a severe (explosive) headache that occurs suddenly during orgasm. Apparently, Auntie Zhang belonged to the second type of headache. Sexual activity-related headaches are generally self-limiting, but Auntie Zhang’s headache is a bit of an exception and has been recurring for more than 10 years. Finally, the doctor also reminded the public that no matter what kind of headache, if it persists, they should still seek medical consultation as soon as possible in order to relieve the pain as soon as possible; if there is a situation like the patient in the case, they should not feel embarrassed, but should face it squarely and then actively seek effective treatment methods.