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Migraines are attacks of recurring headaches followed by pain that is usually severe. Migraines often leave you helpless and usually interfere with your activities, including during sex. However, the good news is, sex can help you relieve migraines. Check out the reviews here.
Can sex relieve migraines?
A study reports that sex can relieve migraines for some people who have severe headaches. The study, published in the journal Cephalalgia, states that sexual activity can relieve pain from migraines or cluster headaches. Some patients even report frequent sex to relieve headaches.
This study was conducted on 800 migraine patients and 200 cluster headache patients. Researchers distributed questionnaires about the participants' experiences of having sex when headaches struck and how sex affected pain intensity.
The results showed that there were more than one third of patients who had sex during headaches. Two-thirds felt less pain.
Meanwhile, for cluster headache patients, 40% of people who have sex when the headache strikes report the pain subsided. However, there are those who say that sex can make cluster headaches worse.
This is presumably because during sex, especially when reaching orgasm, endorphins are released from the brain. Endorphins are natural pain relievers present in the body. These endorphins numb migraine pain.
Dr. Alexander Mauskop of the New York Headache Center states that endorphins are chemicals that are similar to opiates, associated with feelings of happiness, positivity, and store pain signals from reaching the brain. Unlike pain relievers, which can take up to 15 minutes to relieve a migraine, endorphins work instantly to relieve a migraine before it gets worse.
Not everyone will recover from migraines with sex
For some migraine patients, sex can actually trigger migraine attacks. The force exerted during sex puts pressure on the back and neck which can trigger migraines in people who are prone to headaches.
Dr. Green of Columbia says that headaches during sex are most commonly reported in people with migraines because they have a genetic predisposition to developing headaches. Sex can cause three different types of headaches, all of which can trigger migraines: explosive headaches, tension headaches, and positional headaches.
The type of headache most often triggered by sex is an explosive (exploding) headache, which occurs at the peak of an orgasm with symptoms similar to a brain hemorrhage. Tension headaches are usually caused by physical or emotional stress, including tension triggered by sex. However, these headaches usually go away in about 20 minutes.
Positional headaches are difficult to diagnose. Usually these headaches are experienced by people who have recently had spinal surgery or received epidural anesthesia. This is one of the procedures that can cause a tear in the membrane surrounding the brain and spinal cord, called a dura, causing fluid to leak.
If you with a torn dura get up from a lying position, the loss of fluid will cause the brain to sag, which can lead to positional headaches. If you lie down again, the spinal fluid will pool, protect the brain, and the headache will go away.
