A journalist tells the story of a Dutch woman who suffered from unwanted orgasms coming from her left foot.
When the expression “to get off” is interpreted literally. In his book Sex’traordinary, – 1,001 incredible and hilarious facts about sex and love published a few weeks ago, the Belgian journalist Didier Dillen, specializing in sexology, reports in particular the improbable case of a woman who had many unwanted orgasms because of her foot.
In 2013, a 55-year-old Dutch woman went to hospital complaining of unwanted orgasmic sensations coming from her left foot. “Faced with this mysterious phenomenon, the doctors carry out an in-depth interview”, says Didier Dillen, who relates the story of the doctors of the University of Utrecht published in a scientific journal at the time of the events.
“They note that the pedestrian orgasms experienced by this lady occur in the absence of any desire or sexual arousal, that their duration is extremely short (about five or six seconds) and that their end is abrupt, that their frequency is about five or six times a day,” he says in his book. A phenomenon obviously very impractical, especially since these unwanted orgasms are often accompanied by vaginal lubrication and loss of urine.
Consequence of previous trauma
After numerous examinations, the doctors came to the following conclusion: these strange symptoms would be “the consequence of an incomplete regeneration of certain damaged nerves following a previous trauma”. In 2011, the patient had indeed suffered from sepsis (a syndrome of general and serious infection of the body by pathogenic agents), which had led her to spend three months in intensive care. Therefore, for her, “the information coming from a small area of the foot would be interpreted by the brain as coming only from the vagina”, explains Didier Dillen.
Fortunately for the poor woman, the doctors manage to cure her quickly thanks to pulsed radiofrequency treatment combined with analgesic infiltrations. If it is for the moment the only declared case of orgasm of the foot, this Dutch woman is not the only one to have suffered from unwanted orgasms.
The permanent genital arousal syndrome: a disease still too little known
Indeed, several women around the world complain of permanent genital arousal syndrome (SEGP). This disease, still very little known to the general public, causes a multitude of orgasms in a short time and repeatedly. And if that can make more than one dream on paper, this state is very little appreciated by those who undergo it.
They thus describe feelings of discomfort in the genital area, such as burning, itching or tingling. The SEGP is triggered on its own, often by vibrations, and practically permanent or intermittent. Most often, it only calms down with masturbation or other sexual stimulation. However, if some women enjoy quickly and are calmed down for a while, others are absolutely not and have to start again immediately.
In 2012, an American woman ended her life after having had 50 orgasms a day for sixteen years, “one every 30 seconds, for 4, 6, even eight hours”. “It’s ruining my life because it’s driving me crazy. It’s the permanent roller coaster in your body and it really affects your mood (…). Sometimes when it’s particularly awful, I just want to close the curtains and never again get up. Other days, I can control myself a little better and I’m just going to have ten orgasms in the day. When that happens, I think I could go back to work, get my life back, “said another sick two years later in the media. At present, very little is known about the causes of this disease, which makes it extremely difficult to treat.
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