Back when you
were doing it solitary-style, your mama told you that your little habit
would make you go blind. But did you listen? No.
Hey, it could happen -- at least when it comes to intercourse. Last
year, physicians in Denmark reported the case of a
66-year-old man who literally went blind in one eye every time he had an
orgasm, Discover Magazine's Discoblog recently noted. It turned he was having
intercourse two or three times every week – not bad for 66 – and every
time he did, he’d lose sight in one eye for a couple of minutes which,
as you might imagine, could wreck the afterglow.
In 2008, a doctor in Texas reported the similar symptoms in a
48-year-old woman. Thirty minutes after sex, she’d get a headache and go
blind in one eye.
Sure, we like to talk about having blindingly good sex, but these
people actually had it. It’s probably not a good thing, though.
“Transient monocular vision loss” might not be a sign of eye-ball-socket
blowing lovemaking skill. It could result from a vascular disturbance
like amaurosis fugax. With the right trigger -- climax, say -- a piece
of fatty plaque from the carotid artery breaks off, travels to an eye’s
retinal artery, and dams up the eye’s blood supply. That could be a sign
of atherosclerosis and heart disease.
Treatment with a vasodilator to ease blood flow helped the Danish
man, but others, like the 25-year-old female Hungarian scuba diver who
experienced the same symptoms after dives, can have severe artery
blockages, high cholesterol, and “sticky platelet syndrome.” Usually
such cases are treated with some combination of blood thinners, statins,
and possibly surgery.
Now, never doubt your mother again.