“The Big O No!”

By Linda Sharp

Not to put you off your morning coffee and croissant, but let's talk sex.

When it's good, it's verrrrrry good. We all know that. When it's bad, well, we have all been there when you swear your partner can hear you screaming in your head - and not in a good way (Get off my hair!!!! My leg doesn't bend that way!!! Stop twisting my nipples like you're tuning a radio!!! Do you even know where my vagina is?!?!).



Good sex has much to do with anticipation, partner connection, foreplay, and of course, the Big "O". And yes, those "O's" come in varying degrees of Oh my God!ness, but let's be honest - any orgasm, doesn't exactly suck. (Pun intended.)

Men like to joke about wanting to "die in the saddle" as it were, and Matthew McConaughey's mother recently made headlines by describing how Matt's dad died with a smile on his face in their marital bed.

That's all well and good, and makes a good story for the newspapers the next day, but what if something life threatening takes place while in the thrOes?

Like what if your partner's "strokes" bring on an actual STROKE?

Don't laugh. This happens more than you knOw.

A 35-year-old woman in Illinois was enjOying some intimacy when the left side of her face went numb, her speech slurred, and her left arm became weak. (And no, not in a tingly, speaking in tongues way.)

By the time they realized what had happened and got her to the hospital, her entire left side was paralyzed and too much time had passed to inject the accepted stroke treatment - the clot buster known as tPA.

After consultation, doctors decided their best shot was to inject it directly into the clot in her brain - yes, a risky, risky decision, but one which paid off. Almost immediately she began to improve and within twelve hours, all symptoms had abated.

So were they left with just a seriously good anecdote at cocktail parties? Bragging rights for him, that he's so gooood he almost did her in?

Sure it makes for a great story, considering she pulled through, but the reality is that one in four adults has the heart defect which allows this sex related stroke to occur.

Yes, one in four.

Called a PFO (patent foramen ovale), it's a small opening in the wall between the two upper chambers of her heart. The defect allows small amounts of blood to flow from the right side of the heart to the left side. This blood then bypasses the lung and goes straight to the brain.

The bright side is that even with the one in four statistics, most people with a PFO will never know they have a PFO.

But 40% of people who suffer a "cryptogenic stroke" - that's a stroke with no known cause - have a PFO.

So should you stop having sex? Hell to the nO!

Just be aware that if you are getting jiggy, and your body begins to respond (or rather NOT respond) in new and quirky ways - like a limb gives out or your moans of pleasure turn to moans because you can no longer buy a vowel with your tongue - a trip to the ER is in your best interests.

Treated within three hours, some tPA should set things right again. Well, some tPA and a BIG cOpay, of course.

BYLINE:

Linda Sharp has contributed to numerous publications, both on the web and in print. She is also the author of “Stretchmarks On My Sanity.”