5 Ways His Penis Could Make You Sick

This article was written Rachael Schultz and provided by our partners at Men’s Health.

A healthy hump can do wonders for your wellbeing: Sex can boost your immunity, relieve stress, dull pain, and even help you sleep better. But a cure-all roll in the hay can actually cause some women to come down with ailments far worse than just being lovesick. His penis can do serious damage to you—and not in the good way. See how his taking you to bed may leave you bedridden.

1. Orgasm Overload
Yep, you really can have too big of an O: “After intense, multi-faceted levels of stimulation—like clitoral, vaginal, sometimes even rectal, all at once—women can experience an autonomic nervous system overload,” says Jennifer Berman, M.D., director of The Berman Women’s Wellness Center in Los Angeles and cohost of The Doctors. Your body releases neurochemicals while your blood vessels dilate, causing you to feel lightheaded, dizzy, or nauseous, says Berman. And the same thing can happen to men. In fact, researchers have reported a similar male-dominant phenomenon called post-orgasmic illness syndrome, where guys experience flu-like symptoms up to weeks after an orgasm! (Check out Men’s Health‘s story, The Orgasm Flu.) 

 

2. Depression
Sex should be a mood booster, but roughly one-third of women admit to having felt depressed at least once after getting down, according to a 2011 Australian study. Don’t get too down on yourself about this, though: About 10 percent of women regularly feel sad, anxious, regretful, or irritable after some perfectly pleasing lovemaking, probably because of the hormonal shift post-orgasm, researchers speculate.

3. Headaches
You want it to be mind-blowing, not head-splitting: Sex can actually trigger horrible migraines in both men and women. The International Headache Society reports two types of headaches with sexual activity (HSAs): The first—Type I—are pre-orgasmic, where pressure builds along with sexual excitement. Type II HSAs are explosive pains that occur with or right after climaxing. A 2012 study in the British Journal of Medical Practitioners reported that migraine sufferers are most likely to experience this pain with pleasure and that it affects roughly 1 in 100 people. (See more Crazy Reasons You Have a Headache.)

4. Allergies
Choose your man’s condom wisely: People can have an allergic reaction to latex, spermicidal jelly, and certain lubricants, says Berman. In fact, some women are even allergic to swimmers. “Sometimes a woman’s body perceives proteins in the semen as foreign, and this can cause irritation or burning for her,” says Berman. These proteins are unique to each man, so a woman’s chances of having a post-coitus breakout are higher if it’s her first time with a new guy. The latter reaction will lessen over time as she gets used to his chemical makeup, says Berman, but you can protect against all allergies—along with STDs—by using a latex-free condom and glycerin- and paraben-free lubricants.

5. Amnesia
You may wish you could wipe a few one-night stands from your memory, but for one D.C. woman, her rendezvous actually cleared a whole day: The 54-year-old showed up at Georgetown University Hospital unable to remember the past 24 hours—except that her amnesia started right after having sex with her husband. The woman, whose experience was reported in a 2011 issue of The Journal of Emergency Medicine, was diagnosed with transient global amnesia, a rare condition in which memory suddenly and temporarily disappears. Researchers added that this form of amnesia can be prompted by physically strenuous activities, often specifically resulting from a good old-fashioned romp fest. For more weird things that can happen after an orgasm, check out these 6 Strange Side Effects of Sex.