Mind-blowing sex: American woman suffers amnesia after intercourse. An American woman suffered a sudden attack of amnesia after having sex with her husband.
From the Electronic Telegraph.
The sudden loss of memory, called “transient global amnesia” or TGA, is caused by pressure in blood vessels in the brain, and can be triggered by strenuous activities, bowel movements, or – commonly – sex.
The 59-year-old woman, known only as Alice, had the worrying experience after she and her husband Scott had sex last August. She suddenly, albeit temporarily, lost all memory of the last several years and the ability to form new memories.
After sex they turned on the television, which was showing the Beijing Olympics, and she asked: "Is there an Olympics?"
Scott told CNN: "I saw that something was wrong, so I asked her, 'OK, what day is it?'"
When she couldn’t answer, he asked her to name the current President, to which she replied: "Bill Clinton." Scott called an ambulance and she was taken to hospital, where it was initially thought she may have had a stroke.
However, neurologists were soon able to diagnose TGA, a relatively common experience in the over-50s.
Dr Louis Caplan, professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School, said: "[Sex] is actually a well-known precipitator.
"One of the things people have done to look at transient global amnesia is to look at frequency of various precipitants and sex always comes out as one of the most common."
People with a history of migraines and severe headaches are more prone to TGA.
Although her memory has otherwise returned fully, Alice remains unable to remember the act of intercourse that triggered her attack. However, it is likely that she enjoyed herself.
Dr Caplan said: "It usually is after climax that [TGA] develops."
