Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome – It’s Not As Cool As It Sounds
photo by Robert McDon.
Because of our interest in all things bizarre in the medical world, we spend a lot of time scouring the internet for news of the weird. At the risk of being a bit controversial, we submit to you a condition we found via News of The World, a UK website. In a 2007 article they tell us about Sarah, a then-24-year-old girl with a very strange medical condition.
She can’t stop having orgasms.
She has 100 to 200 orgasms per day. She can’t use a hairdryer, ride in a car, or even be in a noisy room full of people because the vibrations send her into fits. She has a condition called Persistent Sexual Arousal Syndrome (PSAS), and before you start feeling jealous, imagine not being able to control when (or where) you reach your “happy place”. She’s a beautician, and she has to deal with having all these orgasms every day right in front of people. You can imagine, it’s pretty hard to get things done when your body is busy climaxing all the time.
PSAS is likely a nerve disorder, though not enough people have done studies on it to know for sure. The condition is pretty rare. It was only first documented in 2001. It seems that most triggers are certain types of drugs. For sure, Sarah’s symptoms didn’t start until she’d been on anti-depressants and then went off them. Ever since then, she’s been suffering with this disorder.
Because the condition is thought to be nerve-related, physical therapy is one possible treatment. Similarly, because the nerve disorder thought to cause PSAS is pundendal nerve entrapment, surgery is another option. Surely there must be something that can help people like poor Sarah. Too much of a good thing is still…too much.
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Are you nuts or what??!!! The lady is the article you are refering to is an invention of sick journalists who only want to score with their sick articles. Search the Internet properly and you will find more realistic sources and….. that is even an understatement!! To start with psas.nl
With all due respect, the website you referenced in your comment in no way contradicts the medical information presented in our post. We used the example of Sarah because we wanted to put a human aspect on the story – and since multiple internet sources used Sarah as an example we thought we would as well. We apologize if referencing the article about Sarah made you angry, but we used more than the internet articles about Sarah to gather our information about the actual condition. Thank you for posting a link to your website, as the purpose of this site is to educate and inform, and your website does that very well.
And in answer to your question…no. We are not nuts.
I’ve heard about this condition before. I feel really bad for people who have this. It must be so incredibly distracting.
How embarrassing, I wonder if they learn to control their expressions to hide the orgasms? And if they’re mild orgasms? You’d worry about shopping at the veg counter and the looks you’d get.
By the way, Johanna Vante is one aggressive poster, maybe she could do with just one to relieve herself of some of that aggression.
Readers: This is an extremely informative comment on PGAD (improperly named above as PSAS). She clarifies that the disorder is not characterized by full-blown orgasms, but by being aroused and on the verge of orgasm all the time. It is not a sexual condition, per se, and it’s very detrimental to one’s lifestyle and well-being. Read on to hear her story, learn more, and learn where to get help.
Hi, my name is Johanna Vante and I suffer from PGAD for 6 years now. I run 2 PSAS-support groups in the Netherlands. I am in contact with PSAS-women from all over the world. Of which many are suicidal, or land on psychiatric wards, because of this horrible monster! A monster that totally ruins the lives of women who are really suffering from it. Allow me to explain a few things about this condition.
First: Ever since the discovery of PSAS/PGAD in 2001, all kinds of outrageous stories about this condition have been buzzing around. Because the condition has a sexual connotation, causing it to appeal to the imagination of (mainly) men, the sensation orientated media has regrettably presented this syndrome out in a disgusting manner. Tall stories about women having 100 or even 800 orgasms per day, has spectacularly boosted tabloid or magazine sales . The truth about PSAS is a lot less sensational, much more complicated and it is not at all enjoyable or fun to those who suffer from it. It is most definitely not characterized by having an inhumane number of (spontaneous) orgasms. Nonsense……utter nonsense!
Just think what 300 full blown orgasms a day would do to a person!!! What it would do to the mucous membranes of the genitals, to the body, to the heart rate and blood pressure, to the brain and to the psychological and emotional well- being ??!! The woman who claimed to have 300 orgasms every day wouldn’t be alive today if her story was true….
PGAD manifests as arousal that occurs apart from ANY of the physical or psychological stimuli that trigger normal sexual arousal. As its name suggests, the feeling is unrelenting. It fluctuates only in degree of intensity. Orgasm not only does not relieve the feeling, it actually exacerbates the sensation: after only a few moments or minutes of relief following orgasm, the sensation returns. PGAD is persistent, highly unwanted, involuntary, unrelated to subjective feelings of sexual desire, unrelated to hormones, unrelated to libido, is intrusive and causes distress, stress, isolation, insomnia, embarrassment, shame, anxiety, distraction, exhaustion, suicidal thoughts….. It interferes with work, marriage, relationships, social life… No need to say that the impact is huge. Interest in sex declines as an orgasm doesn’t resolve anything and only makes the symptoms worse. A dilemma every single minute of the day AND night because the urge to relief yourself is almost unbearable but remains or in most cases only grows after orgasm. That part of our bodies is living its own life. There is no joy or pleasure what so ever in having sex!! Women have begged their doctors to amputate that part of their bodies. One woman did go for the surgical clitoridectomy!! After removal the symptoms didn’t subside….…. Women with PSAS do NOT crave for sex. On the contrary!!
Involuntary living on the verge of an orgasm 24/7 is torture, is living hell!
The condition has been renamed recently and is now called: Restless Genital Syndrome (ReGS) The words ‘Arousal’ and ‘Sexual’ in previous names suggest that it is a Sexual thing. A breakthrough in Scientific research in the Netherlands shows that the Nervus Dorsalis Clitoridis is responsible for the symptoms. It is hyperesthesia and neuropathy of that nerve that is driving women completely crazy.
Johanna Vante
Source(s):
http://www.psas.nl
As the founder of the first support group for women with PSAS aka PGAD I can assure you no woman has had 200-300 orgasms a day–that exageration started back in 2003-2004 when I gave the first interviews ever on PGAD and the Europeans embellished it to attract readers. Also your story has contridictions by saying it’s probably nerve related and then saying it started for Sarah after using and stopping anti-depressants. ALSO, pudendal nerver surgery is NOT an option–three women have had it and now live with the additional pain from the surgery AND PGAD—be careful what you print–I agree with my good friend Johanna in the Netherlands (I am in the States) that you need to do better research and ask the right people—also a perfect example of sensationalism is your own post on this web site showing a half dressed woman in a provocative position!! I rest my case— PGAD is really clitoral priapism. Whether it is muscle/nerve related or a misfired neurotransmitter in the brain or something else has yet to be proven.
Jeannie,
Thank you for your comment. Most of the conditions we write about have limited information available – I do the best I can with what I can find on the internet. I plan to write an update on the condition with the new information received via these comments. I apologize if you found the photo offensive – it was an attempt at irony given the sensationalism of the UK article I found.
Best wishes for a happy holiday and new year.
Elizabeth
Great blogpost, thanks a lot!
Treatments according to given websites above are medicinal and can consist of the following:
oxazepam and clonazepam both benzodiazepines -> While benzodiazepines induce sleep, they tend to produce a poorer quality of sleep than natural sleep. Benzodiazepines such as clonazepam suppress REM deep sleep.[32] After regular use rebound insomnia can occur when discontinuing clonazepam. Which is only some of the side-effects.
Drowsiness
Interference with cognitive and motor performance
Irritability and aggression
Psychomotor agitation
Lack of motivation
Loss of libido -> this doesn’t mean the symptoms stop. (Once again this condition does not point to continuous sexual arousement, it is a series of tremmors in the vaginal area that may lead to an orgasm ,but is completely involuntary and persistant to a point of madness)
Impaired motor function
Impaired coordination
Impaired balance
Dizziness
Diarrhea
And this is just the possible side-effects for clonazepam!
There is also tramadol
bupivacaine + 40mg methylprednisolone
depression (drowsiness, loss of consciousness, respiratory depression and apnea). Cardiovascular effects include hypotension, bradycardia, arrhythmias, and/or cardiac arrest – some of which may be due to hypoxemia secondary to respiratory depression.
As you can see this is no joke and I really wish that the media wil stop looking for sensation in peoples suffering. There is no set course of treatment and research is still being done to try and find a better understanding of the condition. I for one would really like to know what the definite causes are. I also hope that they find this answer to be able to find a “cure” for all these women who are suffering in every way possible. Being physically uncomfortable in your own body, having suicidal thoughts because of the emotional stress. Problems with bloodpressure worrying if your heart is going to give in. I cannot even begin to imagine the figuratively living hell they go through. I sincerely hope they find some treatment that works or even a cure as soon as possible!
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