New headache

[fleab24]

I had knee surgery 10 days ago. A few days later I had sex. As sex progressed I could feel a headache buld up. I thought nothing of it until I had an orgasm which brought on an explosive headache. The intensity of it lasted about 3-4 minutes, but the lingering headache lasted until I went to sleep. Since then I have tried 3 more times to have sex but I can feel the "build up" so I didnt bother to try and orgasm. This did not happen before my surgery. Could my surgery have brought this on? Or is this something that will pass?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hi.

You could try and shift yourself position to be the passive partner. This has helped many people with such a history of headache. As rightly suggested, this is not a direct effect of the surgery.

Regards

[noops01]

Hi,
You are suffering from coital cephalgia which is a type of exertional headache. It is the result of combination of raised blood pressure and increased muscle tension that occurs during sex.Non narcotic pain relievers like naproxen taken before having intercourse helps. Ibuprofen has also been found effective.These headaches are also related to anxiety levels and stress which in your case could be due to recent surgery. Usually these headaches go away on their own in a matter of months to days.