A man’s sex life is the definition of colorful.
The 31-year-old married man, known simply as “Mr. R.,” went to the doctor complaining that every time he had an orgasm, he suddenly saw the world in rose-colored shades.
She added that objects also appeared sharper and brighter, and that it always seemed early in the morning, even if she had an orgasm late at night.
Doctors in Iran conducted a series of tests before diagnosing the man with synaesthesia, a rare condition in which senses overlap.
The 31-year-old married man, known simply as “Mr R.”, told doctors that every time he has an orgasm, he suddenly sees the world in shades of rose (file image)
In other cases, it can lead to someone “feeling colors” or “feeling sounds.”
Revealing the strange case in the diary PsychiatryDoctors wrote: ‘She stated that during her orgasms, she experienced changes in visual clarity whenever she opened her eyes and saw objects that were sharper and brighter than usual.
‘He described these changes as “high contrast vision with a dominant pink color throughout,” and said the surroundings became brighter as if it were early morning, even if the surroundings were dark.’
The patient, who was also a doctor, initially tried to treat his illness with the antidepressant Sertraline.
But after three months, she sought help at a nearby hospital, where doctors suggested she had a rare neurological condition.
At this point, the patient also revealed that he had suffered from altered perceptions in childhood due to chest pains caused by a defective heart valve.
He said that during those episodes of pain he felt “white,” a sensation he said was never triggered by other feelings. However, this stopped before adulthood, after the heart valve problem was resolved.
The patient was discharged and was not offered any further treatment; the individual reported no erectile dysfunction and said he was happy with his sex life.
Synesthesia is caused when nerves excited by a certain activity accidentally activate other, unrelated nerves, causing people to feel “confusing.”
It was unclear why an orgasm might trigger synesthesia, but the rush of feel-good hormones and heightened brain activity during the act could increase the likelihood that multiple nerves would be excited.
It is often linked to brain development, and it is said that the organ developed during childhood in a different way than in “neurotypical” people.
Many people live normal, full lives with this condition, and some even say it gives them a richer experience of the world.
In other cases, people have reported experiencing different colors during each stage of sex. They said they saw orange at the beginning of sex, yellow during sex, and then pink during the climax phase.
Other types include seeing a specific color when hearing a car horn or saying they can taste words when they hear them.
Vincent van Gogh, Wassily Kandinsky and Lorde are said to have suffered from this disease.
There is no specific treatment for this condition and doctors say it is not necessary because it is not a disease.
It is estimated that up to two percent of the population experiences a level of synesthesia during sexual intercourse, according to Psychology today.
The researchers, from Mashhad University, wrote in their 2022 case report: ‘The present report demonstrates the coexistence of a rare form of synaesthesia, such as color orgasm, with specific color pain synaesthesia.
‘Unlike previous reports, our case demonstrated that color orgasm is a type of synesthesia that might not negatively affect men’s sex lives.’