A woman who experiences dozens of “spontaneous” orgasms a day has revealed the isolating reality of her condition.
The 29-year-old believes she developed persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD) as a traumatic response to sexual assault as a child.
This rare condition, which causes unwanted arousal and unpredictable orgasms, has become so debilitating that the woman is unable to work, barely leaves her home and was forced to miss her mother’s funeral.
Some strangers have even asked her if she can “be around kids” out of fear that PGAD is rooted in perverted behavior.
And while some say having multiple orgasms a day sounds pleasurable, the woman, who had an anonymous Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), said: “It’s not something you want to have… it can be very distressing.”
A 29-year-old woman detailed on Reddit her experience living with persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD), a rare condition that causes spontaneous orgasms.
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PGAD is not well understood and is believed to affect approximately one percent of women, but due to its embarrassing nature, people may be hesitant to seek help. Research is being done to determine the incidence of PGAD among men.
In addition to spontaneous orgasms, people with PGAD may experience pain or tingling around the genitals and vaginal lubrication or contractions.
While orgasms are usually pleasurable, they are unwanted and can interfere with daily life.
For the anonymous woman, when she has an episode, the tingling starts around the clitoris before spreading to the rectum and cervix, a small canal that connects the vagina and uterus.
“I feel it strongest in the cervical area,” she said.
This could be because parts of the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the body, partially pass through the cervix.
While she has a long-distance boyfriend who knows about her condition, she said he is her “only friend” as the condition has left her so afraid she can barely leave the house.
She said: ‘It’s very rare for me to be close to anyone. I sort out my clothes and groceries, and most of my appointments are telehealth. I don’t work and live alone.
“You can’t really prove that someone is having an orgasm, but I’m afraid that someone will notice, so I avoid people.”
The woman said in her AMA thread: ‘For me it’s not sudden, but it’s a slow process, and the process doesn’t always end in an orgasm, so I never really know if I’m going to have an orgasm.
But that alone makes me order food to the door of my house.
“It’s an intense pleasure that if it ends up causing me pain, it makes me nauseous and the nausea makes me more afraid or uncomfortable than the pain because I hate vomiting.”
When Reddit users asked her how she hides it, she said the pain makes her look like she’s really cold and shivering.
Her orgasms also come with “lots of vaginal lubrication.”
She said that while orgasms aren’t always painful, “it’s still too much of a good thing.”
The woman noted that while her condition is largely unpredictable, loud noises have triggered her orgasms in the past.
At one point, a motorcycle racing down the street caused her to have an orgasm, even though she lived several floors up in an apartment building.
On a “good day,” you experience three to five orgasms. But on a bad day, that number can go up to 25, with 50 being the most he’s suffered in a day.
Most of your orgasms occur early in the morning or at night when you are trying to sleep.
Sitting up suddenly also makes you more likely to have an orgasm, possibly due to the pressure on your genitals. The woman added that she avoids masturbating so as not to intensify the sensations.
Rhode Island native Scarlet Kaitlin Wallen (pictured left and right), 21, has dealt with PGAD since she was just six years old. The condition causes a painful burning sensation in your genitals.
While she suspects her PGAD could be a traumatic response from being sexually abused as a child, she said it could also be due to taking antidepressants intermittently for schizoaffective disorder.
Schizoaffective disorder involves a combination of hallucinations, delusions, depression and mania and affects about three in every 1,000 Americans.
Starting and stopping these medications could cause imbalances in pleasure hormones such as dopamine and serotonin. This could cause an influx of these hormones, causing increased blood flow to the genitals.
Experts have also suggested that varicose veins in the pelvis, cysts along the base of the spine, and abscesses near the clitoris could be to blame.
He said people often misunderstand PGAD, believing it may be due to perverted thoughts or making it a danger to children.
The woman said: “Someone here asked me if I can be around children, and that’s probably the worst thing I fear someone asking me because they might interpret my illness as something much more insidious.”
However, he does belong to support groups for other PGAD patients.
Some recovery stories, he said, “give me hope that I don’t always have to hide.”
She said she hopes to seek out a pelvic floor specialist, who can help her release tight muscles that could be causing her orgasms, as well as psychotherapy to deal with the anxiety and depression caused by PGAD.
