Masturbation triggered a life-threatening heart complication in a 59-year-old man, leaving doctors worried and baffled.
According to the doctors who treated the New Yorker, the self-pleasure session caused a tear in the aorta, the artery that transports blood from the heart to the body.
These types of events are considered a medical emergency that kills up to a third of people who are unlucky enough to suffer from it.
Unusually, the man did not suffer chest pain, difficulty breathing, loss of consciousness or nausea as expected.
Instead, shortly after masturbating he “experienced lightheadedness, a tingling sensation in both hands, and tension in his jaw,” a doctor reported. report about the case explains.
According to the doctors who treated the New Yorker, the self-pleasure session caused a tear in his aorta, the artery that carries blood from the heart to the body.
These types of events are considered a medical emergency and kill up to a third of people who are unlucky enough to experience it.
Worryingly, the man had been doing a three-mile workout the day before, suggesting he was in good physical shape before the event.
The report, published in the journal Clinic and Experimental Emergency Medicine, continues that after suffering the vague symptoms “he decided to lie down and experienced an episode of urinary incontinence.”
It was at that moment that he called an ambulance.
At the hospital, tests revealed he was suffering from extremely low blood pressure and a slow pulse.
Fearing that he was suffering from sepsis (a life-threatening reaction of the immune system to an infection), doctors immediately prescribed antibiotics.
Although his symptoms improved, he began to experience dizziness when trying to walk and was admitted for further cardiac testing.
Finally, an ultrasound revealed the true cause: an acute type A aortic dissection, also known as an aortic rupture.
He was rushed into surgery for an aortic graft replacement, in which the torn section of the aorta is removed and replaced with a strong, flexible tube implant.
He is believed to have made a full recovery.
It’s unclear why masturbation caused the breakup, but the report confirms that the vague symptoms he suffered were “unusual.”
‘Approximately 6.4 percent of aortic dissections present without chest pain; “As such, painless dissections are atypical presentations that are more likely to be associated with increased mortality,” he continued.
A similar case was reported last year of a 60-year-old man with a high blood pressure condition called Liddle syndrome, who suffered an acute aortic dissection after masturbating.
The prognosis for people who suffer from acute type A aortic dissection is usually dismal.
At least 30 percent of patients die even after surgery and survive for just ten days.
For those who survive, it increases the risk of organ failure, stroke, amputation (due to circulatory problems), and intestinal problems, among many other things.
The patient in question had previously been diagnosed with an IgG4-related disease.
The inflammatory condition causes damage to many organs in the body and also suffered high blood pressure, kidney disease and pacreatitis.
He was also on long-term steroids to manage his health problems.
It is unclear whether this condition or the medication had caused his aortic dissection, however the doctors wrote: “This case reinforces that aortic dissection can present without pain, including the classic presentation of tearing chest pain or back pain.”
“Emergency physicians should maintain a high index of suspicion for aortic syndrome in all ED patients, especially in patients with IgG4-related disease, and consider atypical presentations and manifestations of aortic dissection.”
A similar case was reported last year of a 60-year-old man with a high blood pressure condition called Liddle syndrome, who suffered an acute aortic dissection after masturbating.
In that case, the patient sought medical help when he began to suffer tearing pain in his chest that began when he began pleasuring himself while smoking cannabis.
Studies have found that one in ten young men with Liddle syndrome (a genetic problem that causes the pressure inside the aorta to be very high) may suffer an aortic rupture.
Marijuana use has been shown to increase heart rate and blood pressure and has been independently linked to an increased risk of aortic dissection.