Porn Headaches: Man Experiences Intense Pain While Watching Pornographic Videos, Study Says

Man Gets 'Exploding Headaches' From Watching Porn

Forget checking this guy's browser history -- you'd know he was looking at porn from his empty Tylenol bottle.

A 24-year-old man in India experiences severe, "exploding" headaches when he watches pornographic videos, according to a study published in the June issue of Archives of Sexual Behavior.

The subject of the study, an unmarried software professional whose name has not been released, has experienced these headaches for the past two years. His migraines would gradually increase in severity as the man watched X-rated videos, with the pain reaching peak intensity at about 8-10 minutes.

At this point, he would tear himself away from the videos due to the pain.

Authors Kuljeet Singh Anand and Vikas Dhikav note that the subject had "no history of headache associated either with masturbation or with coitus" -- the problem occurred only when he was viewing pornography.

Dawn Buse, associate professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, told ABC News that about one percent of the population experiences headaches associated with sexual activity. In some cases, she says, simply being aroused is enough to trigger them.

Anand and Dhikav also found that the subject had no history of migraines, tension headaches, or head injury, and neither physical nor neurological examinations indicated anything abnormal.

Though the researchers could not be sure exactly what was causing the headaches, their best guess was they stemmed from changes to pain-sensing nerves in the man's jaw and face, according to MSNBC. Additionally, the researchers wrote, he may have been experiencing increased pain sensitivity due to the "heightened emotional state associated with viewing pornography."

By the time the study took place, the subject had begun to "refrain from viewing videos as a means of avoiding headaches." The researchers, however, provided a different solution: They prescribed the man painkillers to be taken 30 minutes prior to watching. He experienced "significant pain relief," according to the paper.

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