A woman who experiences dozens of ‘spontaneous’ orgasms every day has revealed the isolating reality of her condition.
The 29-year-old believes she developed persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD) as a trauma response to childhood sexual abuse.
The rare condition, which causes unwanted arousal and unpredictable orgasms, has become so debilitating that the woman can no longer work, can barely leave her home and has to miss her mother’s funeral.
Strangers have even asked if she can “be around children,” fearing that PGAD is rooted in perverse behavior.
And while some say having multiple orgasms a day sounds nice, the woman, who conducted an anonymous Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA), said: ‘It’s not something you want to have… it can be very disturbing. ‘
A 29-year-old woman on Reddit described her experiences 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 thought to affect around one percent of women, but its embarrassing nature may make people hesitant to seek help. Research is underway to determine the incidence of PGAD among men.
In addition to spontaneous orgasms, people with PGAD may feel pain or tingling around their genitals and vaginal lubrication or contractions.
Although orgasms are usually pleasurable, they are unwanted and can interfere with daily life.
For the anonymous woman, the tingling during an episode starts around her clitoris before spreading to her rectum and cervix, a small canal that connects the vagina and uterus.
“I feel it most strongly in my cervical area,” she said.
This may be because parts of the vagus nerve, the longest nerve in the body, pass partially through the cervix.
Although she has a long-distance boyfriend who knows about her condition, she said he is her “only friend” because the condition has left her so scared that she can barely leave the house.
She said: “It’s rare that I’m around someone. I order 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 someone will notice, so I avoid people.”
The woman inside her said AMA thread: ‘For me it’s not sudden, but it’s a slow build-up, and the build-up 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 groceries to the front door.
“It’s an intense pleasure that when it finally gives me pain, it makes me nauseous and the nausea makes me more anxious or upset than the pain, because I hate throwing up.”
When Reddit users asked how she hides it, she said the pain makes her look like she is very cold and shivering.
Her orgasms are also accompanied by “lots of vaginal lubrication.”
She said that while the orgasms aren’t always painful, “it’s still too much of a good thing.”
The woman noted that although her condition is largely unpredictable, loud noises have triggered her orgasms in the past.
At one point, a motorcycle race down the street caused her to have an orgasm, even though she lived several floors up in an apartment building.
On a ‘good day’ she has about three to five orgasms. But on a bad day that number can rise to 25, with 50 being the most she has ever suffered in a day.
Most of her orgasms occur early in the morning or in the evening, when she is trying to sleep.
Sitting upright makes her suddenly more sensitive to an orgasm, possibly due to pressure on her 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 been dealing with PGAD since she was six. The condition causes a painful, burning sensation in her genitals
Although she suspects her PGAD could be a trauma response from being abused as a child, she said it could also be from taking antidepressants off and on for schizoaffective disorder.
Schizoaffective disorder involves a combination of hallucinations, delusions, depression and mania and affects about three in a thousand Americans.
Starting and stopping these medications can lead to imbalances in pleasure hormones such as dopamine and serotonin. This can cause an influx of these hormones, leading to 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 may be the cause.
She said people often misinterpret PGAD, thinking it comes from perverted thoughts or that it could be a danger to children.
The woman said, “Someone here asked me if I could be around children, and that’s probably the worst thing anyone would ask me because they might interpret my illness as something much more insidious.”
However, she does belong to support groups for other PGAD patients.
Some stories of recovery, she said, “give me hope that I don’t always have to hide.”
She said she hopes to find a pelvic floor specialist, who can help her loosen the tense muscles that could be causing her orgasms, as well as provide talk therapy to address the anxiety and depression that PGAD causes.
