Beware, sex can lead to stroke!

Under normal circumstances , sex , with the right person and in the right environment, is a positive thing.

However , physicians report that in recent times, they have seen bizarre cases of patients who develop stroke minutes after having sex!

What might likely be the case , and what are the signs to watch out for? Read on .

Neurologist , Dr . Jose Biller, narrates the case of a 35 -year - old female patient who had no known cardiovascular risk factors , was obviously young , healthy , and non-smoking , but she developed stroke after having sex with her boyfriend.

The incident happened a few minutes after the sex . She began complaining of numbness on the left side of her face , her speech became slurred , and her left arm became weak.

As reported in the Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Disease , physicians say it was likely that the patient ’ s sexual activity triggered her stroke .

“ What made the case even more puzzling was the lack of typical risk factors that usually accompany the onset of stroke, ” Biller says.

He says , typically , men face a higher risk of developing stroke more than women do , and that it is usually a condition that affects ageing persons .

It was later discovered that a defect in the patient ’ s heart predisposed her to the condition.

Dr . Biller warns that cases like these are not as rare as we might think.

To allay our fears , stroke experts say that generally, sexual intercourse is not likely to trigger a stroke without accompanying risk factors .

“ There is nothing about sex that should be reported to increase stroke risk , ” Medical Director, Dr . Pat Lyden, says.

“ Stroke can occur any time : in the shower , on the toilet, working out in the gym or during a class .”

But the question is , what was the cause of this patient ’ s stroke , and what could be done to prevent it ?

Experts say in the case of this 35 -year -old woman , the only potential risk factor she had for developing a blood clot was the fact that she was on birth control pills — “ a medication known for increasing one’ s risk for developing blood clots, ” Biller warns.

But were birth control pills alone to blame for the stroke ? In order to find the answer, Biller and a team of neurologists investigated the patient ’ s medical history and also tested her heart function.

They eventually found the source of the problem: This patient had a hole in her heart that had not been previously detected!

They also discovered that she had a blood clot in one of the main veins in her right leg.

“ Most likely what happened was that the clot that was in the venous system traveled to the heart , and because she had that hole , due to the pressure changes that occurred during intercourse , most likely the clot migrated from the right to the left chambers of her heart , and then from the left chamber of the heart and into the brain, ” Biller explains.

All these conditions were promptly attended to , and the patient was soon on her path to recovery .

But doctors do warn that though stroke is highly uncommon in young and otherwise healthy individuals, unidentified cardiovascular abnormalities such as this patient ’ s hole in the heart are not as rare as many might think.

Worse still, as reveled in the journal Archives of Neurology , about one out of every four people has a hole in the heart without knowing it .

Stroke experts warn that young people with hole in the heart risk a stroke during sexual intercourse , or any other activity that could introduce pressure changes in the heart.

Lyden adds that other risk factors for stroke in young people include migraine , drug use , diseases of coagulation and athletic injuries that cause a tear in the neck arteries.

The bottom line : Know your medical history and take treatment for known conditions .