Although orgasm is usually an enjoyable and positive activity for most people, it can be painful for others who find that it starts coital headaches. For these people, sexual activity can actually cause these coital headache attacks.

Medically speaking, a headache, or cephalalgia, is a symptom of a number of different conditions of the head and sometimes the neck too. They can be classified into two main groups: primary or idiopathic, and symptomatic, although there are other ways of grouping them as well; for example by severity or by area.

Put simply, primary headaches have a known or unknown cause, whereas symptomatic headaches are often caused by trauma. Primary headaches include: migraine, tension headaches, cluster headaches and coital headaches, amongst others.

Coital headaches, also called coital cephalalgia or sexual headaches, is a rare, but severe type of headache that starts in the nape of the neck during sexual intercourse, but before climax. It can occur in all conditions where climax is the expected result. The pain can move to behind the eyes and can then become even more severe. Typically the pain will last from a few minutes to an hour or so, but it has been known to last for days in the worst cases.

It is surprising to many to discover that men are three times more likely to experience coital headaches than women and the age groups most at risk are those between 20 and 25 and 30 and 44. Doctors do not really knows why this should be. Coital headaches afflict about one percent of the population, although this figure could be much higher due to people being embarrassed to talk about it.

Moreover, coital headaches are benign, which means that they have no long-term adverse consequences, so far as doctors know. It appears that people taking sexual stimulants, like Cialis, are roughly 10% more at risk to a coital headache. In fact, apart from the obvious, temporary pain, the worst issues of coital headaches are varying levels of dizziness, confusion and stiffness of neck.

However, it is still worth going to a doctor though, especially in the early cases, just to rule out the more severe causes of headaches, such as brain tumours and blood clots. However, the doctor can do rather little to help by way of treatment. He may suggest a complete abstention from any kind of sexual practice for a period ranging from days to weeks or he may recommend trying taking medication some time before sexual foreplay commences.

A few of the headache medicines that may be used are indomethacin, imitrex, zomig and propranolol, although if the headaches continue, your doctor may recommend some other preventive medications to be taken|used| on a daily basis. Sufferers of frequent coital headaches may also obtain a positive response to migraine preventive medications, such as beta blockers or verapamil. Non-steroidal anti inflammatory drugs (NSAIDS) such as ibuprofen may similarly be beneficial. Coital headaches and migraines are also more likely to occur if a person is in poor physical shape.

However, the cure for coital headaches for many people can be as simple as bringing your weight up or down to the normal weight for your size. Coital headaches can also be cured in some sufferers by an increased level of exercise, although this could bring on exertion headaches in a few cases.

The good news is though that most headaches related to sex are not serious in nature. In deed, different studies actually suggest that orgasm can relieve headaches and migraine in some cases. This means that for some adults, refusing sex may actually be the reason that delays headache treatment.