The living hell of a woman who orgasms more than 30 times a day

It is no secret that some sexually active women have never experienced orgasms. In fact, some women may never experience orgasm in their lives.

This does not mean that they do not enjoy sex; they actually do but not to the extent of reaching cloud nine.

Even those women who experience a climax, do not always do so with every sexual exposure.

For many people, therefore, it is unbelievable that one can have unsolicited and undesired orgasms, an affliction that befell Ruth early in her life. 

I first met Ruth when she came to the Sexology Clinic to consult. The moment she sat down she closed her eyes and her body jacked as she pressed her thighs together. It took her five minutes to get back to her normal self.

“So that is the 12th orgasm I am having today and I think it is because I have banged the door,” she explained, “they are doing repairs in the office and with each sound of a hammer hitting something I climax.”  

She looked anxious and harassed and complained of a headache. I offered her water to drink and some painkillers. Once settled, we went deep into discussing her situation.

Ruth was 30, single, and with no children. Her problem started when she was 13.

She had been getting spontaneous genital stimulation, something similar to what a normal person would get at the height of foreplay.

Initially, it would go on for weeks and there would be no orgasm but at the age of 20, she started climaxing frequently.

She noted that things got worse when she was on a motorbike, in a car or on a rough road. She would suddenly get stimulation culminating in orgasm.

Depending on the length of the journey, she could climax as much as two to three times in one hour. She had realised that the frequency of these occurrences was getting more with time.

At her current age, there were days when she could not sustain normal life activities because the stimulation was too much.

“And you know with each orgasm I am left tired and too drained to concentrate on my work,” she explained.

Loud noises causing stimulation were a new development for her. The renovations in her office were full of loud bangs and these caused her orgasms.

She could not explain what was happening to her colleagues. She just told them that she had unbearable tummy pains and was allowed to take the afternoon off to seek treatment.

Owing to her condition, Ruth avoided getting involved with men. She feared that things could worsen if she got involved in romance.

In fact, she dreaded the thought of having sex, imagining that she could get multiple painful bouts of orgasm leaving her paralysed. 

After examining Ruth, I arrived at a diagnosis of persistent genital arousal disorder (PGAD). The condition is generally taken to be rare although it is suspected that many women could have it but not seek care due to fear and embarrassment.

A recent Dutch study estimated that there could be 7000 women with the disorder in the world. Many sexologists however feel that this is a gross underestimate.

 A woman with PGAD gets genital stimulation which is not solicited and not accompanied by sexual desire. There are no emotions or thoughts of sex attached.

Further, the stimulation lasts for hours or even days and sometimes may ease off after an orgasm happens. Orgasm causes relief, not pleasure because it gives a break from the stimulation, although sometimes there may be pain accompanying the orgasm.

The stimulation may be aggravated by known or unknown factors. The aggravating factors are usually non-sexual in nature. For a number of victims, anything that causes vibration may lead to stimulation. 

A most important characteristic of PGAD is that the woman feels harassed and intruded upon by the condition. They suffer significant mental stress and may go into depression.

In fact, most of the affected women may even have suicidal thoughts, realising that people may never understand what they go through.

Currently, there is no definite known cause of PGAD. Some theories point to abnormalities in the nerves around the genitals, others relate it to chemical changes in the body while others point to abnormalities with blood vessels.

The lack of knowledge about the physiological basis of PGAD makes treatment difficult so much so that the treatment protocol for now only aims to reduce the severity and frequency of symptoms rather than alleviating it.

“So you mean I will be like this forever?” Ruth asks.

“Not really, I expect improvement from the treatment plan that we have agreed on,” I comforted her. We had agreed on counselling to alleviate the mental stress, a cream to numb the genital area, avoidance of causative factors, and exercises of the pelvic muscles.

Six months later, Ruth’s condition had significantly improved. She had gone for a month without orgasm. As she left the clinic after her review that day, it occurred to me that nature can be unfair.

There were loads of women attending the clinic seeking help because they had never experienced orgasm; yet here was Ruth traumatised and going into depression due to unwelcome stimulations.