Sexuality and headache

Ten percent of 362 headache sufferers reported sexual arousal during migraine attack. Clinical investigations on sexuality in 16 headache sufferers, according to some studies showing correlations between idiopathic headache and sexual behavior, were performed. Patients responding by questionnaire listed each sexual experience, headache attack, and number of sleeping hours every day for 1 month. In both men and women, the number of coiti, erotic dreams, and sleeping hours were similar in headache sufferers and controls, while the frequency of masturbation was significantly reduced in the former. Sexual excitement and fantasies appeared more often in female headache sufferers than in controls, while the opposite occurred in the male group. Among the clinical analogies between the crises of migraine and morphine abstinence, sexual arousal may be included.