Lucinda Allen was six months pregnant when an orgasm led to an excruciating headache that left her in a coma—and permanently paralysed on the entire left side of her body.
Speaking to the Sunday Mirror, Lucinda said she often experienced intermittent head pain after an orgasm—an experience she described as like “a bit like brain-freeze” but she soon realised that this one was different.
“After I had a second orgasm that old familiar sharp pain started in my head, above my right eye,” she said.
“It normally…never lasts long but this time it didn’t go away and soon I was writhing in agony.”
Lucinda rang her mum, who urged her to go to the emergency room at her local hospital.
That's when the 43-year-old started to panic.
"That's when I thought I might be having a brain haemorrhage," she said. "After that, it was a blur. All I remember is confusion—dreams and reality mixed together."
Lucinda was put into a coma and part of her skull was cut open to release the pressure on her brain.
Worried for the safety of Lucinda's unborn daughter, doctors were prepared to deliver her via emergency surgery; however, scans revealed the baby was fine.
After six days, Lucinda emerged from her coma but was paralysed.
She'd had five strokes in total—an initial one, followed by four smaller strokes throughout her hospitalisation. She slowly had come to terms with the fact she could no longer use one side of her body.
"Waking after a coma is a slow, confusing process," she said. "I didn't realise how much damage had been done until the nurse told me. I couldn't believe what she was saying. I felt suicidal."
