The woman who can’t stop having orgasms

Widow, 61, says smear test caused rare disorder

A SCOTS mother-of-three claims a ‘botched’ smear test left her with nerve damage that triggers embarrassing orgasms.

The 61-year-old widow says her ‘life has been wrecked’ by the condition, which can be set off by everyday activities such as driving over a pothole or using an escalator.

And she wants to make clear how debilitating the disorder is to stop sufferers being ridiculed.

Maria, 61, from East Dunbartonshire, has been struggling for nearly two years to find an effective treatment for Persistent Genital Arousal Disorder (PGAD).

It is not known how many women suffer from the condition, but it is very rare. She cannot even speak to her adult children about the problem, and asked that only her first name be used.

‘People shouldn’t have to go through this and be ridiculed,’ she said. ‘This has broken up marriages. It’s far from funny. It saps your confidence because, to be honest, there are days I wish I wasn’t here.’

Her ordeal began soon after she attended Glasgow’s Stobhill Hospital for a routine gynaecological examination in September 2017. The consultant obstetrician – now retired – arrived late due to a flat tyre, and Maria said she appeared distracted.

‘She wasn’t focused,’ she said.

‘Feel like I’m sitting on an ant’s nest’

‘At one point she even said, “My head’s still on my puncture”.’

Maria said the procedure was painful and afterwards she became swollen.

In October she began experiencing distressing symptoms for the first time which would eventually be diagnosed as PGAD, caused by nerve damage.

‘Most of the time I feel like I am sitting on an ant’s nest. There are times where it’s a tickle all day, but then there are times when something sets it off and it’s a full-blown orgasm.’

She added: ‘Driving over potholes, aircraft turbulence, escalators, the vibration from violins...

‘Ninety per cent of my life has been wrecked and the other 10 per cent is not so great either. I had to give up volunteering because just moving can set it off. One of my friends said I’d become a recluse.’

She has been prescribed numbing gels, pelvic floor physiotherapy and excruciating steroid injections but nothing has worked.

As the chair of a Glasgow reproductive charity in the 1990s Maria helped raise more than £250,000 to fund medical research into female and infant health, and stresses she does not want to scare women out of attending smears.

She also praises the hard work and compassion of her GP, gynaecologist and physiotherapist who ‘have gone above and beyond – they’ve never given up on me’.

On July 5, NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde (NHS GGC) said they would refer Maria to St Mary’s Hospital in London for treatment by an expert in orgasmic disorder and persistent genital arousal. Maria is still waiting for an appointment to be confirmed.

The health board disputes that the nerve damage was caused by the smear test procedure.

A spokesman for NHS GGC said: ‘We have explored and exhausted all treatments available locally for this patient and have been unable to relieve their symptoms.’