Monday, November 28, 2005

Fit as a fiddle and ready for love

A remarkable article from the journal "Seizure" published last year (yes, I know that shows how rarely I read journals). This normally less than gripping read contains an article by Drs Chuang, Lin, Lui, Chen and Chang, in which they report the case of a 41 year old Taiwanese woman with an unusual kind of epilepsy.

She had what is called 'complex relex epilepsy'. In complex reflex epilepsy certain repetitive or stereotyped actions can bring on seizures, and in this woman's case her seizures were induced "exclusively by the act of brushing her teeth". This would normally be disconcerting enough, but in her case the sezures took an unusual form - "a specific sensation of sexual arousal and orgasm-like euphoria that were followed by a period of impairment of consciousness."

So basically this woman orgasms every time she brushes her teeth. While demonstrating this for the doctors (!) she managed an orgasm after brushing her teeth for 38 seconds, and once after 14 seconds.

Drs Chuang, Lin, Lui, Chen and Chang, demonstrating a remarkable ability to keep their minds on the job, suggest that "tooth-brushing epilepsy, especially with sexual ictal manifestations, may provide insight into the cerebral pathophysiology at the right temporolimbic structure".

I suggest this woman has the brightest smile in Taiwan.

Ayway, back to drugs and alcohol. Thanks for listening,
John

9 Comments:

Blogger Foilwoman said...

If she wants to immigrate to the U.S., might I suggest my soon-to-be-ex-husband as a possible sponsor. They could marry. They could have unsatisfying sex. He could tell her she was satisfied. Then, in frustration, she could head to the bathroom, brush her teeth, come, and go back to bed. It could work.

2:47 PM  
Blogger Chade said...

The variety of tales that you present are utterly fascinating. It's true what they say; Life is stranger than fiction. Keep them coming.

9:26 AM  
Blogger Prom said...

Brightest smile, nope, rather no enamel left on her teeth!

11:54 PM  
Blogger Foilwoman said...

And I forgot: There's a journal called "Seizure"? Is there one called "Hangnail"? What about "Colostomy"? "Uvulitis"? "Painful rectal itch"? Who publishes this stuff?

1:08 PM  
Blogger Foilwoman said...

Not to nag or any thing (but I am female, and in this anonymous world of the internet, you can never know anything for sure, so by this post I'm proving it) but it's been nearly a week since you posted. Come on. I'm a loyal fan, about to sink into a decline. Cough it up!

12:28 AM  
Blogger Bronze John said...

Hail,
I'vew been making inappropriate jokes about this woman and her medical condition all week - glad to see I'm not the only one. Pretty funny about the unsatisfied post-coital tooth-brushing.

There are no journals called "Hangnail", but "Gut" (gastro-enterologists), "Brain" (neurologists)and "Heart" (cardiologists) all sell well - I might write about these in a few days.

I don't know what the journal for proctologists is called - presumably no-one wants the secretary saying "Dr Smith, here's your latest issue of 'Arsehole'".

3:32 PM  
Blogger Benedict 16th said...

The Proctologists one is abbreviated
"Anal. Chem." isn't it? (actually published in Washington just up from Foilwoman's place)

some journals include
Adhesives Age - Doesn't everything
Artificial Cells Blood Substitutes and Immobilization Biotechnology - A bit general in scope
Drug Discovery Today - Wow new ones to score!
Fett - Lipid - no not fat lipids
Heterocyclic Communications - what about homocyclic ones?
Hyperfine Interactions - this won't hurt a bit, did it?
Interface Science - what about offterface science?
Nano Letters - bloody hard to read, even with glasses!
Przemysl Chemiczny - looks like someone has a dodgy keyboard....

more on a medical theme
Aging - probably related to the Adhesives age (above)
Amino Acids - well just how many can there be?
Aqua - hic!
Artery - The room for painting and sculpting?
Blood - not to be confused with
Blood Cells or Blood Cells, Molecules, and Disease
Blutalkohol - I wonder why this is in German, ?Schnapps? Steinlagers? Lederhosen? Maybe just the Bavarians?
Bone - Pornography?
Brain
Burns - goes with Simpsons
Catalogue - mostly interesting 'cos its journal abbreviation is Cat.
Cephalalgia - Just trying to pronounce this one gives me a headache
Chung-Hua Chieh Ho Ho Hu Hsi Tsa Chih - Chinese Journal of Christmas????
Chung Kuo Chi Sheng Chung Hsueh Yu Chi Sheng Chung Ping Tsa Chih [Chinese Journal of Parasitology] - Just Parasitology huh? Parasitology = Kuo Chi Sheng Chung Hsueh Yu Chi Sheng Chung Ping, more like a communist plot methinks?
Crisis - Maybe it has "Don't Panic" written on the from in large friendly letters?
Cutis - the masculine of Cutie?
Eye - funnily enough published in London
Extremophiles - More pornography?
Evolution - and its competitor journal Anencephaly ????
Fruits - I wonder if this is published in San Francisco? Maybe Oxford St Sydney?
Herz - A German Pain journal?
Injury - Ouch
Inoculum - I knock You'll hum?
Inquiry???
Journal of the Pancreas - I wonder what the pancreas has to say? "metabolised another steak today"
Journal of irreproducible results - Scientists' Mad magazine
Le Lait - as opposed to Le Early?
Liver Lung and Lupus (three separate journals!)
Mind - usually pretty vaccuous
Micron - thats a bit short
Organic Letters - as opposed to GM letters perhaps?
Rays - I think it is missing an apostrophe?
Retina - Oh don't you see?
Se pu - Something to do with bioremediation of sewage waste?
Thorax, Thyroid, ...
World Rabbit Science - Duck season, wabbit season, no duck season....

Of course my favourite journal is Ibid., it would have to be the most refered to journal in the world!

11:08 PM  
Blogger Foilwoman said...

Speaking of the pancreas, I took anatomy (undergraduate) with two lovely sisters from Iran. To learn the body parts, they would teach me the word in Farsi and I would teach them the word in English. Which led to this lovely interchange about the pancreas:

"Losomede chatoreh?" (How is your pancreas)
"Losomede man halesh hubeh" (My pancreas is fine, thank you)

Followed by "Gigarato boukharem" which I believe means "I eat your liver" and is a real endearment in Farsi, or so I've been told. Go figure.

2:49 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Przemysl Chemiczny - looks like someone has a dodgy keyboard...

Either that, or an Aussie encountering an AZERTY keyboard for the first time :P

6:59 PM  

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