Q: What could be giving me throbbing headaches when I have sex? I’ve also experienced this during the last few reps of a total weight workout. The pain is so severe that it makes me stop, and my head pounds for hours. – Rob, via email A: There may be no more powerful mood-killer than the benign sexual headache. About 1 percent of people — mostly men (surprise!) — often are forced to say, “Not tonight dear, I might get a headache.”
Sex should be pure joy. The fact that you also get these thunderclaps when you work out suggests you have a class of headache known as exertional. Muscle contractions may be involved, or a temporary, harmless blood pressure rise when you exert yourself.
Although this type of headache doesn’t usually signal an underlying medical problem, the lingering pain certainly can discourage you from doing two things that are good for you: having sex and working out.
See your doctor to rule out any big bad stuff, and treat the small bad stuff. Because these headaches seem to be related to tension ones, try including a neck massage in your foreplay. If that doesn’t work, there are a few prescription meds that relieve sexual headache in about 80 percent of people who get them. These include a small dose of a nonsteroidal inflammatory drug called indomethacin and a blood pressure drug (typically, a beta blocker or calcium channel blocker), usually taken together. Migraine drugs taken a half-hour before sex also help some people avoid the pain.
Q: I’m 51, and a few months ago I started taking a natural hormone formula called Amberen. Recently, I developed frequent heart palpitations. I haven’t seen anything about this product causing those, but I have read that palpitations can be caused by menopause. Is that true? — Beth, San Diego
A: Be still, your heart! We can’t speak for your menopause supplement — which, by the way, does not contain hormones, natural or otherwise — but heart palpitations while going through perimenopause and menopause are not so unusual. Or for that matter, while undergoing a tax audit, drinking your fifth cup of coffee or encountering Javier Bardem at the corner deli. Having your heart go pitter-pat (or pitter-pitter pat-pat and other variations) is pretty common, especially in women whose hormones are changing balance. Still, ask your doc to check your heart. Roughly 15 percent to 25 percent of women with heart disease have palpitations, so there’s a chance that yours could be telling you something is wrong.
Q: What is your take on drinking alkaline water? Is it as healthy as it’s hyped up to be? – Sandra, Bountiful, Utah
A: If you believed everything that’s being said about alkaline, or high pH, water, you’d think it could prevent cancer, turn bones to steel, help your body absorb nutrients, and do just about everything but bring peace to the Middle East. Except for one of these claims, there’s nothing even resembling science to back up the hype (often from the distributors of water ionizers that produce high pH H2O). For example, many promoters point out that test tube studies show cancer cells grow faster in an acidic medium and can’t survive in an alkaline one. Well, that’s great … if you’re a test tube.
Humans can’t alter the cell environment in their bodies. Scientifically speaking, we’re kinda neutral, with a pH hovering almost exactly at 7.4. We can’t change our basic cellular nature with food, drink or expensive water. Those things only alter the pH of our urine.
What’s the one thing alkaline water may do? A few small studies suggest that drinking it slows bone loss. However, there’s no evidence that the bone benefits hang in for the long haul. Till we know for sure, plain water is what we YOU docs and others order. And for your bones, drink a tall glass of skim milk three times a day (or take calcium, magnesium, vitamin K and vitamin D-3 supplements)!
The YOU Docs, Mehmet Oz and Mike Roizen, are authors of “YOU: On a Diet.” Want more? See “The Dr. Oz Show” on TV (check local listings). To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com.
