Headaches, crying, sneezing and facial pain… the unusual and unsettling sensations some people experience after orgasms. A recent paper listed weakness, facial pain, panic attacks and sneezing as uncomfortable orgasm side effects.

Forget about pleasure – for some a surprising proportion of women, orgasms are nothing but a headache.

The whole point of the Big O is supposed to be that it feels amazing, but for some, climaxing is anything but. For as many as one in every hundred women, orgasms bring excruciating sex headaches, also known as orgasmic cephalgia.

Sex expert Chantelle Otten told news.com.au that these splitting headaches go against everything we know about orgasms, since they usually function as natural pain relievers.

She said: “With coital cephalalgia however, the mounting sexual excitement takes on a different manifestation in the brain and the body, and can be quite distressing for the sufferer.” However, headaches aren’t the only unfortunate side effects which can be brought on by reaching orgasm.

A recent paper listed weakness, uncontrollable crying, facial pain, panic attack, seizures and sneezing as other uncomfortable side effects. One study even referred to a woman who experienced spontaneous orgasmic sensations in her left foot, which doctors concluded was a result of damaged nerve fibres.

And as if that wasn’t strange enough, the paper also explored the case of a woman who was concerned that her partner couldn’t stop laughing after orgasm.

However, sex expert Chantelle notes that, for sufferers, the condition really is no laughing matter, with sex headaches making up the bulk of unusual climactic side effects.

Chantelle notes that these headaches can take on two different forms, saying: “Type 1 involves pressure in the back of the head that builds into a headache during sexual activity. “Type 2 is when a piercing, pounding headache occurs just prior or at time of orgasm.”

This pain is believed to be influenced by tension headaches and the muscular contraction of the jaw and neck which occurs once sufferers are really in the zone.