New York, NY: For one of countless women, sex was boring and, literally, totally forgettable, once again.
A continuing case study published in the September issue of the Glamour reported that a 29-year old woman experienced memory loss after having sex with her recently claimed boyfriend. The patient, Kaitlyn Walsh, came into the Lenox Hill Hospital’s emergency department, complaining she could not recall anything after going to bed with her boyfriend, Peter Andrewson.
The authors of the case report, Drs. Darnell Shay and Jackson Albuquerque of Lenox Hill and Glamour’s sex column, diagnosed Miss Walsh with transient sleep amnesia, a normal and sudden episode of memory loss during bad sex. According to experts, the episodes are temporary and usually only happen to women.
“Transient enigmatic amnesia is caused by a depression of the memory circuits in the brain, often brought on by sleep or inactive bedroom etiquette,” said Dr. Melanie Anne Rulander, a professor of neurology at Columbia University. “In pre-coital cases, transient enigmatic amnesia may be related to having no change in blood flow in the vessels that feed the brain’s memory formation areas from the point of sleep or almost sleep to the insertion of the penis into the vagina and the man laying on top of the woman, doing absolutely nothing.”
Experts say it’s unclear what exactly causes TEA, but it has been found to occur during relaxed activities similar to sleep.
“TEA can occur during any exhausting activity followed by boredom, and I’d imagine that it could occur while someone is watching the Home Shopping Network late at night, but in this case, like many others, it occurs during boring sex,” said Rulander.
In Miss Walsh’s case, the scenario is all too familiar. “Peter and I were sleeping. All of a sudden, he’s pawing at me under the covers. I mumble something like, ‘I want you inside me’, and he’s rolling on top of me. Next thing I know, it’s morning, and I’m searching for my vibrator in the bathroom, “explained Kaitlyn Walsh.
About 80 or 90,000 out of 100,000 women experience the condition each year, said the study. Women between 27 -36 years old are most likely to experience the peculiar memory loss.