For a long time, when we talked about orgasm, the biggest mystery revolved around women. At Xataka, this is a subject we never shy away from, and the truth is that science continues to discover all the details of what the RAE himself calls “the peak of sexual pleasure.” But from time to time, stories emerge that become part of the history of medical literature because of the inexplicability or the unusualness of what happened. This is one of those cases, and it concerns a man and what happened after he climaxed.

A colorful orgasm. The story became known after it was published in the Journal of Psychiatry in 2022. It happened in Mashhad (Iran) when a 31-year-old man went to the emergency room accused of a strange situation: he had strange and “colorful” experiences after orgasm. It was short, but I had no doubts about what I saw.

Apparently, the patient they call “Mr. R” in the study, soon after climaxing, his vision was greatly affected, becoming sharper, brighter, and most surprisingly, “more pinkish.” He began to have, as he put it, “high-contrast vision with a predominant pink color throughout.” The man was referred to a psychiatric clinic.

Synesthesia. After running several tests, doctors confirmed that the patient’s color vision and neurological functioning were completely normal and that there were no other health issues. They came to the same consensus: He likely suffers from synesthesia, a condition in which a person’s perception of the world is somehow transmitted through different or more senses than normal. This confusion in the brain’s information processing can result in the experience of certain tastes when reading words or colors associated with certain sounds.

After listening to the explanation, the man recalls another incident in his life when he experienced an unusual perception of color. Many years ago, when I was a child, I experienced periods of severe chest pain caused by valvular heart disease. During these episodes, it seemed that everything was perceived as “white.” This sensation never manifested itself when other things hurt him, and when he became an adult, when the attacks of chest pain disappeared, this sensation also disappeared.

The rarest synesthesia. The truth is that synesthesia remains a mystery. A few years ago, we told some stories that exemplified how strange it is. The woman who lost her abilities after being struck by lightning, or the painter whose synesthesia allowed him to transform every sound he heard into vivid, intense colors, are good examples.

However, as strange as it may be, it is believed that up to 4% of the world suffers from some version of this. But the patient who sees the pink world after ejaculation has an unusual form of synesthesia. In fact, according to doctors, “color orgasm is one of the rarest types of synesthesia.” Not only that. The patient’s remembered “pain color” synesthesia is also more unusual than usual because it is triggered only by a certain type of pain.

A “normal” life. If you’re wondering if you can live a normal life while having “life-changing” orgasms, the short answer is yes. While the situation may seem strange at first glance, the study shows that the condition does not negatively affect Mr. P. Doctors also reported that he has no erectile dysfunction and is completely satisfied with his sex life.

In other words, seeing color after sex is not a superpower, but it’s certainly not a bad thing, at least in an Iranian man.

Image | Creazilla

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