In Switzerland, a 20-year-old young man spent a week in hospital after a masturbation session that was probably a little too intense, during which he suffered a rare injury… to the lung.
His little solitary pleasure had a most unexpected outcome. In a report recently published in the journal Radiology Case Reportsdoctors describe the curious case of a young man from Switzerland, who developed serious breathing difficulties following a simple session… of masturbation.
The 20-year-old patient was hospitalized for almost a week due to a spontaneous pneumomediastinuma rare and mostly benign condition mainly affecting young men.
What is spontaneous pneumomediastinum?
Affection translates into the presence of air in the mediastinumthe region of the rib cage located between the two lungs, which contains the heart, the esophagus, the trachea and the two bronchi.
When spontaneous, pneumomediastinum can be triggered by a violent cough, an acute asthma attack, violent vomiting, excessive physical exercise or even a Valsalva maneuver.
It then leads to a tearing of certain lung membranes which allows the airflow out of the respiratory system. Note that there is also a so-called “secondary” pneumomediastinum, generally caused by trauma or perforation of the esophagus.
A severely damaged respiratory system
Going back to our case, the young man from Switzerland went to the emergency room with stabbing chest pains and difficulty breathing. His face was also swollen, and doctors could hear distinct crackles as he inhaled and exhaled. His symptoms began when he was “lying in bed and masturbating”.
Chest scans performed by caregivers then revealed that he suffered from spontaneous pneumomediastinum. His respiratory system being badly damaged, the doctors took the decision to place on oxygen in intensive careand gave him preventative antibiotics for the pain.
The young man presented a history of mild asthma, and denied any other known risk factors. He has since been released from hospital and is now in good health. However, his case questions the doctors. Because if some reports from the medical literature evoke the development of spontaneous pneumomediastinum probably caused by sex, it would however be a first in terms of masturbation.
“Since there is no literature on spontaneous pneumomediastinum associated with auto-erotic experiences, we consider our case an unusual presentation of this entity”they write in their study.
