Medical Condition Makes Woman Faint Regularly During Sex

By Rashidat Akashat

Laura Crow, a mother of three, is a patient living with a heart condition that causes her to faint, even during sex.

The 28-year-old woman revealed that her rare conditions causes her to suddenly faint during any form of intimacy or bonding with her husband, including sex.

Laura was diagnosed of debilitating Postural orthostatic tachycardia (PoTS) in 2011, a condition which makes her resting heart rate a lump 110 beats per minutes, around 40 beats higher than an average person.

The syndrome which was provoked by her first pregnancy in 2009, which triggers adrenaline and anxiety can lead her heart beat to race at 180 beats per minute, and causing her to faint.

She has passed out on several occasions, even when she’s cooing with her husband Ben, 28, and they are being intimate,

Wife and mother of three, said: “Whenever I have sex, there’s a 50/50 chance I’ll faint,

“The fainting can happen anywhere, any time – but with PoTS it’s usually a case of gravity taking over, so the best way for us to do it is missionary, with me lying down.

“The first time it happened it was a massive shock for both of us.

“Ben gets very upset – when I wake up he is very distressed, even though he never continues after I’ve passed out.

“Once I faint I don’t know what’s going on, but it’s very traumatic and worrying for him.

“But luckily it doesn’t affect our relationship.

“He’s the strongest rock I could ever ask for.”

The persistent passing out is not just aroused by sex, excessive laughter, lack of sleep, exercise, and anything that makes her heart beat increase, including anxiety from movies cause it too.

Laura was perfect up until she became pregnant in 2009, and she started fainting several times a day. According to her, she had never fainted her entire life, so she met a doctor who told her that it was part of pregnancy

Laura said “When I was around four weeks’ pregnant, I passed out and went to the doctors.

“I’d never fainted in my life until then.

“The first doctor I saw said it was just part and parcel of pregnancy, but another doctor sent me for tests.

“I think I had the PoTS before then, but it just took the pregnancy and the ‘trauma’ to my body to trigger it.”

At one point, Laura was passing out up to seven times a day, but her symptoms started to ease after her second two children, three-year-old Ralph and one-year-old Faith.

How Does She Avoid Fainting With A Husband And Three Children?

Laura who has known Ben for eight years and has been married for five years has to avoid any situation which triggers unconsciousness.

She said: “We did think twice about having more children – but at the time they didn’t know if it was a hormone problem that had triggered the PoTS, so it potentially could’ve gone away with another pregnancy.

“It did get better – I used to pass out seven or eight times a day, but after my second and third pregnancy it’s only once or twice a day.

“Laughing is also tricky – Ben is a tickler every time he tickles me I laugh myself to a faint!

“Even when playing with my children – we could be running around, joking and laughing, and the next minute I’m on the floor.

“But I’m not going to stop laughing or having sex in the name of PoTS.”

Currently, Laura passes out once a day, but she needs to always have a carer who takes care of her 24 hours a day, in case she ever passes out.

The mother of three struggles with other heart problems like Elhers-Danlos Syndrome, inappropriate tachycardia syndrome and dis-associative seizures.

Laura needs a Support Dog For Faint Alert

A support dog will be able to alert her back to consciousness whenever her PoTS state is triggered, which will give her back some independence.

She said: “Even when I don’t pass out, the symptoms are debilitating in themselves – I also have to be careful about doing things which will trigger fainting, which could be anything!

“I can’t be the mum I want to be – I dreamed of being a ‘normal’ mum who could do the school run by myself, do sensory classes with my babies without falling unconscious, who can stand on the playground every day without any assistance or pop out with the kids and get an ice cream.

“The children are amazing though – my six- and three-year-old are registered as young carers.

“Even my one-year-old will sit and stroke my hair while she waits for her dad to rush over after I’ve passed out.

“It breaks my heart that they almost have to look after me, but they’re incredible and they know no different.

“It’s tough with Ben as well – I’m the wife that can’t be tickled, can’t be loved, who can’t let their husband out without having a carer to look after me.

“I hide so many emotions through smiles, but thanks to my amazing husband and three gorgeous children I have the strength to keep going.”

Mirror UK