Beverly Whipple

Elevation of pain threshold by vaginal stimulation in women.

&NA; In 2 studies with 10 women each, vaginal self‐stimulation significantly increased the threshold to detect and tolerate painful finger compression, but did not significantly affect the threshold to detect innocuous tactile stimulation. The vaginal self‐stimulation was applied with a specially designed pressure transducer assembly to produce a report of pressure or pleasure. In the first study, 6 of the women perceived the vaginal stimulation as producing pleasure. During that condition, the pain tolerance threshold increased significantly by 36.8% and the pain detection threshold increased significantly by 53%. A second study utilized other types of stimuli. Vaginal self‐stimulation perceived as pressure significantly increased the pain tolerance threshold by 40.3% and the pain detection threshold by 47.4%. In the second study, when the vaginal stimulation was self‐applied in a manner that produced orgasm, the pain tolerance threshold and pain detection threshold increased significantly by 74.6% and 106.7% respectively, while the tactile threshold remained unaffected. A variety of control conditions, including various types of distraction, did not significantly elevate pain or tactile thresholds. We conclude that in women, vaginal self‐stimulation decreases pain sensitivity, but does not affect tactile sensitivity. This effect is apparently not due to painful or non‐painful distraction.

Female ejaculation: A case study

Abstract This case study provides objective evidence supporting the hypothesis that female ejaculation, a partial, infertile homologue of male ejaculation, exists. A karyotypically normal, multiparous woman suffered for a decade with urinary stress incontinence. During that time she had learned to inhibit an orgastic response which led to bedwetting. Although the liquid produced did not appear to be urine, she falsely concluded that her orgasmic expulsion was a manifestation of urinary incontinence. Using feedback from a Vaginal Myograph, she learned to do Kegel exercises properly, and the urinary stress incontinence soon disappeared. Around this time she became aware of the concept of female ejaculation and its possible association with an erotically sensitive area that could be stimulated through her anterior vaginal wall. Stimulation of this area, the “Grafenberg spot,” produced what she described as orgasm which felt “deeper” than orgasms in response to vulvar stimulation. Such an orgasm was often acc...

Brain (PET) Responses to Vaginal-Cervical Self-Stimulation in Women with Complete Spinal Cord Injury: Preliminary Findings

Our resent research provides evidence that women with complete spinal cord injury (SCI) at the midthoracic level show perceptual responses to vaginal and/or cervical self-stimulation (for example, pain suppression and sexual response, including orgasm). On the basis of studies in laboratory rats, we hypothesized that the vagus nerves provide a sensory pathway from the vagina, cervix, and uterus directly to the brain in women. To test this hypothesis, we performed a PET-MRI study on two women with complete SCI and 1 woman with no injuries. Whereas control foot stimulation of the women with SCI did not activate the somatosensory thalamus, cervical self-stimulation increased activity in the region of the nucleus of the solitary tract, which is the brainstem nucleus to which the vagus nerves project. These preliminary findings suggest that the vagus nerves can convey genital sensory input directly to the brain in women, completely bypassing SCI at any level.

Physiological correlates of imagery-induced orgasm in women

Orgasm has been reported to occur in response to imagery in the absence of any physical stimulation. This study was undertaken to ascertain whether the subjective report of imagery-induced orgasm is accompanied by physiological and perceptual events that are characteristic of genitally stimulated orgasm. Subjects were women who claimed that they could experience orgasm from imagery alone. Orgasm from self-induced imagery or genital self-stimulation generated significant increases in systolic blood pressure, heart rate, pupil diameter, pain detection threshold, and pain tolerance threshold over resting control conditions. These findings provide evidence that orgasm from self-induced imagery and genital self-stimulation can each produce significant and substantial net sympathetic activation and concomitant significant increases in pain thresholds. The increases in the self-induced imagery orgasm condition were comparable in magnitude to those in the genital self-stimulation-produced orgasm condition. On this basis we state that physical genital stimulation is evidently not necessary to produce a state that is reported to be an orgasm and that a reassessment of the nature of orgasm is warranted.

Sensory thresholds during the antepartum, intrapartum and postpartum periods

The present exploratory study measured pain and tactile thresholds in response to mechanical stimulation of the hand before labor, during labor, and after parturition in women. In women who had Lamaze childbirth preparation (but not in women who did not have childbirth preparation), pain thresholds were significantly higher during labor (determined up to 8 cm cervical dilatation) than prior to labor and 24 hours postpartum. Tactile thresholds did not change during any of these conditions. These findings support earlier findings in this laboratory that vaginocervical mechanostimulation elevated pain thresholds in human and animal subjects, and more recent findings that pain thresholds increased in rats during delivery of individual young. The present findings suggest that an endogenous process that attenuates the pain of parturition is activated when the cervix dilates during labor.

Sexual response to self‐stimulation in women with complete spinal cord injury

In the scant reports that are available about sexual response and orgasm in women with complete spinal cord injury (SCI), some researchers state that these women cannot achieve orgasm; others label the orgasms of women with SCI as “phantom orgasms.” However, subjective reports of women do not support these contentions. The purpose of this study was to obtain objective correlates of the subjective reports of women with complete SCI during self‐stimulation. The volunteer study participants consisted of 5 women without SCI (control group) and 16 women diagnosed with complete SCI. Systolic blood pressure, heart rate, and self‐report of level of sexual arousal were determined during self‐stimulation of the vagina, the cervix, and a “hypersensitive” area. Blood pressure and heart rate increased significantly in response to vaginal or cervical self‐stimulation in the control group. Blood pressure increased significantly in response to vaginal and cervical self‐stimulation only in the group with complete SCI belo...

Reproductive decision making in mothers with HIV-1.

Eighty percent of women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are of childbearing age and the incidence of HIV in women is rapidly increasing. Despite the risk of perinatal transmission and The Centers for Disease Controls (CDC) recommendation that HIV-positive women delay pregnancy, HIV-infected women continue to become pregnant and have children. To gain insight into reproductive decision-making of women with HIV, 25 mothers who participated in a natural history study of perinatal HIV transmission were interviewed using open-ended questions based on Fishbeins Theory of Reasoned Action. Three major themes emerged from the content analysis of transcripts from interviews with HIV infected women: (1) motherhood viewed as a joy and a means of meeting their own needs, (2) concerns about their childrens well-being, and (3) the minor role of HIV infection in their lives. Women reported negative reactions to providers who focused exclusively on their HIV status, and not on the need to view the womens lives as a whole.Eighty percent of women with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) are of childbearing age and the incidence of HIV in women is rapidly increasing. Despite the risk of perinatal transmission and The Centers for Disease Controls (CDC) recommendation that HIVpositive women delay pregnancy, HIV-infected women continue to become pregnant and have children. To gain insight into reproductive decision-making of women with HIV, 25 mothers who participated in a natural history study of perinatal HIV transmission were interviewed using open-ended questions based on Fishbeins Theory of Reasoned Action. Three major themes emerged from the content analysis of transcripts from interviews with HIV infected women: (1) motherhood viewed as a joy and a means of meeting their own needs, (2) concerns about their childrens well-being, and (3) the minor role of HIV infection in their lives. Women reported negative reactions to providers who focused exclusively on their HIV status, and not on the need to view the womens lives as a whole.

LOVE AS SENSORY STIMULATION: PHYSIOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES OF ITS DEPRIVATION AND EXPRESSION

For the present purpose, love is defined as ones having stimulation that one desires. The nature of the stimulation can range on a continuum from the most abstract cognitive, to the most direct sensory, forms. Thus, this definition of love encompasses having an emotional bond with a person for whom one yearns, as well as having sensory stimulation that one desires. We address some of the physiological and perceptual consequences both of having, and of not having, love. We propose a neural mechanism by which deprivation of love may generate endogenous, compensatory sensory stimulation that manifests itself as psychosomatic illness. In addition, we propose a neuroendocrine mechanism underlying sexual response and orgasm. The latter includes vaginocervical sensory pathways to the brain that can produce analgesia, release oxytocin, and/or bypass the spinal cord via the vagus nerve. We present evidence of the existence of non-genital orgasms, which suggests that genital orgasm is a special case of a more pervasive orgasmic process. Through recent studies, the mechanisms and manifestations of love and its deprivation are becoming better understood. The better is our understanding of love, the greater is our respect for the significance and potency of its role in mental and physical health.

Female Orgasm(s): One, Two, Several

INTRODUCTION There is general agreement that it is possible to have an orgasm thru the direct simulation of the external clitoris. In contrast, the possibility of achieving climax during penetration has been controversial. METHODS Six scientists with different experimental evidence debate the existence of the vaginally activated orgasm (VAO). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE To give reader of The Journal of Sexual Medicine sufficient data to form her/his own opinion on an important topic of female sexuality. RESULTS Expert #1, the Controversys section Editor, together with Expert #2, reviewed data from the literature demonstrating the anatomical possibility for the VAO. Expert #3 presents validating womens reports of pleasurable sexual responses and adaptive significance of the VAO. Echographic dynamic evidence induced Expert # 4 to describe one single orgasm, obtained from stimulation of either the external or internal clitoris, during penetration. Expert #5 reviewed his elegant experiments showing the uniquely different sensory responses to clitoral, vaginal, and cervical stimulation. Finally, the last Expert presented findings on the psychological scenario behind VAO. CONCLUSION The assumption that women may experience only the clitoral, external orgasm is not based on the best available scientific evidence.

Differential roles of hypogastric and pelvic nerves in the analgesic and motoric effects of vaginocervical stimulation in rats

Bilateral transection of the pelvic and/or hypogastric nerves, which convey afferent activity from the reproductive tract, was performed to ascertain the role of these nerves in the analgesic and motoric effects of vaginocervical mechanostimulation (VS) in rats. Two indices of analgesia were used: tail flick latency to radiant heat (TFL) and vocalization threshold to electrical shock of the tail (Voc-T). Nerve cuts were performed at least one week prior to behavioral testing. Bilateral transection of both the pelvic and hypogastric nerves eliminated the analgesic effects of VS on the TFL and Voc-T tests. Bilateral transection of only the pelvic nerves reduced the number of rats showing maximal VS-induced elevation in TFL, without altering the effect of VS on Voc-T. By contrast, bilateral transection of only the hypogastric nerves attenuated the Voc-T-elevating effect of VS, without reducing the effect of VS on elevating TFL. The effects of VS on producing immobility, hindlimb extension and blockage of hindlimb withdrawal to foot pinch were eliminated by combined bilateral pelvic and hypogastric neurectomy. However, bilateral transection of either nerve alone did not significantly alter the efficacy of VS in producing these effects. These findings indicate that the pelvic and hypogastric nerves contribute to the immobility- and extensor-inducing, and flexor-inhibiting effects of VS, and differentially mediate the analgesia-producing effects of VS.