Woman suffers foot orgasms in world's first case

A 55-year-old Netherlands woman who went to her doctor complaining of spontaneous unwanted orgasms in her foot has shed light on a bizarre new affliction, named "foot orgasm syndrome".

A newly released report on the woman's case states that she experienced orgasmic sensations in her left foot that travelled up her leg to her vagina and felt just like an orgasm achieved during sex.

The sensations came on suddenly up to six times a day and were not prompted by sexual thoughts.

The woman's doctor and author of the study Dr Marcel D Waldinger said the woman was embarrassed and worried by the orgasms.

Researchers believe the sensations were caused by a mix-up in the brain, triggered after the woman suffered nerve damage in her left foot more than a year ago as the result of an infection that left her in a coma.

Dr Waldinger said the nerve that registers sensory information from the foot enters the spinal cord at about the same level as the nerve that registers sensations from the vagina.

When the nerves in the woman’s left foot regenerated, "the brain could not differentiate any more between the foot and the vagina," the doctor said.

"It decided that every stimulus coming from the foot was actually coming from the vagina, and that means an orgasmic feeling," the doctor said.

The doctor treated the woman by injecting anaesthetic into the nerve in her spine that receives sensory information from the foot.

Researchers named the disorder "foot orgasm syndrome" and say it is the only known case.

But Dr Waldinger said he believes there are other people who have the condition but are too embarrassed to talk about it.

He hopes his report will lessen the stigma surrounding such afflictions.