There are worse conditions to have

Anyone Snopes this?
~Jimm

Growing numbers of Japanese women are afflicted with an illness that gives them orgasms virtually 24 hours a day. And with suggestions that it could be deadly, the women hardly know whether they're coming or going, according to Shukan Post (11/24) (OH HO! Puns make the world go 'round!~Jimm).

"If a guy simply taps me on the shoulder, I just swoon. Even when I go to the toilet, my body reacts. I'm a little bit scared of myself," one woman sufferer tells Shukan Post.

Another adds: "When I got on the train one day, I could feel blood gushing toward a certain part of my body and it felt so good I almost let out a moan. It was sheer murder when everybody got pushed into the carriage."

Yet another woman has her say.
"Even the vibration of my mobile phone is enough to set me off," she says. "My friend said there's something called Iku Iku byo (Cum Cum Disease). I guess I've got that.

"What may be afflicting these women, the best-selling weekly says, is an ailment called persistent sexual arousal syndrome (PSAS).

PSAS has been described as an affliction that brings about orgasm through the slightest of jolts regardless of whether they're aroused,or even thinking about sex. What's more, orgasms experienced by PSAS sufferers are not just momentary phenomena, instead affecting women over anywhere from a few days to a week, with one reported case seeing 300 orgasms in a single day.

Awareness in Japan of PSAS -- which was first documented by Dr. Sandra Leiblum in the United States five years ago -- is growing, especiallyin the blogsphere, where it is being called Iku Iku byo.

Hideo Yamanaka, a doctor at the Toranomon Hibiya Clinic in Tokyo says the disease can be debilitating.

"For women to orgasm, they need to have some sort of sexual stimulation. There are nerves around the female genitals which react to sexual stimulation. The body gradually builds up to a crescendo,that ascends to a climax," the doctor tells Shukan Post. "However,with this disease, women are mysteriously reaching climax without any external sexual stimulation at all. One possible cause that I can think of is an irregularity in the sensory nerves.

"PSAS discover Leiblum says that the disease has a tendency to strike post-menopausal women in their 40s and 50s or those who've undergone hormonal treatment. But she adds that there have also been cases reported among women in their 30s, stressing that too little is know about the syndrome to pinpoint anything and adds that the nature of the ailment means that many sufferers may be too ashamed to report it.

PSAS numbers in the U.S. are high enough for support groups to have popped up, suggesting it won't be too long before Japan sees the same.

"Awareness levels are still too low," Jeannie Allen, the head of PSASSupport, tells Shukan Post. "I think there's a strong possibility thatthere are Japanese patients.

"Manga artist Akira Narita, who says he has slept with over 1,000 different women, says he has come across some he believes may have had PSAS.

"There must have been about 15 who came without me doing a thing. We'd only need to stare in each other's eyes and they'd start wiggling about, gripping tightly onto whatever was around them and their bodies would start to shake. There were others who'd orgasm repeatedly just because I'd stroked their hands," the self-professed sexpert says."I'd always thought of these women as types who got off in their minds, but I think perhaps they may have had PSAS.

"PSAS is not sex addiction and, considering the constant orgasms can be draining, can often be a painful and demeaning experience. Many sufferers are driven to the verge of suicide, prompting medical experts to recommend anybody who suspects they have the ailment to seek a doctor's advice immediately.

"Anybody who has the slightest suspicion," physician Yamanaka tells Shukan Post, "should get to a gynecologist or neurologist straightaway." (By Ryann Connell)November 16, 2006

http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/waiwai/news/20061115p2g00m0dm040000c.html/


Meanwhile...


BANGKOK (AFP) — A Thai zoo will show its star residents, a pair of young giant pandas, the equivalent of animal porn videos to teach the famously sexually-inactive animals how to mate, an official said Tuesday.

"We have to encourage them to mate, and the videos will show mating positions of male pandas and female pandas," said Kannika Nimtragol, a veterinarian at the Chiang Mai zoo in northern Thailand.

Six-year-old Chuang Chuang and his five-year-old partner Lin Hui, who arrived at the zoo in 2003 on a 10-year loan from China, were becoming "like a brother and a sister" as they lived together, Kannika said.

and now a scene played out nightly at my household

Pay Attention to MEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey, hey...hey. You're writhing on my bamboo shoots.

"We have to make them a boyfriend and a girlfriend. So we will put them in separate rooms next week. Chuang Chuang can only see Lin Hui when she shows signs of feeling amorous," she said, adding that the zoo will show the couple the videos in December.
Kannika said Chuang Chuang showed no interest when Lin Hui became ready to mate in January last year.

"Like other male pandas, Chuang Chuang is only interested in eating, sleeping and playing, but not mating. This is the big problem," she said.

Giant pandas, notorious for their low sex drive, are among the world's most endangered animals.
Their traditional homes have been the mountains of central and southern China, as well as Myanmar and Vietnam.

But according to experts, their numbers have fallen to less than 1,600 in the wild, mostly in the mountains of Sichuan province in China's southwest, as their natural habitats have been destroyed by humans.

More than 180 pandas are in research centers in China, with a handful of others in zoos around the world.

Copyright 2006 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

~Jimm