Sexsomia

Linda has always been a modest woman. Never did anything wrong, and would be considered “frigid” when it came to sex. She is conservative and doesn’t like to try anything new, but this didn’t bother her fiancé, Ted. He would wish to do new things, but puts it on the back burner and tries to forget about it. Then one night, she wondered to his side of the bed, rolled him over and took charge. He was surprised by what possessed his frigid fiancé to be an animal, but he didn’t want to question her. They made love. The next morning while making their morning coffee and Ted hugged Linda from behind. He told her that she was amazing last night. She looked puzzled. He worried if he was somehow having a wet dream, but he was coherent enough to know that was his wife he was having sex with. She looked confused, and scared. He felt like he somehow betrayed his wife with someone else. What’s wrong?

Sleep sex or sexsomnia is a form of non-rapid eye movement (NREM) similar to sleepwalking that causes people to commit sexual acts while they are asleep. While people may think this type of behavior is humorous, in reality it can be disturbing, annoying, embarrassing and a potentially serious problem for some individuals and couples. The incidence of sexsomnia appears to be on the rise. Most experts attribute this to growing public awareness of the problem rather that an upsurge in actual incidence. There have been several widely reported incidents of sexual assault conducted while the perpetrator was allegedly asleep. This means that people are partially aroused from deep sleep, resulting in a "twilight sleep-wake state" where they unconsciously act, with seriously impaired judgment.

Sexsomnia isn’t just about intercourse though. It can be masturbation, oral, fondling. It can co-occur with other sleep disorder such as sleepwalking, sleep apnea, night terrors, and bedwetting.

It was hard to get a video to elaborate more about Sexsomnia, but it is hard to find without hitting the porn site of youtube. So I found this little webisode about a guy that is on a date and his date tells him that he was amazing, and he doesn't remember. Thinking it is a cop out so he can sleep with other girls… well you just have to see it.

Born a Boy, Raised a Girl

When growing up my playmates were boys. Whether it would be at the ranch I grew up in, or the neighborhood I lived. They were boys. I was around 7 and I still didn’t want to pick up a Barbie to save my life. It was not my norm. I remember asking why was I not a boy, and praying that I would be one (What would Freud say about this?) But as I grew older my inner femme goddess showed and I gave birth to myself as a lady. 

Now let’s think of those little girls that want to be little boys and when they matured into teen girls, they STILL want to be boys? Are they “in a phase” or is it something else? What if they are trapped in the wrong body but due to the social stigma that we have, they can’t say anything? It is one thing to be physically a male or female but it is another to identify a gender. 

For a person to be diagnosed with gender identity disorder they have to meet the criteria of the DSM 5 reads as so:

For females

A. Strongly and persistently stated desire to be a boy, or insistence that she is a boy (not merely a desire for any perceived cultural advantages from being a boy)

B. Persistent repudiation of female anatomic structures, as manifested by at least one of the following repeated assertions

(1) that she will grow up to become a man (not merely in role)

(2) that she is biologically unable to become pregnant

(3) that she will not develop breasts

(4) that she has no vagina

(5) that she has, or will grow, a penis

C. Onset of the disturbance before puberty (For adults and adolescents, see Atypical Gender Identity Disorder.)

For males

A. Strongly and persistently stated desire to be a girl, or insistence that heis a girl

B. Either (1) or (2)

(1) persistent repudiation of male anatomic structures, as manifested by at least one of the following repeated assertions

(a) that he will grow up to become a woman (not merely in role)

(b) that his penis and testes are disgusting or will disappear

(c) that it would be better not to have a penis or testes

(2) preoccupation with female stereotypical activities as manifested by a preference for either cross-dressing or simulating female attire, or by a compelling desire to participate in the games and pastimes of girls

C. Onset of the disturbance before puberty. (For adults and adolescents, see Atypical Gender Identity Disorder.)

Let’s talk about David Reimer. If you are a psychology major you will know his famous story of having gender identity disorder. His parents went to take him to get a circumcision but they ended up cutting more than they should so they decided to make him a girl and rear her to be like one. She grew up confused until she found out she is really a he. Eventually he married but soon after committed suicide in 2004. This video will go more in depth with him and his disorder

Seeing Sounds

Synesthesia is a disorder resulting in the sufferer experiencing an alternate sense as a result of the first sense. And speaking of sense, that sentence might not have made any to you. Let's break it down someone with Synesthesia might say:

“Your shirt is too loud, put down the volume”
“I see the letter 5 as green with striped”
“Dude the chick’s number taste like strawberries”

Synesthesia is (as you probably guessed) basically results from your neural "wires" getting crossed. You can see it as your worlds are colliding, and it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, you can see it as having a deeper understanding of art and having a different perception that no one else may have. As of now, the greatest evidence we have of this “union of senses” is that of genetic predisposition. Although very little is known about this disorder, it is prevalent as every 1 in 23 persons can have some trait of it. However you don’t have to be born with it to experience it you can be under the influence of the psychedelic drugs, have a stroke, have an epilepsy to experience this!

Some of the famous entertainers have synesthesia (is it cheating?!) such as: Marilyn Monroe, John Mayer, Marina Diamandis, Vladimir Nabokov, and so much more!

There are various forms of Synethesia like:
Grapheme to color synesthesia: this is when individual letters of the alphabet and/or number are a different colors.

Spatial sequence Synesthesia: this is when people tend to see all numerical sequences they come across as points in space. As in 1 can be further away from 2 than 3 is.

Sound to color synesthesia: what you hear has a color; like a dog’s barking can have a shade of green)

This video is about a guy with synesthesia and how he views his world, it is interesting to see and hear how his world is and absolutely fascinating 

Lost or found???

Imagine waking up and not knowing who you are, what you have done, or what you stand for. Imagine knowing you were now a blank slate, so you run off to make something of yourself, but the life you had before is forever haunting you – the unknowing. Or better yet you don’t know you don’t remember. If you don’t know what is the harm, right?

Amnesia is a condition in which one’s memory is lost. It could be all your memory or just partial lost due to an extent of damage that was caused, or intense stress. We all know amnesia as forgetting all memories, right? Well that form is actually rare. Some factors that causes amnesia is mental disorder, post-traumatic stress, or defense mechanism. Here is a list of different types of amnesia:

• Physical causes:
• Anterograde amnesia: can’t remember new memories after brain damage
• Retrograde amnesia: can’t remember old memories before brain damage
• Post-traumatic amnesia: generally due to a head injury after trauma and can vary what you can or can’t remember (i.e. anterograde, retrograde, etc.)
• Dissociative amnesia: is caused by a psychological factor as opposed to a physical trauma this includes: 
• Repressed memory
• Dissociative fugue: usually happens after a stressful event in time. A person will forget who they are and will run off and make a new life and after some time they will remember their former life. (usually spontaneous)
• Korsakoff’s syndrome: usually caused by long-term alcoholism or malnutrition. It is brain damage due to a lack of vitamin B1, and will progress if your diet is not modified.

That is just a few from an extensive list that I could think of on the top of my head. Honestly, I can go on about this. It fascinates me how it can just happen with no cause. We literally become a prisoner of our own mind. Here is a video from CBS where a well educated man forgets even his own name. This man spoke many different languages, and clearly was influential and forgot everything. It is absolutely terrifying to wake up one morning, or just blink, and forget who you are. The video also has a doctor and goes into details about how and why this can happen. Enjoy!

Here is an article of a woman who forgets twenty years of her life, and even forget her child she gave birth to!

Shaken not stirred

I would be lying if I said I would know what to do if someone had an epileptic attack. If anything I would panic, and I think most of us would also do that. I decided to bring it upon myself to show my viewers what this is something to be informed about, and with knowledge we won't be as scared. Enjoy the post! 

What is epilepsy?
Over time a person with this disorder will have repeated seizures, or convulsions. Why do these people have seizures, you may ask? Their central nervous system is probably doing something abnormal. To me, however, that is not the scary part. It is the fact there is a period of loss of consciousness with those convulsions. That’s terrifying.

What causes epilepsy?
When there is permanent changes in the brain tissues the brain will be too excited or “jumpy” hence the brain send out abnormal brain signals and the results are the unpredictable seizures.

What are the symptoms?
They are unpredictable so you don’t know when one is coming, however here are some steps as to what you can do when someone is having a seizure.
• Call for emergency medical services
• Be familiar with different kinds of seizures
• May sure the person doesn't fall, if possible roll them to their side. So they won’t vomit; choke on or inhale it
• Make sure the person is breathing. If difficult check that the air ways are not blocked by food.
• Help them prevent from hurting themselves.
• Check for their IDs or medical jewelry to see if they have information that may help you.
• Monitor the person until they are conscious
• Make sure they are in a safe position
• Write down details of what happened to them or what might be affected when you can
• After they are conscious stay with them for 20 minutes for after effects
Here is a video for visual effects on what to do when you see someone with a seizure. I found it very formative, and I hope you will too!