Illicit love affairs can lead to crippling migraines in headache sufferers and may even kill, Italian researchers warned Tuesday.
A specific type of headache can turn nasty during sneaky sex, according to Lorenzo Pinessi of the Italian Migraine Society.
He said it affects about 15% of the Italian population, mostly men.
''This type of headache can be exacerbated by a series of factors like aphrodisiac food, performance-enhancing drugs, physical strain and psychologocal stress caused by the need to keep the relationship secret,'' Pinessi said.
''It can trigger extremely strong migraine attacks lasting up to three hours''.
Pinessi said headache sufferers who have such experiences should talk ''openly'' to their doctors about them.
''In 3-4% of cases they may cause a cerebral aneurysm,'' he said.
The neurologist said he advised such patients to ''try and cool it, take a time-out from the affair and have a brain scan''.
