Doctor Discovers the 'Orgasmatron'

ABC News ^ | Nov. 9, 2004

[Yo-Yo]

Doctor Discovers the 'Orgasmatron'

Physician Working with Pain Relief Device Stumbles Upon Delightful Side Effect

Nov. 9, 2004 - While Dr. Stuart Meloy was working on a new device to treat chronic pain, he was surprised to discover it could also bring pleasure to his female patients.

While Meloy, an anesthesiologist and pain specialist in Winston-Salem, was putting an electrode into the spine of a female patient with chronic back pain, the woman reported a decrease in her pain and a delightful, but very unexpected, side effect.

"When we turned on the power in this case, she let out a moan and began hyperventilating," Meloy said on ABC News' Good Morning America. "Of course we cut the power and I looked around the drapes and asked her what was going on. Once she caught her breath, she said 'you're gonna have to teach my husband how to do that!' "

Meloy soon realized he may have discovered a device that could help thousands of women who have trouble achieving orgasm.

"The device is the use of a pre-existing device called a spinal cord stimulator," he said. "Instead of treating chronic pain with the stimulator, we're treating orgasmic dysfunction," Meloy said.

In a surgical procedure done in his office, Meloy implants the electrodes from this device into the back of the patient, at the bottom part of the spinal cord. When the electrodes are stimulated with a remote control, the brain interprets the signal as an orgasm, he said. The device is about the size of a pacemaker and can be turned on and off with a handheld remote control.

Meloy conducted a study of 11 women that he has submitted for publication to the Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

"Six of them had never had an orgasm before," Meloy said. "Five of them had and then lost the ability. The results were promising in my mind. We were able to stimulate 91 percent of the women, 10 out of 11."

A 48-year-old woman who participated in the study told Good Morning America she lost her ability to achieve orgasm when menopause hit. But she says the device, dubbed the orgasmatron, allowed her to experience extreme pleasure once again.

"Once we found the controls, what caused the stimulation to be greater … more pleasurable, that's when I saw the results. I did have orgasm, and there were a couple of times that I had multiple orgasms because of the stimulator," said the woman, who asked to remain anonymous.

She said it was difficult to part with the orgasmatron when the study ended.

"When I gave it back, I came in the office and Dr. Meloy took the electrodes out of, you know, out of the back and it was like I was losing my best friend. It was very hard to give it back. It worked so well for me," she said.

Urologist Dr. Jennifer Berman, the co-director of the Female Sexual Medicine Center at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, says women who have exhausted every other option for treating sexual dysfunction might look to the orgasmatron.

"It is direct, sacral nerve restimulation, and the device is FDA-approved for bladder problems and pain," Berman said. "Dr. Meloy, anecdotally found in that, what we have found, and people that use the device, is they're recording enhanced sensation, sexual sensation."

Laura Berman, a clinical assistant professor of OB/GYN and psychiatry at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University, says the discovery of the orgasmatron and other medical tools aimed at helping women who can no longer achieve an orgasm encourage women to discuss their sexual issues more.

"The most important thing is to bring it up and to address it and to know that there is help available," Berman said. "These devices are extremes for women when other options haven't worked. But … you can go to your doctor, you can get your hormone levels checked. You can even use a sexual aid or device from your local erotica shop."

If approved for this use, the orgasmatron device and implantation could cost up to $17,000, but Meloy says he believes some women would be happy to pay that amount to have the orgasmatron permanently embedded in their lower backs. He says the device could be implanted on an outpatient basis.

[Constitution Day]

Ah, I know. I just liked the cartoon.

[Pinetop]

That reminds me, does this mean that Kerry now has to a huckster for ED products?

[I'm ALL Right!]

I have a TINS unit I used on my upper back after I got whiplash....hmmmmmm

[unspun]

If you try it, don't ping your FReepers at the same time. It might stune your beeber.

[I'm ALL Right!]

ROTFLMBO!!!!!

[Yo-Yo]

Sleeper was a 1973 Woody Allen movie. I believe that predates Motorhead.

Sleeper
By Jim Emerson

If Interiors was Woody Allen's Bergman movie, and Stardust Memories was his Fellini movie, then you could say that Sleeper is his Buster Keaton movie. Relying more on visual/conceptual/slapstick gags than his trademark verbal wit, Sleeper is probably the funniest of what would become known as Allen's "early, funny films" and a milestone in his development as a director. Allen plays Miles Monroe, cryogenically frozen in 1973 (he went into the hospital for an ulcer operation) and unthawed 200 years later. Society has become a sterile, Big Brother-controlled dystopia, and Miles joins the underground resistance--joined by a pampered rich woman (Diane Keaton at her bubbliest). Among the most famous gags are Miles's attempt to impersonate a domestic-servant robot; the Orgasmatron, a futuristic home appliance that provides instant pleasure; a McDonald's sign boasting how-many-trillions served; and an inflatable suit that provides the means for a quick getaway. The kooky unthawing scenes were later blatantly (and admittedly) ripped off by Mike Myers in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery.

[kingu]

Could make for some pretty interesting pavlovian training - just need to get codes for all the Barbara Streisands of the world. Show a picture of George Bush and BLAMO!!

Forget that.. Give a cracked remote control to Karl Rove. The 'mastermind' could use some sighs of adoration when he walks around the distinguished senators.

[tacticalogic]

Niven's tasp.

[NYC GOP Chick]

Not necessary! ;D

[Dems_R_Losers]

If Rove can figure out a way to subsidize this, Republicans will eliminate the gender gap!

[TheBigB]

Wasn't Orgasmatron the evil cyborg that the Six Million Dollar Man fought??

No, wait, that was Maskatron. :)

[Hemingway's Ghost]

(BTW, Lemmy is God).

The only time it's easy is when I'm . . .

KILLED BY DEATH!

[Shryke]

The only monster I remember the 6MM fighting was that badass Mars lander. He had to hook it to a helicopter and make it pop, if I remember correctly.

[Shryke]

I have some weird guilty feeling not pinging you to this thread. Apparently my medical records have been made public.

[TheBigB]

It was a Venus Probe. :)

Ah, here we are...

[Hegewisch Dupa]

IIRC, Steve also battled Bigfoot.

(God I need a life)

[Shryke]

Dude, I HAD both those dolls! Good Lord. Those were the only dolls I ever owned (except for inflatables). Moved on to Legos after that.

[TheBigB]

Yep, played by Andre the Giant...

[BossLady]

"She said it was difficult to part with the orgasmatron when the study ended."

Wonder what the hubby/boyfriend had to say about it???? LOL!

[Cannoneer No. 4]

ping