Orgasmic Pathways
Individual women have discovered they can experience orgasm when their nipple, clitoris, urethra, prostate gland, vagina, cervix, anus, or rectum is stimulated individually or in combination. These areas of the body are connected to the central nervous system by more than one nerve or network of nerves. Stimulation of an individual erogenous zone, which is connected to a single nerve, often results in a unique type or experience of orgasm, or "blended" orgasms when more than one erogenous zone and nerve are stimulated at the same time. This creates the possibility that each nerve connects to its own area of the central nervous system that is capable of producing orgasm, and presents the possibility for more than one orgasmic pathway.
An orgasmic pathway is a system of nerves that when they conduct electrical and chemical messengers to the spinal cord and brain, in the appropriate context, intensity, and duration, causes orgasm to occur. The clitoris is part of the most common orgasmic pathway, but there could be many others. At this time, we appear to know very little about the actual mechanisms of orgasm, how they occur and why. We only know messengers go into the central nervous system that cause other messengers to come out, with the end result being the mental perception of orgasm and the associated physical events that go along with it. The experience of orgasm is still very much a mystery to medical science.
Supporting News Article :
Originally Published: May 11, 2011
Title: Sex on the brain: Orgasms unlock altered consciousness
By Kayt Sukel
"WITH a click and a whirr, I am pulled into the scanner. My head is strapped down and I have been draped with a blanket so that I may touch my nether regions - my clitoris in particular - with a certain degree of modesty. I am here neither for a medical procedure nor an adult movie. Rather, I am about to stimulate myself to orgasm while an fMRI scanner tracks the blood flow in my brain.
"My actions are helping Barry Komisaruk at Rutgers University in Newark, New Jersey, and colleagues to tease apart the mechanisms underlying sexual arousal. In doing so, not only have they discovered that there is more than one route to orgasm, but they may also have revealed a novel type of consciousness - an understanding of which could lead to new treatments for pain."
"Komisaruk's team recently found heightened activation in the PFC [prefrontal cortex] during female climax - something not seen in previous studies of the orgasm. Surprisingly, this was also the case in individuals who can achieve orgasm by thought alone. With fantasy and self-referential imagery often reported as being part of the sexual experience, Komisaruk and colleagues wondered if the PFC might be playing a key role in creating a physiological response from imagination alone. That is why I am here."
"Georgiadis argues that the OFC [orbitofrontal cortex] may be the basis of sexual control - and perhaps only by letting go, so to speak, can orgasm be achieved. He suggests this deactivation may be the most telling example of an "altered state of consciousness" and one not seen, as yet, during any other type of activity.
""I don't think orgasm turns off consciousness but it changes it," he says. "When you ask people how they perceive their orgasm, they describe a feeling of a loss of control." Georgiadis suggests that perhaps orgasm offsets systems that usually dominate attention and behaviour. "I'm not sure if this altered state is necessary to achieve more pleasure or is just some side effect," he says. It is possible that the inability to let go and reach this altered state may be what prohibits individuals with anorgasmia from reaching climax.
"There may be a simple explanation for the discrepancies between Georgiadis's and Komisaruk's work - they may represent two different paths to orgasm, activated by different methods of induction. While participants in Komisaruk's studies masturbated themselves to orgasm, those in Georgiadis's were stimulated by their partners. "It is possible there is a difference between someone trying to mentalise sexual stimulation as opposed to receiving it from a partner," says Georgiadis. Perhaps having a partner makes it easier to let go of that control and achieve orgasm. Alternatively, having a partner may make top-down control of sensation and pleasure less necessary to climax."
Women may experience many different types of orgasm because there is more than one orgasmic pathway. Conversely, there could be a single large orgasmic pathway that produces different types of orgasms depending on the erogenous zones and nerves that are being stimulated at the time. In either case, women as a whole are capable of many different types of orgasmic experiences, and the individual isn't necessarily limited to clitoral orgasms.
The following illustration identifies five possible orgasmic pathways in women. Individual women will either have none of them, one, two, three, four, or five of them, or one or more that are not represented. Women with spinal cord injuries, and other central nervous system deficiencies, may be able to use this illustration to help them locate functional erogenous zones.
The five orgasmic pathways presented in the above illustration incorporate the intercostal, pudendal, pelvic, hypogastric, and vagus nerves. If more than one orgasmic pathway truly exists, then there are more than these five, as women have many more potential erogenous zones that are connected to nerves that are not represented here. I am simply trying to illustrate a concept.
Only the intercostal and pudendal nerves are part of the somatic nervous system and capable of sensing the full range of physical sensation, i.e. touch, pressure, vibration, temperature, and pain, and allow for voluntary control of the associated muscles. The other three nerves are part of the autonomic nervous system and control the internal organs, meaning they only sense pressure and pain and you cannot voluntarily control the associated muscles.
Orgasm may be experienced when one or more of the indicated areas of the body are stimulated. I believe, stimulation of the uterus is limited to the experiences of pregnancy and childbirth, as the baby moves about during pregnancy and passes through the birth canal during delivery. Though muscular tension during menstruation may play a role in a woman's orgasmic experience, and women may want to explore this possibility. The many ways of stimulating these potential erogenous zones is addressed on page three of this article.
The following illustration includes what is referred to as a "spinal pattern generator" or "central pattern generator," which controls the physical experience of orgasm, the rapid muscle contractions that occur during orgasm. We don't know if there is one or multiple pattern generators in women, which are responsible for a multitude of different orgasmic experiences. In laboratory experiments with animals I believe they have only stimulated the "urethrogenital reflex" to produce orgasm, meaning they haven't explored other erogenous zones and the possibility of more than one pattern generator.
The pudendal nerve is thought to be the primary input to the pattern generator, as it is connected to the clitoris, which is the most common erogenous zone in women that when stimulated has a high probability of producing orgasm. If there is only one pattern generator then multiple nerves are connected to it, and if there is more than one, each nerve could be connected to its own. The pattern generator probably responds to the special sensors that tell the central nervous system when muscular tension exists, as is commonly experienced prior to orgasm. In addition, the pattern generator is likely influenced by the conscious and subconscious brain.
For women experiencing some form of impaired orgasmic response, it might be a good idea to assume there is more than one orgasmic pathway and pattern generator to expand on their orgasmic possibilities.
During orgasm multiple muscles, voluntarily and involuntary, contract and relax in a rapid sequence (1.25 times per second) lasting for a period of 5 to 6 seconds on average. Some organs of the body, like the urethral and anal sphincters, have both voluntary and involuntary muscles. The voluntary muscles of the clitoris referred to in the above illustration are the ischiocavernosus and bulbospongiosus muscles, which envelope the crura. Women report that different muscles contract during their orgasms depending on the type of orgasm they experience, which presents the possibility that individual pattern generators could be connected to different muscles throughout the body. We don't know if these muscle contractions are solely responsible for the pleasure experienced, or if there is also a purely mental component to orgasms.
The Nerves & Brain
The clitoral glans has thousands of microscopic wires, called neurons, that connect it to the spinal cord and brain. When you caress the clitoris, it is these wires that carry the resulting messengers to the spinal cord and brain. Along their journey, these thousands of wires meet up with thousands of other wires from surrounding areas, like the vulva, urethra, and outer vagina, and they form a cable called a nerve. The nerve for the clitoris is the pudendal nerve and it can carrying thousands of messengers at one time. All the sensory messengers in this nerve go to the same part of the brain, an area called the cerebral cortex.
Wires from each area of skin on the body go to a specific part of the cerebral cortex. The small portion of the brain that processes the sense of touch is call the postcentral gyrus, also known as the somatosensory cortex; the wires that control the muscles connect to a separate area called the motor cortex. As a result, stimulation of the vulva and anal regions results in the stimulation of the same area of the brain. The clitoris can usually send more messengers to this area of the brain than the surrounding organs, because it has an estimated 5,000-8,000 nerve endings or wires, which could be why it is more often than not a woman's primary erogenous zone; some say the anus is second in nerve density.
The messengers from the clitoris, vulva, urethra, and anus reach the brain through the same nerve, and are processed by the same area of the brain. It is proposed that some messengers cross over from one wire to another, because the wires are packed closely together, or they mingle together once they reach the brain. This would result in a blending of messengers, and the brain being unable to precisely determine the origin of the messengers.
Since women as a whole experience orgasm when several different areas of the body are stimulated, it presents the possibility that the area of the spinal cord and/or brain that causes orgasm to occur doesn't know or care where the messengers originate. Perhaps it is the total number or frequency of messengers reaching this area of the central nervous system that causes orgasm to occur, rather than the place they originate. While a woman may know when her anus rather than her clitoris is being stimulated, we aren't sure the brain does, at least when it comes to orgasm. While a woman may care which is being stimulated, the brain may not. A woman is more likely to limit her sexual potential mentally, consciously or subconsciously, than have her body be the sole cause of all the limitations she may experience, especially if she is trying to be a proper and respectable good girl, as a result of social expectations and teachings.
Adaptability & Socialization
The following two quotes suggest the manner in which the brain processes information from the sensory organs isn't fixed at birth, can adapt to changes within the nervous system, and is dependent on the society we live in. The original article examined the perceived aptitude girls and women have for solving mathematical equations, but likely applies to all aspects of their lives.
"The motor cortex is supposedly hard-wired, its left half controlling the right side of the body and its right half controlling the left side. But therapy developed for stroke patients can coax the left motor cortex to move the left side of the body, taking over for the stroke-damaged right motor cortex. Even our visual cortex, which you'd think would be as hard-wired as hard-wired can be given the centrality of vision, can change jobs: when people spend a week blindfolded and receive intense tactile stimulation (feeling Braille dots), the visual cortex switches from processing what the eyes send to what the fingertips send, scientists led by Harvard's Alvaro Pascual-Leone reported in August. Something similar happens in people who are blind from birth. So much for hard-wired.
"For anyone still grasping for biological explanations for the math gender gap, consider neighboring countries with a common gene pool, such as the former East Germany and West Germany, or Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The first of each pair regularly sent many more girls to the Olympiad-by margins of 5 to 0 and 3 to 1, respectively. (NOTE: The original version of this column incorrectly stated these numbers.) It's hard to see that as anything but the result of the starkly different social and other environmental forces in each country, not intrinsic biology. How powerfully do social forces affect brain function? In a 2007 study, girls reminded of the girls-are-spatially-challenged stereotype did worse on a test of spatial ability than those who were not, and brain imaging showed why: they had higher activity in the anterior cingulate, the site of negative emotions such as anger and sadness, and lower activity in high-order visual areas and complex working memory areas, found Maryjane Wraga of Smith College. Anxiety triggered by social forces had muted activity required for spatial reasoning. Scale that up to years of messages telling girls they're intrinsically inferior and then try to argue that a hard-wired brain rather than the messages society sends explains the math gender gap."
Source: Math is Hard, Barbie Said. Can we please retire the claim that boy brains are hard-wired for math and girl brains are not? By Sharon Begley. Newsweek October 18, 2008
These quotes suggest a woman's mind and body adapt to her current internal and external environment. There is no reason to believe this information doesn't apply equally to her sexuality, as the same types of anatomy and processes are involved. The most significant implication is, women are only as sexual as they are permitted to be, and as a result, believe themselves to be. A woman's sexual potential is influenced, if not controlled by, her beliefs. It also suggests the manner in which a woman's body image may influence her sexuality; how mental perceptions alter the physical workings of her body.
Exploring Orgasmic Pathways
Lets assume there is more than one orgasmic pathway and pattern generator and every woman has them and simply, or not so simply, must learn how to use them if she wants to experience orgasm, or more than one type of orgasm. Lets not set any limits and be open to every possibility. Pretend you are a toddler without a care in the world who is exploring her body and how it works. If you have body image issues or some body areas are off limits to exploration then perhaps you need to resolve these issues at some point in this process, but only if nothing else seems to work, or you simply want to know and accept your entire body. You might want to turn this into a school science project, complete with diagrams on your bedroom wall, and a notebook with a record of your experiences and planned experiments.
Now pick one of the areas identified in the first illustration shown above, say your right nipple, and taking into consideration the information presented in part three of this article about stimulating erogenous zones, come up with a list of appropriate ways of stimulating this body area and a collection of items suitable for providing that stimulation. Possibly acquire one or more types of lubricant, as is also mentioned in part three. In the beginning, you can simply use your fingers, and maybe water or saliva.
Set aside a period of time to explore this body area, say 15, 30, or 60 minutes. The response of the erogenous zones to stimulation is influenced by the hormones that regulate the menstrual cycle, so women need to take this into consideration, and keep a menstrual calendar to record changes in their body and responses. Erogenous zones may be more sensitive to stimulation when a woman is experiencing a hormonally driven or innate sex drive. Now either find a quiet dark place, sit watching a movie, or read a book; your psychological makeup may determine which scenario is best for you, lots of mental distraction or none at all. Undress or dress as necessary to stimulate the area you have selected in the way that you have chosen, or undress fully if you so desire. Using your chosen method of stimulation start stimulating this area with a very slight amount of stimulation, say running the pad of your finger across it, tapping it with your fingertip, running your fingernail across it, applying light water spray, or apply a weak vibrator or a more powerful one wrapped in a small hand towel. Once you start feeling the stimulation maintain that level of stimulation for as long possible, or until you run out of time. It might be like a form of meditation, something that occupies your hands while your mind is focused on this or other things. You aren't trying to experience orgasm or sexual arousal, only "feel" something. You are trying to connect with this area of your body. You want your mind and body to become accustomed to this area of your body being stimulated in the manner that it is. Keep in mind the fact that many areas of your body are sensitive to changes in stimulation rather than say constant pressure.
Once you learn to feel something and become accustomed to this stimulation then you need to explore ways of producing pleasure. What counts as pleasurable may depend on the area being stimulated and the types of sensors present. The pleasure you experience when stimulating your clitoris or nipple will likely feel totally different from the pleasure experienced when stimulating your cervix or prostate gland, because the first two are supplied by somatic nerves and the second two by autonomic nerves. Many women may have to learn to be open to new types of sensations and pleasures. Especially those that are intense, bordering on being painful, and those associated with menstrual cramps, urination, and bowel movements. It may be challenging to acknowledge that the sensations associated with the later three could be pleasurable and desirable, given social mores about these experiences, and the pain caused by menstrual cramps.
Now lets see how intense you can make the pleasure and for how long you can maintain it, being careful not to hurt yourself in the process. Don't be discouraged if the pleasure is only fleeting, as you may learn how to extend it with practice. After you find one way of experiencing pleasure you might want try identifying others, while concentrating on the same body area. Learn how to tease yourself, make it feel good then stop, and then start again. Remember to stay relaxed and don't hold your breath. If orgasm occurs, ideally you want it to be a totally surprise, not the result of a worked for goal. It is suppose to be enjoyable and fun, not like stressful work.
After you have explored several erogenous zone individually explore them together. See if stimulating multiple erogenous zones in ways that are individually pleasurable results in increased pleasure when done together. As an example, you might stimulate your nipples by applying nipple clamps, insert a small lubricated butt plug to stimulate your anus and rectum, insert a medium sized dildo or insertable vibrator vaginally to stimulate your cervix and prostate gland, while your fingers stroke your clitoris, all while you watch some arousing erotica on DVD. This scenario may bring to mind some very unlady like images, but that is exactly why it may work, because you are being so naughty and adventurous. When you have tried everything by yourself, try it with one or more partners, if you are open to and ready for the idea of partnered sex. Women have the potential for an enormous amount of pleasure, if their individual circumstances permit it.
The reason for these exercises is to learn about your body and how it works, or doesn't work. You have a very complex body with many erogenous zones and an almost infinite means of stimulating them. For most readers, the challenge will be setting aside the time to do these exercises on a regular basis, say once a week. If the exercises are pleasurable that simple reward may provide the incentive to repeat them regularly. If things aren't so rewarding then you really need to be optimistic and determined. If you have tried a thousand things that haven't worked it may be hard to motivate yourself to try the million unexplored methods that still remain, especially since you want to keep the exercises fun and relaxing. If nothing else, the private time should be its own reward, and women often aren't allowed this luxury, or find too much reward in providing for others rather than themselves. If you fall asleep during this exercise, guess what, you were too tired to participate and needed sleep more than sexual pleasure.
As with most of my advice concerning sexual technique, I have been very vague in my suggestions, as individual women are so unique. I don't want to give the impression that some technique I describe is the answer to every woman's situation. Each woman really must figure things out for herself. I can only hope that I help women feel comfortable with the idea of exploring their sexual potential, and in being unconventional. In this case, I am presenting unproven concepts, which means they may or may not have the possibility for working. They should work for some, but I wont say they will work for everyone. At the very minimum, this information and suggested exercises should help all women understand their body and sexuality to a greater degree, even if they don't discover mind blowing pleasure and earth shattering orgasms. They will hopefully enjoy the discovery process.
The Oxytocin Pathway
There is another pathway that plays an active role in the experience of sexual arousal and orgasm. Many women know that stimulation of their nipples has a profound effect on their pelvic organs, even if nipple stimulation alone doesn't result in orgasm. Women who have breast-fed their children often find their uterus and pelvic organs respond to the suckling, and they may experience sexual arousal, orgasm, or "orgasmic feelings" as a result. Nursing also causes muscle contractions within the milk glands resulting in the expulsion of milk through a process called "let-down," and potentially intense sensations within the breasts. These physical experiences are all the result of oxytocin and the oxytocin pathway.
Informative News Article :
August 5, 2011
Title: Surprise Finding in Response to Nipple Stimulation
By Stephanie Pappas
"Nipple stimulation showed up in the area of the brain that receives chest sensations, but it also popped up alongside the genital sensations in the medial paracentral lobule, the researchers found. There could be two reasons for this, Komisaruk said. One is indirect: Stimulating the nipples, as in breast-feeding, releases the hormone oxytocin. This hormone, which is also released during labor, triggers uterus contractions. So it's possible, Komisaruk said, that nipple stimulation triggers uterine contractions, which then produce a sensation in the genital area of the brain."
"However, preliminary data suggest that nipple nerves may directly link up with the brain, skipping the uterine middleman. A few men who have been studied show the same pattern of nipple stimulation activating genital brain regions, Komisaruk said. One of his graduate students is further testing the idea by studying the response of women who have had a hysterectomy, meaning their uterus has been removed."
The oxytocin pathway is quite large and far reaching. Oxytocin comes in two forms, as a special type of neurotransmitter called a neurohormone that acts as a messenger within the nervous system, and as a hormone, which acts as a messengers within the blood of the circulatory system. Stimulation of the nipples, breasts, inner vagina, cervix, and uterus causes messengers to travel through the autonomic (involuntary) nervous system to the hypothalamus, which is located in the brain. The hypothalamus then activates nerves that release oxytocin, in the form of a neurotransmitter, into the spinal cord and brain. In this form, oxytocin acts as a messenger that travels between pathways that extend from the brain through the spinal cord to the pelvic organs; picture it as a bridge between two footpaths. The oxytocin then causes other messengers to travel down these activated pelvic nerves to the organs they control. The hypothalamus also triggers the pituitary gland to release oxytocin into the blood stream, where it has the effects mentioned above on the breasts and uterus. This means oxytocin, acting as a messenger within the nervous and circulatory systems, plays an active role in women's sexual responses. The graphic shown below illustrates this process without all the technical language.
There is scientific evidence that indicates the erectile structures of the clitoris and vulva could be influenced by oxytocin. It is believed that the brain initiates physical sexual arousal in the genitals by releasing oxytocin, in the form of a neurotransmitter, which activates nerves within the pelvic region. When women have sexual thoughts and dreams that result in physical sexual arousal the messenger that causes this to occur is quite possibly oxytocin. The oxytocin is thought to be the messenger that triggers the process of blood engorgement within the erectile areas of the clitoris and vulva. If this is true, then nipple stimulation, which results in the release of oxytocin into the body, may result in increased blood engorgement of the clitoris and vulva. This would explain why nipple stimulation results in some women experiencing strong sensations in their clitoris and vulva, as if an invisible hand is stimulating their clitoris at the same time. The invisible hand may in fact be oxytocin. Oxytocin is also released by the pituitary gland into the blood stream for a brief time one minute after orgasm, which may play a role in the perception of orgasmic pleasure, and causes men and women to feel sleepy after orgasm.
The following illustration shows the link between the different forms of stimulation and oxytocin production.
So in addition to all the other variables I mention in this article, nipple and internal stimulation of the pelvic organs may alter a woman's response to physical stimulation and sexual experiences. Women may want to incorporate nipple stimulation into the other activities described in this article, even if they don't necessarily find their nipples sensitive to sexual stimulation. They may also want to explore internal stimulation of their vagina and cervix, and possibly their rectum, as they activate some of the same nervous pathways as the nipples.
Many women may have to "connect" with their nipples and pelvic organs before this form of stimulation can enhance their sexual experiences. If you have never utilized these organs during your sexual activities it is unlikely they will have a significant influence on them the moment you start doing so. Your mind and body may have to learn how to incorporate them into the whole sexual process.
The combination of mental and nipple stimulation may increase the release of oxytocin and cause increased physical sexual arousal and enhance the arousal process. This increased sexual arousal may result in women being more sensitive to sexual stimulation, and more likely to experience sexual pleasure and orgasm. The use of written and visual erotica may help women remain focused on a sexual theme during their sexual activities.
The oxytocin pathway demonstrates how the entire female body, as a whole, is a sexual organ rather than there being individual and separate sexual organs within their body that function independently of one another. Focusing on one "sexual organ" doesn't mean you will find the cause or solution to a woman's sexual pleasures or challenges.
Note: An Oxytocin Nasal Spray was used to treat anorgasmia in a 82 year old male. This case study may substantiate some of the information presented above, and potentially offer a new method of treatment for a small percentage women who cannot experience orgasm. Source: Journal of Sexual Medicine, Volume 5, Issue 4, April 2008, (p 1022-1024)
Chemical Messengers
As one reads through this website they will see the scientific community is identifying an ever increasing number of chemicals in the body that play a role in a woman's sexual arousal and pleasure. If these chemicals are not present in the appropriate amounts then mental and physical stimulation probably cannot and will not result in sexual arousal and orgasm, or these experiences are impaired to some degree. It is like two people trying to have a phone conversation when the interconnecting phone line is broken, they can both talk but neither hears what the other is saying. The physical parts of the body cannot work without the necessary chemicals messengers that connect them together and allow them to communicate.
The clitoris and other body areas cannot be an erogenous zone without the necessary chemical messengers being present. These chemicals can be absent or altered as a result of the things we put into our body, or don't put into our body. Everything we put into our body can enhance or suppress our sexual responses. Conversely, anything we are not putting into our body that is required by it will likely suppress our sexual responses. Since the entire body is involved in the sexual process, any disease or disability that affects the body is likely to influence a woman's sexual pleasure. This subject is touched on briefly in the articles about Health and Appropriate Body Weight, and in the individual articles that explore specific aspects of female sexual response. As time permits, I will address more of these chemical messengers in this article, at least those that relate to the nervous system.
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