A MAN’S bout of self pleasure ended in a potentially deadly heart emergency, as he suffered a torn artery after masturbating.

The 59-year-old man called an ambulance after getting a tight jaw and tingling in his hands following his solo sesh.

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Doctors were baffled by his symptoms, at first fearing he had a severe case of sepsis.

But a battery of tests revealed he had in fact suffered a tear to his aorta, the body’s largest artery that carries blood from the heart to the body.

This resulted in severe aortic regurgitation, a medical emergency where the blood flows backwards into the heart.

Aortic dissection – as a tear to the aorta is called – is a rare condition that can be life threatening if not identified and treated promptly.

People suffering the health emergency usually experience a sharp, ripping pain in their chest or upper back, as well as shortness of breath, heavy sweating, confusion and severe stomach pain, the Cleveland Clinic states.

But unusually, the patient in question suffered no chest pain, shortness of breath, loss of consciousness or nausea as would be expected in health emergency of this type.

Only about 6.4 per cent of patients with aortic dissections don’t experience chest pain, doctors from the Department of Emergency Medicine at Mount Sinai hospital in New York – who oversaw the man’s case – wrote.

“As such, painless dissections are atypical presentations, more likely to be associated with increased mortality,” the said in a report published to the journal Clinic and Experimental Emergency Medicine.

It’s also unusual for the man to have suffered the tear following masturbation – although he’s not the first to do so.

Another report details the case of a 60-year-old man who experienced a “ripping” pain in his chest, neck and back in the hours after indulging in a bout of masturbation.

The 59-year old patient had a past medical history of high blood pressure, which puts extra strain on the heart, blood vessels and other organs and raises the risk of experiencing heart disease, heart attacks and strokes.

He also had a rare form of chronic pancreatitis, inflammation of the pancreas caused by the immune system attacking the organ, as well as chronic renal insufficiency – a long-term condition where the kidneys don’t work as well as they should.

But the day before he suffered his health emergency, the man had been on a 3-mile jog.

After his solo sesh, the man described experiencing “lightheadedness, a tingling sensation to both hands, and jaw tightness”, according to the report.

Feeling unwell, he decided to lie down and unintentionally wet himself.

He decided to call an ambulance after this episode of urinary incontinence.

Test conducted at the hospital revealed he was suffering from extremely low blood pressure and a slow pulse.

Medics feared he may be suffering from sepsis – a life threatening overreaction to an infection – and gave the man a dose of antibiotics.

Though his condition seemed to improve, the patient reported feeling dizzy when trying to walk and he underwent further monitoring and tests to his heart.

At this point, an ultrasound scan revealed that he’d suffered a e type A aortic dissection – a tear starting on the upper part of the aorta closer to the heart.

This can be immediately life-threatening and usually requires emergency open-chest surgery to repair or replace the first part of the aorta where the tear started.

The man did in fact undergo surgery for an aortic graft replacement, which involves replacing a damaged section of the aorta and aortic valve with a tube.

He’s understood to have since recovered from his ordeal.

It remains unclear why he suffered a tear to his aorta following masturbation, though medics said his chronic pancreatitis appears to be an “important risk factor”.

Medics dwelled on the fact that the patient didn’t experience any pain from his aortic dissection, stressing that this was unusual.

“This case reinforces that aortic dissection can be present without pain, including the classic presentation of tearing chest pain or back pain,” they wrote.

A MUM claims she was able to sniff out that that her son’s life was at risk even when docs dismissed him – after noticing a bizarre stench.

Victoria Hare says she has always had the ability to sense when her children are seriously unwell through the power of smell.

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The 41-year-old claims she is able to smell ketones on a person’s breath – which have a distinctive pear drop or acetone smell emitted through the breath and sweat.

Ketones are acids your body makes when it doesn’t get enough glucose for energy and starts breaking down fats instead.

As ketones build up, they can be detected in blood or urine tests, but they can also give a distinctive tinge to someones breath.

A smell of ketones on a person’s breath can be a sign of a number of things, including a life-threatening complication of diabetes known as diabetic ketoacidosis, the ketogenic diet or liver failure.

‘Pear-drop breath’ can also be a characteristic of type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder that affects around 400,000 people in the UK and means the body is unable to process sugar properly.

So when Victoria’s 15-year-old son Harry began stinking of nail varnish remover in October last year, the mum-of-three grew concerned that he may diabetic.

However, Victoria, who lives in Oakham, Rutland, was unable to get a GP appointment to confirm her suspicions – so used a device to measure his blood sugar levels, which she said were “sky high”.

Victoria, who works as a yoga teacher and dreadlock artist, rushed Harry to Peterborough City Hospital, where doctors said he was close to diabetic ketoacidosis.

This is serious complication of diabetes arising from a buildup of ketones in the blood that can be fatal.

Victoria feels immensely grateful that her smelling superpower helped save her son’s life – and is urging others to be persistent with their doctor when concerned about their health.

Victoria said: “I could smell this acetone smell on him, it was like nail varnish remover. And I knew that smell.

“When my other son was very poorly and couldn’t eat for a few days, you get ketones – your body is burning its own fat for fuel and there’s a specific smell with that.

“And I smelled that smell on my son and I’ve also smelled it on my mother before when she’s been very unwell.

“I asked Harry if he’d been unwell recently or if there’s any bugs going around but he said no.

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“I could just smell this smell on his breath, he doesn’t have to be dead close to me to smell it. It was very strong.

“When he was speaking, I could smell this acetone smell coming from him. You can get this smell when you’re doing the keto diet as your body’s in ketosis.

“I’ve got a really sensitive sense of smell, but not everyone can smell ketones on people’s breath.

“I was confused because I knew Harry was eating but I could smell it on him. You expect to smell it on someone who hasn’t eaten for a few days.”

‘SAVED HIS LIFE’

The following few days, Victoria said her son “stank” of acetone as well as complaining of being thirsty and getting up to go to the toilet in the night – confirming her fears that he may be diabetic.

Victoria said she rang her local GP but was told his symptoms were “not an emergency” and to call back next week.

However, Victoria remained concerned so tested her son’s blood sugar levels on a machine which were so high, they didn’t even register on the device.

Victoria said: “It’s really dangerous. Who knows how long his sugar levels had been that high for.

“I rang the doctors and they did blood tests and found he had really high ketones and actually wanted to ring an ambulance to take him to hospital.

“The doctor said the fact you’ve spotted all the signs and put it together and known it was diabetes, you’ve saved his life.”

Harry was rushed to Peterborough City Hospital where he was admitted for two nights and diagnosed with type-1 diabetes.

Victoria said: “Luckily I had brought him in just in time. When you go into diabetic ketone ketoacidosis, your organs start to shut down. People die from that.

“I did grieve a bit when he was diagnosed because that was the end of life as we knew it. You can’t just have a bit of chocolate anymore.

“I’m disgusted with the doctors. They said just to leave him, he could’ve died.

“It’s horrifying they didn’t have any appointments.”

The mum said she was grateful for her smelling superpower.

“I was so grateful I had this super sense of smell. It was a massive giveaway. My husband couldn’t smell anything.”

She urged others to stand up for themselves if they think feel they aren’t being listened to.

“I think sadly people need to take more responsibility for their own health. You need to push when you think something isn’t right,” Victoria said.

“You need to persist.”

LARA Eastwood and her fiancé Daniel Turner were overjoyed when they discovered they were expecting twins.

But the couple’s world came crashing down at their eight-week scan when they were told they had lost one of their babies.

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In a further cruel twist one month later, Lara, 36, and Daniel 43, were delivered the devastating news that the dead foetus hadn’t dissolved.

Doctors said they were experiencing a twin molar pregnancy – when there is a problem with the fertilised egg which means the baby and placenta don’t develop in the way they should.

Lara was told she should terminate but her nurse’s intuition kicked in and she fought for a second opinion.

She was then diagnosed with a partial molar pregnancy with a co-existing twin – where the egg is fertilised by two sperm which results in three sets of chromosomes instead of the usual two.

Her doctor told her there are just 44 cases in the world.

Lara decided to continue with her pregnancy – despite the risk that the lump of tissue from the dead placenta can develop into cancer, putting her and her unborn child at risk.

Now, 36 weeks along, Lara won’t know if one or both of them is impacted until the birth.

Lara, a nurse from Nottingham, said: “If I hadn’t been medical and hadn’t looked after patients with molar pregnancies then I think I would have made the decision to terminate.

“It was only because of my stubbornness and my instinct.

“Hopefully I’ll get a healthy baby and it will all be worth it.”

Lara and Daniel, a physiotherapist, were excited when they found out they were expecting twins in February 2024 – after suffering three losses.

Lara started to experience bleeding and pain but her scans continued to look fine and showed two heartbeats.

The couple – who have a son Oliver, three – went for their eight-week scan just after Easter and were told one of their twins had passed away.

“I was grieving the one that was gone,” Lara said.

“I didn’t want to eat. But I was very conscious that you can’t not eat because you’ve got another one.

“It was such a conflict of emotions.”

It was my decision to carry on and put myself and the baby at risk

Lara Eastwood

At 12 weeks, Lara went for another scan ready to try to put the loss behind her and focus on growing her remaining baby.

“I went into the room and knew something was wrong straight away,” she said.

“I heard the word molar thrown around.

“The dead one was still there – it hadn’t been dissolved. I knew what that potentially meant.”

Lara was aware of molar pregnancies from her experience as a nurse.

She was given three options – to terminate the very next day, medically terminate in a week, or “bury her head in the sand”.

Lara wanted a second opinion as she didn’t want to give up, having now experienced four losses.

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The next week she had a call from the doctor who told her it was a twin molar pregnancy.

“I said, ‘It can’t be – mine had a heartbeat’,” she said.

“In molar pregnancies, it just looks like a cell. It looks like a mass of tissue. And mine looked like a baby.”

Lara pushed back explaining that she had heard a heartbeat on four scans – which she said wouldn’t have been possible if it was a molar pregnancy.

She was referred to a specialist, who thought it could be a partial molar pregnancy with a co-existing twin – which forms a triploidy with 69 chromosomes.

Lara said: “My doctor found 44 case reports of this in the world. It’s beyond rare.”

Lara had a CVS – where a needle is inserted into the placenta to remove tissue – in May 2024 which confirmed her diagnosis.

Due to the procedure, she had a one in 50 chance of losing her living baby – including in the two weeks following it.

‘I FEEL TOTALLY ROBBED’

“I can’t tell you how I even functioned,” she said.

“It just felt that wherever I went, it was more s*** news.

“Now we know it is a partial molar, it can develop into cancer.”

Usually the placenta would be removed and sent off for testing. But as Lara was still carrying a live baby, her case was more complicated.

She said: “I have got endometriosis. In five pregnancies, I have lost four babies.

“I asked, ‘Is there a chance I can continue?’ – and he said yes.

“It was my decision to carry on and put myself at risk.

“I can live with myself if this baby doesn’t make it. I’ve given it the best possible chance to get here.”

Lara has been monitored closely and is now nearly at 36 weeks, but she still hasn’t bought anything for the baby.

“We won’t know if this baby is going to have anything wrong with it until I deliver,” she said.

“It’s been the most horrendous pregnancy. I feel totally robbed.”

Lara may be able to deliver naturally as her baby is at the bottom and has moved the dead placenta to the side, but a decision on whether she will have a C-section has not yet been made.

After giving birth, the placentas will be sent off to a specialist centre to be tested.

Lara will also be monitored with urine and blood checks to see if she has any signs of cancer.

If there is, she would then need chemotherapy for four to six months.

This type of cancer is very treatable and most women survive, but like any form of the disease, it carries life-changing risks.

“It’s just a scary thing,” Lara said. “If the tissue is gone then my body has dissolved it.”

Lara hopes to raise awareness of the rare pregnancy so others can understand it.

She also wants to support others going through pregnancy loss and has started the organisation Roaring Rainbows.

MOSQUITOES have genetically mutated to survive insecticide, scientists have found.

Malaria-carrying insects which can resist the long-banned pesticide DDT have been discovered in Tanzania for the first time.

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Researchers from the University of Glasgow and Tanzania’s Ifakara Health Institute warn that this could harm humanity’s battle against malaria.

PhD student Joel Odero, the study’s lead author, said: “The emergence of new resistance mechanisms could threaten decades of progress made in reducing malaria transmission and mortality.”

Researchers tested mosquitoes from 10 regions across Tanzania and found that some had gained “knock-down resistance” to the pesticide DDT due to a genetic mutation called ‘L976F’.

Those collected from the Morogoro region only died 68% of the time after being exposed to the insecticide – compared to nearly 100% for other mosquitoes.

Their findings were published in Molecular Ecology.

It is the first time malaria-carrying anopheles funestus mosquitoes have been found to have developed knock-down resistance to any chemical treatment.

It comes after health officials last year warned that mosquitoes carrying deadly West Nile virus have developed immunity to some repellents.

The virus – which can cause fits and paralysis in severe cases – is spread by the Culex mosquito.

After a season of extreme heat and heavy stormy created ideal conditions for the pest to thrive, health officials in the US reported last year that one of the first lines of defence against it no longer seemed to be working.

Scientists at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warned that Culex mozzies have become increasingly resistant to the insecticides that communities use in mass sprays to try to kill the bugs and their eggs.