A 45-year old woman, Ginny Atchison, has said she is unable to orgasm after medical blunders destroyed her sex life.

Atchison who said she had enjoyed regular sex since she was 16, was shattered by her diagnosis of cauda equina syndrome.

The condition means the nerves at the base of the spinal cord are squeezed together, causing pain, numbness or weakness in the lower back, legs, buttocks and between the legs. It also affects the bladder or bowel control and sexual function.

Desperate to experience sexual pleasure again, Atchison even bought herself vibrators, saying,

“Sadly, no matter what I tried, I couldn’t feel a thing.

“I was always a very sexual person. I enjoyed being intimate, having sex at least a few times a week when I was in a relationship. I’d been having sex regularly since I was 16. But I didn’t realise how important that was to me until it was gone.”

Metro reports that the pains became too much for her to bear causing her to visit A&E at Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital.

She recalled,

“Doctors warned me I might not be able to walk again. I woke up from the surgery and the first thing they said was to wiggle my toes. ‘I could still do that, so that was amazing, as I knew I could still walk, but, unfortunately, there was lots of damage. ‘I still can’t feel the saddle area and it’s just got worse since then.

“You never think you will stop having sex in your 40s. It was always important to me and, although I am now single, I really miss that intimacy. ‘I was with somebody at the time and we are still really close friends, but I haven’t been able to be intimate since this happened, and I probably never will again.

“I struggled a lot because loss of orgasm is a terrible thing. My relationship with my partner at the time, who I don’t want to name, came to an end.

“We are still best friends, but after the injury we couldn’t be intimate and the romantic part of our relationship was over.’ Despite being referred to a women’s physiotherapist, Ginny said nothing helped.

“I was told to go to a sex shop and try and buy vibrators to improve things, but no matter what I tried, I couldn’t feel a thing,’ she said. ‘My nerves are damaged and that’s not going to come back. It was such an awful time and I just had to accept that my sexual feeling had gone… “

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust after a lengthy battle agreed to settle out of court last month for £1.5m.

Ginny said, “It is a life-changing sum of money. It won’t bring back the way my life used to be, but it will make it easier…”