‘I knew I was starting to have a seizure’: women describe lasting effects of being ‘choked’ during sex

Three women tell of blacking out, feeling dazed and dizzy, and of ongoing memory issues and fatigue

• UK survey shows ‘choking’ becoming normalised in sex

• Warning: this article includes graphic content

When Sophie* woke up on the floor after having a seizure, it took a while before she could comprehend that it had been caused by a man strangling her during sex.

“I blacked out, my legs were kicking, I broke a glass,” she says. At 19, it was the first and only time anything like that had happened to her. “When I came to, I couldn’t work out who he was, where I was, what was going on. And it was utterly terrifying.”