Venous Air Embolism: The Silent Killer Caitlin Dorsey 06.13.02-St. Louis, MO

Do not blow into any vaginas. The practice, called "vaginal insufflation," may put a woman at risk of suffering a fatal air embolism- the abnormal presence of air in the cardiovascular system. According to Dr. Sandor Gardos, licensed clinical sexologist:

If you were to blow air very strongly into the vagina,
with your lips pressed tightly against the vulva (thus preventing
escape of the air), it is theoretically possible that you could
create what is known as an air embolus. This is a form of embolism,
where an air bubble blocks the passage of blood in an artery or vein.
In severe cases, if blood flow is completely obstructed, the tissue
in that area would die. If the embolus were to travel up to the heart
or lungs, it would indeed be possible to die. You should know that
when a woman is pregnant, and her cervix begins to dilate, she is
more likely to suffer an embolism. In extremely rare cases, this
has even been reported to occur from intercourse.Dr. Alice Dylan, of Columbia University’s "Go Ask Alice!" health question and answer page, asserts that:

Women who are more at risk for this unlikely possibility
are those whose pelvic vessels are enlarged (meaning, increased
blood supply to the vagina) due to a condition such as trauma and
possibly pregnancy. So, if a very large amount of air were to be
blown or forced into their vaginal canals, it’s possible that the
air could enter their bloodstream, causing a blockage in a blood
vessel. As a result, some of these women, perhaps including the
pregnant women’s fetus, may experience complications. In
extraordinary cases, some of these women (and the fetus) may
die if the embolism travels to the heart or lungs.Indeed, most authors emphasize the heightened risk among pregnant women. Specifically, a pregnant woman suffers a venous air embolism when air passes beneath the fetal membranes and into the circulation of the subplacental sinuses, "invariably causing death to both mother and fetus within minutes." Dr. David Gelvin, family planning specialist, warns against practicing cunnilingus at all for a few months following childbirth. One need not be pregnant to suffer a fatal embolism. One reported case in the medical literature involves a 40- year old woman who died after using a carrot for autoerotic purposes, "the foreign body acting like a piston to displace a sufficient amount of air." There are at present no reliable statistics on the number of embolism-related deaths. Doctors speculate that air embolisms resulting from items such as carrots are underdiagnosed or dissimulated by the partners when questioned by medical rescue teams. Be careful down there.

Sources:

Gelvin, David, and Christine Webber. "Sex after giving birth."
netdoctor.co.uk, January 10, 2001.

Hill BF, Jones JS. "Venous air embolism following orogenital sex during
pregnancy. Am-J-Emerg-Med. 1993 Mar. 11(2). P 155-7.

Marc B ; Chadly A ; Durigon M. Fatal air embolism during autoerotic practice. Int J Legal Med (International journal of legal medicine.) 1990 Dec; 104(1): 59-61