Comedy | January 20, 2011 | 10 comments

Men can be allergic to their own semen

Bad news guys, if you start feeling a bit worse for wear after a romp you might be allergic to your own semen.

The condition, which I assume would be every man's living nightmare, is known as post orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS). It causes feverishness, runny nose, extreme fatigue and burning eyes. The symptoms appear minutes after climax and last for up to a week.

The mysterious syndrome has been documented in medical journals since 2002, but little was known about what caused it and how it could be treated.

Professor Marcel Waldinger from Utrecht University has now published two studies in the Journal of Sexual medicine, which answer both these questions, says the LA Times.

The first found that the syndrome is probably caused by an allergic reaction to semen,  while the second suggests hyposensitisation therapy could help affected men.

He added that the findings 'contradict the idea that the complaints have a psychological cause.'

It could prove a relief to sufferers, who experts say often feel confused and ashamed about the condition.

The Semen Test(es)


Professor Waldinger and his team analysed 45 Dutch men who were diagnosed with the illness.

"They didn't feel ill when they masturbated without ejaculating, but as soon as the semen came from the testes... after that they became ill, sometimes within just a few minutes," he said.

Thirty-three of them agreed to undergo a standard skin-prick allergy test using a diluted form of their own semen.

Of those, 29, or 88 per cent, had a positive skin reaction indicating an auto-immune response, or allergic reaction.

In a second study in the same journal the team treated two of the volunteers with hyposensitisation therapy - a well-known technique for treating allergies.

It repeatedly exposes the body to small but gradually increasing amounts of the allergen over several years.

They found that the men showed a significantly reduction in their POIS symptoms after one and three years.

Professor Waldinger's team has now started several more POIS patients on hyposensitisation therapy.

  1. groups:
    Community,   News and Politics,   Comedy,   WTF,   4 more
  2. tags:
    Sex and Love,  Allergies,  semen
  3.     
    |

10 comments // Men can be allergic to their own semen

sbacker
more from Comedy:
from the community

top videos