{"id":19299,"date":"2025-07-24T02:38:10","date_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/19299\/"},"modified":"2025-07-24T02:38:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-24T02:38:10","slug":"i-thought-i-was-infertile-but-i-have-a-rare-condition-that-makes-me-allergic-to-sex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/19299\/","title":{"rendered":"I thought I was infertile… but I have a rare condition that makes me ‘allergic to sex’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 29-year-old woman who struggled to get pregnant and feared she might be infertile discovered that she was actually suffering from an extremely rare sperm allergy.<\/p>\n

The unnamed female from Lithuania\u00a0had been trying to conceive<\/a> with her male partner but had not become pregnant.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Two rounds of IVF<\/a>\u00a0also failed to produce a pregnancy, but gynecological exams did not find any underlying causes for why she was unable to become pregnant.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

After doctors discovered she had a\u00a0history of asthma and sensitivity to inhaled allergens, such as mold, cat fur and dust, she visited a medical facility to see if her allergies might be affecting her fertility<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Allergy tests revealed that she had a sensitivity to\u00a0Can f 5, which can cause\u00a0allergic symptoms after contact with male dog urine, fur, and human semen.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In an interview, the patient confirmed that she experienced nasal congestion and sneezing after unprotected intercourse with<\/a> her male partner.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Further tests using samples of semen collected from the woman’s partner revealed she had a condition known as seminal plasma hypersensitivity, a rare allergic reaction to proteins found in seminal fluid – the fluid released during orgasm that includes sperm, as well as other bodily secretions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are less than\u00a0100 documented cases of the condition globally and while it\u00a0doesn’t directly cause infertility, it can make it more difficult to conceive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"A <\/p>\n

A 29-year-old woman who struggled to get pregnant and feared might be infertile discovered that she was actually suffering from an extremely rare sperm allergy (stock image)<\/p>\n

Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n

Symptoms of semen allergy – which happens when you have a harmful immune system reaction to proteins in semen – include a change in skin color, burning and swelling where semen contacts the skin or vaginal tissues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some people may have a whole-body response, including hives, itching and difficulty breathing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Due to discomfort, this allergy may discourage sexual activity and in some cases, lead to difficulty with conception.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, there are treatment options available to help couples conceive despite the allergy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mayo Clinic notes that treatment to make you less sensitive to your partner’s semen – such as\u00a0using antihistamines or corticosteroids – may allow you to get pregnant naturally.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another option is intrauterine insemination (IUI), which uses sperm washed free of semen proteins to prevent a reaction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For those with a severe sensitivity to semen, assisted reproductive technology such as IVF may be an option for pregnancy.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It isn’t clear why the female patient’s IVF treatments did not work, given semen would not have been present in the implanted embryos.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Another method used to treat seminal plasma hypersensitivity\u00a0involves introducing increasing concentrations of semen into the patient’s body to build tolerance.<\/p>\n

However, this treatment plan wasn’t available for the woman in her home country, according to\u00a0a report in\u00a0Live Science<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Some <\/p>\n

Some women may suffer from an unusual allergic reaction during or after sex, experiencing intimate discomfort, swelling or even difficulty breathing<\/p>\n

Instead, doctors recommended that the woman take antihistamine medication before intercourse to reduce the severity of her allergic reactions.<\/p>\n

She followed their instructions but found this approach ‘ineffective’.<\/p>\n

Three years later, the woman said that she had still been unable to conceive during a follow-up appointment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, new allergic symptoms appeared after contact with her partner’s semen, including a ‘burning sensation in her vulva, puffy eyelids and watery eyes’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

No further treatments were recommended, according to the report and it is unclear if the woman went on to conceive eventually.<\/p>\n

Dr Michael Carroll, associate professor in reproductive science at Manchester Metropolitan University, said seminal plasma hypersensitivity may affect more people than previously thought – and often goes undiagnosed.<\/p>\n

Writing for The Conversation, he warned it is often mistaken for sexually transmitted infections (STIs), yeast infections, and general sensitivity.<\/p>\n

But one clue you’re in fact ‘allergic to sex’, is ‘symptoms disappearing when condoms are used’, he revealed.<\/p>\n

The sex allergy is now recognized as a ‘type 1 hypersensitivity’, falling into the same category as peanut allergy, cat dander, and season allergies.<\/p>\n

Seminal plasma hypersensitivity was first documented in 1967, when a woman was hospitalized after a ‘violent allergic reaction’ to sex.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A 29-year-old woman who struggled to get pregnant and feared she might be infertile discovered that she was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19300,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[97,59,102,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-19299","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-dailymail","9":"tag-gb","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-uk","12":"tag-united-kingdom","13":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19299","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19299"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19299\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19300"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19299"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19299"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19299"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}