According to a study from Dutch researchers, some men are allergic to their own semen, developing a mysterious flu-like illness after they have an ejaculation. The condition, known as post-orgasmic illness syndrome or POIS, has been documented since 2002. It manifests as feverishness, runny nose, extreme fatigue and burning eyes, which can last for up to a week.
Marcel Waldinger, a professor of sexual psychopharmacology at Utrecht University in the Netherlands, and his colleagues demonstrated in two papers in the Journal of Sexual Medicine that the syndrome was allergic in nature and that it might be possible to desensitize men to the problem. The team studied 45 men with POIS. Thirty-three agreed to undergo a standard skin allergy test using a diluted form of their own semen; 29 of the 33, or 88 per cent, showed a positive allergic reaction, indicating an autoimmune response. This refutes and earlier theory that POIS lies in the mind or is a psychosomatic disorder.
It is not clear, however, why they exhibited a response to the semen only when it was released from the testicles. Dr Waldinger said, “They didn’t feel ill when they masturbated without ejaculating… But as soon as the semen came from the testes … they became ill, sometimes within a few minutes.”
For the second study Dr Waldinger used what is known as hyposensitisation therapy on two of the men, injecting them with steadily stronger solutions of their semen. The team found that after one and three years, the men showed significantly less POIS symptoms. Professor Waldinger’s team has now started several more POIS patients on hyposensitisation therapy.
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