A Young Man Became Allergic to Orgasms—however There’s a Happy Ending

In a current case research, docs describe the unlucky story of a person who developed an allergy-like response to his personal orgasms. The weird and uncommon affliction left him unable to pursue sexual and romantic relationships. But fortunately, the docs managed to deal with his drawback utilizing a easy over-the-counter antihistamine.

The situation is named postorgasmic sickness syndrome, or POIS. Sufferers (nearly all the time males) expertise signs just like hay fever or a flu following ejaculation, comparable to fatigue, itchy eyes, stuffy or runny nostril, and even reminiscence issues. These signs seem after each or practically each orgasm, often inside seconds however generally as much as hours later, and so they can final wherever from two to seven days.

There are many various sicknesses that may have an effect on an individual’s sexual perform, however POIS is particularly uncommon. The National Institutes of Health estimates that fewer than 1,000 folks within the U.S. at present have it. And in accordance with the authors of this newest case research, set to be published within the November situation of Urology Case Reports, there are fewer than 60 reported circumstances of POIS within the medical literature.

The report describes an in any other case wholesome 27-year-old man who first started to expertise his signs on the age of 18. In addition to his flu-like sickness, he would typically get away into hives alongside his forearms after orgasms. He had seen a number of medical suppliers through the years, together with an otolaryngologist, an infectious illness specialist, and a number of allergists, however nothing they supplied appeared to assist. By the time he noticed these docs, he had lengthy been actively abstaining from any form of sexual exercise and romantic relationships.

Because of its rarity, there’s little or no recognized about precisely why POIS occurs. But it’s suspected to be a kind of hypersensitivity response to one thing inside an individual’s ejaculate. Most folks with POIS, as an example, have examined constructive on pores and skin prick assessments utilizing their semen because the allergen. One believable principle is that sperm cells would possibly set off this immune response, since they include solely half of the genetic materials present in most different cells. But even sterile people have developed POIS, suggesting that the true wrongdoer is often another ingredient in semen.

In this explicit case, the person recalled that his first episode occurred after he had recovered from a case of acute epididymitis, or irritation round a particular space of the scrotum. Epididymitis is commonly attributable to a urinary tract an infection or sexually transmitted bacterial an infection. It’s potential, the docs speculate, that this an infection set off a sequence response that induced his immune system to change into sensitized to his semen from then on.

There’s no official remedy for POIS, but the docs determined to check out an antihistamine, which might tamp down the signs of different sorts of allergy. Their preliminary remedy didn’t appear to work, however they then switched to an over-the-counter model of fexofenadine, taken day by day (the drug has lengthy since change into generic however is bought below the favored model identify Allegra). Additionally, they suggested the person to step by step ramp up his frequency of orgasms. The fexofenadine labored like a attraction, resulting in a self-reported 90% lower in signs and permitting the person to lastly resume sexual exercise.

The docs suspect that the opposite antihistamine could have failed to assist as a result of its peak results solely final for a number of hours, whereas fexofenadine is each long-lasting and non-sedative. But though this drug is protected, low cost, and straightforward to take, the docs do suggest that extra analysis be executed to substantiate that it may be a dependable possibility for these with POIS.

“Our experience demonstrates the feasibility of treating a complex disease with a simple medication and hopefully will be replicated in future patients,” they wrote.