I don't know about you but being allergic to sexytime, as a cis gendered str8 female, and having to go through this process while being told, "... just have more sex... that could also possibly kill you... ", does not a good time sound. It would only half suck for me, but I went through it with my friend. I can tell you through her, this is nothing to laugh at. For my friend, not named herein for obvious reasons, her solution was arduous to find and easy to utilize once found.
Fourteen months after they were married, my friend was diagnosed with Human Seminal Plasma Hypersensitivity – an allergy to semen. Every time my friend had sex, she always experienced immediate pain and a burning sensation. She would call me in agony telling me the pain lingered for days. She was 23 and shy about talking about sex while I could talk about it sure as the sun would shine. Yep hubby was left in the dark.
I told her to make an appointment with her doctor. When she described what was happening, she thought had an STD and her husband may have cheated. Her five-minute appointment hadn’t allowed for a physical examination. She left with a prescription in hand. Nothing changed, so I told her to go back to her doctor a few more times. She received new meds, but still no exam. She loved her husband and wasn't about to accuse her husband of cheating without proof.
I told her to get a referral to a GYN and all the tests. She asked me to go with her because she would be too embarrassed to go on her own and might ghost. I'm about my squad. I went. Didn’t help. She had no answers for her and in the end dismissed it all by saying to my friend "It’s all in your head.” Folks, I nearly lost it. After some choice words to the doctor (some may or may not have been PG rated), we left.
I decided to research for myself. I became the Hermoine Granger of sexytime occult. I read and watched every article and YouTube video on the reproductive system I could. There it was. Not much, just two videos, but it was enough for me. It was like a light bulb had gone off in my head and I realized that my friend was reacting to her man's semen. I told her and she immediately sent him off to his family doctor who declared...
“There can’t be anything wrong with you, I’ve been your doctor since you were born. Just go home and tell your wife she needs to have more sex. She’s just making up excuses like they do when they say they have a headache, women are like that.”
My friend and I hit the roof. Finally, she demanded that he go back to see this idiot and request he actually do his job (rather than be sexist) and test his semen. Dr. Douche refused and said “I’ll only do a sperm count. I don’t believe anything can be wrong with your semen.” nose pinch
She didn’t give up, but was exhausted from the constant pain and stress of having no answer to explain the burning, the swelling and irritation. Finally my friend got a referral to another gynecologist and when she described her symptoms, he suggested my friend was allergic to her hubby’s semen. It might sound odd, but I was ecstatic. Not because of what it was, but because it was the first time someone could actually tell her what was wrong.
She spoke to the gynecologist a couple of days after the testing to get the results. “You’re definitely allergic to him,” he said. “But there isn’t anything we can do to help. There isn’t a cure. You’ll just have to learn to live with it.” My friend was crushed. The doctor suggested they use condoms, but one of the side effects of the symptoms is she (like me) had an allergy to latex, too. Yaay. If you're not aware, no sex = no babies. My friend always talks about being a mom and her husband and her always dreamed of being parents. So this was a non-option for them.
I went back to the research room and suggested she try holistic therapy. Over the next year, I helped her detox her body and get ready to build herself back up. It was a slow recovery until she heard about Reiishi mushroom extract. Loads of time had passed since my friend's diagnosis and for the first time, she was offered hope of a cure. The liquid extract changed her life. The pain that had haunted her for years disappeared. She could take the liquid and there would be no swelling after sexytime. After two years, she didn’t even need to take it!
Now-a-days treatment comes in two forms. One is allergy shots containing small doses of the male partner's semen.
The other is a technique called intravaginal seminal graded challenge. Rather than the XXX Rated YouTube video this sounds like... it actually is a procedure that takes several hours. Every 20 minutes a doctor places increasing amounts of the partner's semen in the woman's vagina. Ouch. Both treatments require that the woman and her husband have sex at least two or three times a week. Huh. Dr. Douche may have had a small point. Still miffed about the "headache" comment though.
Treatment failure is associated with couples who do not engage in frequent sex that re-exposes the patient to the allergen. Patients not living near their partners can refrigerate or freeze specimens so they can continue frequent exposure while keeping a self-injectable epinephrine kit on hand. While this is the least sexy idea in the entire world, this is a reality for 20K-40K of American women in their 20's.
Though case reports of semen allergy are rare, many go unreported for obvious reasons. Though 41% of allergic women have symptoms during their first intercourse, symptoms tend to worsen with subsequent exposures unless they undergo desensitization treatment.
MY TAKEAWAY
I believe there has to be a better, more effective way to diagnose and treat what is obviously a part of women's lives and American culture. If you are going through this, you now know you aren't alone. I invite you to add to the conversation in the comments below and, if you want, share your knowledge so that we can help educate others. Your life is an occasion. Rise to it!
