"Post-Orgasm Illness" Sounds Awful

In what must surely qualify as one of the most inconvenient of all intolerances, doctors have discovered that some men suffer from a rare disorder — that comes from an allergy to their own semen.

Scientists have known about post orgasmic illness syndrome — in which guys experience flu-like symptoms after ejaculation — since ’02. At the time, some believed it to be psychosomatic. But a scientist has only now discovered the probable cause, an autoimmune response to the body’s own sperm.

And, says Marcel Waldinger, a Dutch professor of sexual psychopharmacology, gradually accustoming men to a dilute form of the semen — hyposensitization therapy, often used to treat allergies — may help. That’s if they’re willing to come forward. Not only is the syndrome not well-known, but many men may feel embarrassed. They shouldn’t! Rather, they should just think positive: maybe their semen is just extra-powerful.