It’s only pain, no pleasure.
A Colorado college student embodied the expression “love hurts” after revealing that she suffers from a rare semen allergy that causes her to experience “excruciating” pain whenever she engaged in sexual activity.
“Essentially, I’m allergic to sex,” Longmont’s Chloe Lowery, 18, told Kennedy News of her unfortunate affliction, which began when she first started sex-perimenting.
The English major and aspiring professor specifically suffers from human seminal plasma hypersensitivity, in which contact with the proteins in sperm causes her to experience extreme reactions, including redness and a “burning” sensation. Oral sex is particularly hazardous if seminal fluids touch her face, the scholar can even suffer temporary paralysis.
Lowery explained that she first noticed something was awry during her “third or so sexual experience.”
“I hadn’t had contact with it [semen] before then and it got on my skin and I kind of turned red and I didn’t think much of it as I turn red sometimes,” described the college gal. “But then during another encounter, it was in my mouth and I looked like I had bell’s palsy in half my face for about three hours because I went into facial paralysis temporarily.”
She continued, “It was on the right side of my face, it was droopy and I just couldn’t express emotion at least with my mouth. It kind of felt like when you get a numbing shot at the dentist in your gums.”
Thankfully Lowery regained facial function, although she says she has since avoided oral sex to prevent another mishap.
The flummoxed literature buff initially suspected she had a sperm allergy, which sounded outlandish, until she did some online research and discovered that was, in fact, a real condition.
Lowery later reported to the doctor, who confirmed her diagnosis. She also reportedly tested negative for STDs, which further pointed to HSPH as the cause of her symptoms.
Surprisingly, this seemingly “counterproductive” condition is not exceedingly rare — affecting one in 40,000 people — but Lowery said her symptoms are likely more pronounced than in most patients.
“I have had a reaction vaginally and it’s the same kind of deal but instead of numbing, it’s more like a burning and I get really inflamed in that area,” lamented the pained lady, who analogized the feeling to “a million acupuncture needles.”
“Every or any time I get semen inside of me it happens. Even the littlest bit, even precum,” explained Lowery. She added that the severity of the side effects depends on the quantity of sperm she’s made contact with, while symptoms can last anywhere from 15 minutes to an hour.
Meanwhile, research has found that HSPH can even induce anaphylaxis, a potentially life-threatening condition also caused by bee stings, peanuts and other allergens.
Fortunately, the sperm-averse gal has been able to mitigate the symptoms by trying to urinate for “good sexual practice” and applying ice to the problem area if needed, Kennedy reported. Condoms also help prevent more serious reactions.
One of Lowery’s biggest concerns, though, was how her sex partners would react to her condition.
“I have to disclose it to partners like ‘by the way, there’s certain things I can’t do because of what I have,’ ” she explained.
Fortunately, as of yet, no one has seemed to mind. “They think that it’s actually more interesting or funny than anything, so it hasn’t caused me any relationship issues,” Lowery said.
“People actually want to know more but of course, they don’t want to do their own research, so they ask me for all the details,” the bemused lady added. “People just don’t even believe it’s a thing because it’s so uncommon or at least it’s not spoken about, so they’re more intrigued than anything.”
And, Lowery appears to be taking her semen allergy in stride, explaining:
“Once I describe my experience they believe me, but at first a lot of the time people are like ‘no way, that’s a real thing?’ and then they go ‘oh, that sucks’ and I’m like ‘it doesn’t, I live with it, there’s worse things out there.’ “
Unfortunately, HSPH is not the only semen-sparked affliction.
Research shows that some rompers suffer from post-orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS), another alleged sperm allergy that causes fatigue, a stuffy nose and other flu-like symptoms, which begin immediately after the deed is done.