She's Allergic to husband's sperm

Couple's problem went undetected thanks to protection they used before marriage

Couple's problem went undetected thanks to protection they used before marriage

An American couple is looking at other methods of having children after they discovered that she was allergic to his sperm on their wedding night.

Mike and Julie Boyde went out for two years after meeting at university and got married in 2005.

Before their wedding, the couple always used protection, but once they married and had unprotected sex, things started to go wrong.

Painful

"Pretty much right after I knew something was not right because I was in a lot of pain," said Julie in a documentary called Strange Sex.

Making Changes: Mike and Julie Boyde now plan to adopt

"The pain that I was feeling was inside, like somebody sticking needles up inside of me, like a real painful burning. It was really scary."

Her suffering would last for weeks after the couple had sex, and sometimes blisters appeared. "On a scale of one to 10, the pain is pretty much 10."

Doctors were initially unable to explain the affliction, but a friend suggested that it might be an allergy and after a range of tests, the problem was diagnosed as seminal plasma hypersensitivity.

Attacking sperm

"The body recognises the sperm as a foreign protein, like it would recognise a peanut allergen or pollen so you have swelling, you have itching, you have inflammation of the nerve endings," said Dr Andrew Goldstein from the University of Cincinnati Medical Centre.

It also means that Julie body attacks Mike's sperm and renders it inactive.

Doctors developed a treatment for the problem, but while it worked for some couples who suffered from the same problem, it didn't work for Mike and Julie.

The Boydes are now looking to adopt.