Wife is allergic to her husband's sperm

[snopes]

A newlywed couple fear they will be unable to have a baby after they discovered the wife was allergic to her husband's semen.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...nds-sperm.html

[Jahungo]

Well, they could presumably do IVF, right? Although that is invasive and expensive.

[DawnStorm]

Now if hubby got a vasectomy, would that resolve the problem? Or is it the fluid itself that causes the reaction?

[Aud 1]

Originally Posted by Jahungo

Well, they could presumably do IVF, right? Although that is invasive and expensive.

They could start with an IUI (intrauterine insemination) which doesn't have to be very expensive and isn't any more invasive than an annual exam. The semen is centrifuged and very little material is inserted.

Still, it is cool they have started adoption proceedings.

[Jahungo]

Originally Posted by DawnStorm

Now if hubby got a vasectomy, would that resolve the problem? Or is it the fluid itself that causes the reaction?

The abstract of this article describes it as a reaction to a protein within the "seminal plasma," which I think means the part that's not the sperm, so a vasectomy wouldn't help.

[Ellestar]

I just watched a television show on this (on Discovery Health) the other day. The name of the show was something like "Strange Sex" or something. It detailed some of the strange things people had to deal with about sex. Another topic was sex-somnia, or initiating and participating in sex while still asleep. It was like sleep walking.

Anyway, the couple they followed where the wife was allergic to sperm, she couldn't get IVF because she worked at a Catholic high school which forbade her getting pregnant using artificial means. Instead, she went and saw an allergy specialist in Cincinnati. They had sent the husband's sperm and the doctor had made serums using the different proteins of the husband's sperm. Then, she went in and basically got allergy shots that would allow her to have unprotected sex with her husband without pain.

In the show, she said it worked and could have painless sex with her husband. However, she still needs to go in for her shots every so often and she has not yet been able to get pregnant.