When newlyweds Jeff and Clara got married, they were experiencing more than one milestone together. Besides celebrating their nuptials, the couple had also waited until their wedding night to have sex for the first time. The moment should’ve been special, but it went awry when Clara (whose name has been changed to ensure privacy) started feeling ill afterwards.
“I had this bizarre reaction,” she told ABC. “I had burning and swelling and redness, which was very unusual. I thought I had contracted an STD.”
Embarrassed, Clara visited the gynecologist and did hours of research online before a doctor finally discovered the real and completely unexpected reason: she was allergic to her husband’s sperm! Wow…can you imagine getting THAT news after you’ve already gotten married?! Awkward!
Apparently, Clara had seminal plasma hypersensitivity, a condition that affects between 20,000 and 40,000 women in the US and caused her to have an allergic reaction (including swelling and hives) to the proteins in Jeff’s semen. Nothing, not even using condoms, seemed to help. As you can imagine, the condition had a serious impact on their life as newlyweds.
