A study of a rare and mysterious male illness
A study takes stock of a disease reported in only about fifty cases, affecting men just after sex: it could be caused by an allergy to one's own seed, or a sort of chemical "abstinence".
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A rare and still little known condition similar to a bad influence, which affects men shortly after orgasm, concerns for now about fifty clinical cases, but it could be more widespread than you think.
For the moment it is called post-orgasmic disease or post-orgasmic syndrome ( post orgasmic illness syndrome , POIS) and consists of a series of symptoms such as cold shivering, muscle aches, fatigue, weakness, mood disorders, mental confusion and difficulty of memory and in language, which arise starting from a few seconds, minutes or hours after ejaculation.
It was first described in 2002, but now a study by the University of Tulane (USA) published in the journal Sexual Medicine Reviews takes stock of what has been discovered so far.
AT WHAT AGE DOES IT MANIFEST?
The severity of the symptoms is strictly subjective, and even the timing of onset change: there is a primary POIS that affects the first orgasm you had, and a secondary one that arises later in life, during adulthood. It mainly affects men and is a chronic condition that affects every orgasm, regardless of how it is achieved. In one case, she was diagnosed with a woman, but there are no details.
In men it is often associated with premature ejaculation, but it is still not clear why. Despite being classified as a rare disease by the American National Institutes of Health of Rare Disease Research , most people ignore its existence, and this together with the private moment in which it manifests leads to an extremely small number of diagnoses.
WHAT IS IT CAUSED BY?
Two possible explanations. The main hypothesis is that it is a sort of autoimmune disease or allergy due to a substance present in its semen. When this comes into contact with the skin or other parts of the body, symptoms also arise.
A series of tests in this sense showed that 29 out of 33 men with POIS experienced allergic reactions to their own seed - a discovery that could pave the way for progressive desensitization therapies such as those used against allergies.
Another hypothesis is that it derives from an exaggerated release of endogenous chemicals that act as natural opioids, such as endorphin, released during orgasm. As soon as these (physiologically) subsides, the body remains in a state of abstinence.
The hope is that knowing that it is an illness pushes more patients to report their symptoms, and that this leads to a better understanding of this debilitating condition.