Could you be allergic to your own... orgasm? Study finds there's seven different types of 'post-coital flu' symptoms that strike men

Men can be 'allergic' to their own orgasms, experts say.

French researchers studying the extremely rare post-orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS) claim it can manifest itself as seven different types of symptoms. 

Some unfortunate men might be struck down with headaches, burning eyes or a runny nose that last seconds, minutes or even hours after ejaculation. 

Others, doctors found, can experience a sore throat, fever, muscle weakness and fatigue. 

French researchers studying the extremely rare post-orgasmic illness syndrome (POIS) claim it can manifest itself as seven different types of symptoms. Some unfortunate men might be struck down with headaches, burning eyes or a runny nose that last seconds, minutes or even hours after ejaculation 

The symptoms can be triggered by intercourse, masturbation or even after spontaneous nocturnal ejaculation, say researchers. 

More extreme symptoms of POIS could include palpitations or incoherent speech, an expert at Hospital Center des Quatre Villes, on the outskirts of Paris, wrote in a French medical journal.

While it was first reported in 2002, experts have only examined around 60 cases in the two decades since.

Thousands more men could be afflicted, though, because it is likely many affected do not seek medical attention.

Scientists are baffled by the cause of the flu-like symptoms, although they think it could result from an allergic or autoimmune response to the sufferer's own sperm. 

This would generate an autoimmune response in the body, which could explain the allergy-like symptoms that some men experience.

Another hypothesis is that POIS could be triggered by a chemical imbalance in the brain.

The problems this causes can last for up to a week, Dr Charlotte Methorst wrote in Progrès en Urologie with the words 'post coitum flu' in the title.

She added that, with so few people aware of POIS, many more may unknowingly be living with it.

Symptoms vary between men but are believed to be the same intensity with each ejaculation or orgasm. 

Medics have yet to identify a cure for POIS.

Instead, treatments have previously included antihistamines, alpha-blockers — used to treat high blood pressure — and anti-inflammatory drugs such as diclofenac, the doctors said. 

Other behavioural therapies and mindfulness techniques have also proved 'beneficial' for patients and should be offered, they added.