Unfortunately, the answer could be yes!

You aren’t allergic to sex per se; the allergy will be to your partner’s sexual secretions. The condition is so far only documented in women as an allergy to semen. However, since most allergies are related to the proteins in a substance, it is theoretically possible for a man to be allergic to a woman’s vaginal secretions as well.

The most common symptoms of a semen allergy are a localized reaction including itching, burning and swelling of the genitals. If you have a really serious allergy, you could experience more systemic reactions, including hives, swelling in other parts of your body or even anaphylaxis. However, not all itching and burning is an allergy; you need to exclude other reasons for your symptoms.

One way of doing some detective work yourself is to pay attention to when symptoms occur. In most cases, you’ll have a reaction within 30 minutes of coming in contact with semen, and won’t experience it if a condom is used.

You can be allergic to one partner and not others. So, just because you’ve never had the condition with previous sexual partners doesn’t mean you’re unable to have it with another.

Here’s the tricky part: it’s possible that you aren’t allergic to the semen itself, but to the proteins that are in the semen due to your partner’s diet! However, this is extremely rare, and you would have to have a very low threshold to the allergen in order for this kind of reaction to occur. 

Current research indicates that the best treatment is to desensitize the woman to semen. This can be accomplished in a couple of ways, including the well-known allergy shot technique through to a doctor’s office procedure where the woman’s genitals are exposed to diluted semen repeatedly. In either case, the woman must also commit to a sexual encounter two to three times a week in order to help train the immune system.

Sounds like the treatment is more pleasant than many allergy treatments!