Woman shares heartbreaking way she discovered she’s allergic to her husband
A woman has opened up about the heartbreaking way she discovered she is allergic to her husband.
Speaking on ITV's This Morning today (5 January), Alex Murphy Klein discussed how her and her husband Paul's genes 'repel' from each other in a shocking medical discovery, which allowed the couple to finally realise why they were unable to conceive.
Alex, who tied the knot with Paul in 2023 and started trying for a baby two years into their marriage, explained: "We started trying to conceive a little over two years ago. We thought it would happen quickly and naturally, as you do. A year went by and nothing happened. I had tests and they found nothing wrong. Same with Paul."
The couple then decided to do a round of IVF due to a medical issue previously labelled as 'unexplained infertility'.
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"Unfortunately, that round of IVF didn’t work. We were getting ready to go for a second round and I just had to put the brakes on. My body works, his works, so we needed to figure out what was actually happening," Alex said.
Her and Paul then found an at-home medical blood testing kit from a company called Fertilysis.
"They send you these tests in the mail and you give them blood vials. We went down to the pharmacy, got our bloods drawn, sent them overseas to Greece, and we ended up finding out that we have a genetic predisposition that makes me incompatible with Paul's DNA, which is crazy," Alex said.
She continued: "I have this thing called Kir AA, and Paul has this gene called HLAC2. And what it is is when they come together, they kind of repel.
"My genes kind of put the brakes on and say, 'Let's attack this.' And so, no matter what we had done at that point in time, it wouldn't have worked if we had tried IVF again or if we continued.
"But luckily, I think we made the right decision by taking a break and saying, 'Let's find let's get to the bottom of it.' Because I don't like that buzz word, 'unexplained infertility.'"
Paul then shared his thoughts, explaining: "It's something that we never thought that we would go through, right? It's just been really difficult and especially as the man, it's really tough because you feel helpless.
"It's just really heartbreaking if I'm completely honest. But we just we're staying positive and I think it's good to speak out about it, especially coming from a man's point of view. I was kind of searching for that and not many men were speaking about it because you're you're kind of proud or embarrassed as a man to kind of speak about this type of thing."
The couple then opened up about the procedure that they're currently undergoing.
"Because we're incompatible, there's a treatment called Lit Therapy. And what it does, it's absolutely crazy when you think about it, is it takes Paul's blood and they inject Paul's blood into me. It's like a vampire," Alex said.
"So, they put they withdraw his blood and they centrifuge it and then they inject it into my arm, and then it builds up a tolerance for my body to start to say, 'This isn't foreign. Let's not attack this. Let's not react.'"
Alex, who has had four shots of that so far, said it 'wasn't comfortable the first few times', adding: "I've been through also a shot that we're doing to raise my white blood cells and we're also doing intrepid therapy which dampens my immune system.
"So, we're really working on all these things to find the right balance so that hopefully my body will accept him."
Dr Nighat then shared her insights on the medical phenomenon.
"It's not technically what's seen as an allergy," she said, explaining that allergies cause hives or swelling.
What’s happening here, according to the doc, involves immune cells we all have. Killer immunological receptors and HLA cells help the body decide what belongs and what doesn’t.
"But what happens with the killer immunological receptors is that they also sit on the surface cell of our natural killer cells in our body. So they either put the brake on to go 'oh something's coming to the body, do I need to sort of put a break on and have a look' or actually 'this is something I don't need to accelerate a response to it,'" she continued.
Dr Nighat added that the uterus is 'so clever', noting that when an embryo implants, the immune system pauses to assess it.
With certain genetic combinations, implantation can struggle or fail which is why some people experience recurrent miscarriage or complications like pre-eclampsia.
"So essentially our immune system is a huge part in our fertility journey," she rounded off.
In short, by introducing Paul’s processed DNA into Alex, the immune system learns to calm down and accept it.
"So it's not that they incompatible. They will go on to have lots of beautiful babies. So, I just wanted to reassure people that," Dr Nighat concluded.
Topics: Health, Life, Real Life, True Life, Sex and Relationships, Pregnancy, Parenting
Rhiannon Ingle