Symptoms of Chronic Pelvic Pain?

[LegendaryPlayers]

Hi everyone. I’m a 35 year old male who has been having some very strange and frustrating symptoms for the past 10 months. About 10 months ago, I started getting a sort of tingling or slight burning sensation that seemed to generated from my genitals. The symptoms started to hit me all at once and for a short while, I could not get an erection to save my life (even by myself). I panicked and started taking sildenafil for a month or so, which definitely worked. However, I knew there was a problem and being that I was in a serious relationship, I knew I had to be honest. I broke down one day and admitted everything to my gf, including the ED medication. I stopped taking sildenafil because I knew there was a deeper issue and didn’t simply want to put a bandage on the issue. Over the next week or so, my ability to get erections actually came back, although I still had the tingling sensations and still had erection issues maybe 25% of the time. I went to a urologist who diagonals me with prostatitis and put me on antibiotics. They didn’t work in the slightest. Bloodwork and urine tests were normal. Had a Penile duplex Doppler to check for blood flow issues...normal. Fast forward 10 months....I’ve seen every type of doctor imaginable, and I’m still suffering with what I now believe to be some form of chronic pelvic pain. I still get the tingling sensations as well what feels like a slight pain and numbness toward the base on the right side of my penis. I can get erections the majority of the time when having sex, although they sometimes require a little more effort to achieve and the sensation seems to be reduced from previous experience. At times, the pain I feel seems to radiate from within the body and I don’t seem to be emptying the bladder fully when I pee. A pelvic pain specialist prescribed Valium suppositories. These actually reduced my symptoms but caused delayed ejaculation. One thing I did notice is that in the months leading up to this problem, I developed a habit of “Kegeling” every time I want to get an erection. I started doing it subconsciously throughout the day, and even now that I’ve recognized it and try to avoid it, I still have what seems like Kegel spasms if I get anxious. Can anyone give any insight as to what they think my problem might be? The tingling and numbness I’m feeling seem to be nerve-related, but I’ve been told pelvic issues can produce these sensations. Can anyone verify this? Btw....I’m about 165 pounds, good health, good diet, although I do have very tight hamstrings and hip flexors. Any info would be greatly appreciated, as this condition has made me miserable every day! Thank you so, so much!!!

[kalecolbe12]

I have had pelvic floor dysfunction for a year or so and I relieve your symptoms are pelvic floor dysfunction which can involve the nerves but definitely the muscles of the pelvic floor which involves the urinary tract, rectum the perineum in both men and women and also penis and testicles in men and vagina and clitoral/labia area with women... You say you were doing kegel type moves and that can make your muscles too tight and then squash the nerves which then react ... it's taken me six months of ...pelvic floor physical therapy along with home stretches exercises and deep breathing as well as muscle relaxers to get to about 90% better now and even then if I hold my pelvic floor too tight with stress I can have a flare up so you have to be very aware of this.... personally I would recommend you see a pelvic floor physical therapist for an assessment,...I know my pelvic floor physical therapist treats both men and women for these conditions...... sad thing is that people get unnecessary surgeries and get wrong diagnosis all the time with this and the pelvic floor physical therapist is the best person to go to....

[LegendaryPlayers in reply to kalecolbe12]

Thank you so much for your reply!!! So if I can relieve the tightness of the pelvic floor muscles, should the nerves go back to normal functioning? My fear is that there is permanent nerve damage. Thanks again for your help and for the suggestion or physical therapy.

[kalecolbe12 in reply to LegendaryPlayers]

I thought I had permanent nerve damage too but once we relaxed my muscles the severe pain I was having and tingling has pretty much gone.. I mean I couldn't even have a bowel movement I would have pain for hours afterwards and zippy tingling weird sensations...so I would say you probably don't have permanent nerve damage but like I say only a physical therapist can assess that and then once you are put on a plan with home work and the therapy you should start feeling better after a few weeks/months ...if the nerve pain hasn't gone then it may be entrapped ,/damaged but a lot of people think they have entrapped pudental nerve branches and it's just tight muscles around the nerve compressing it... But like I say you have to realize it's going to take months to get everything relaxed and functioning properly again, as I say it's taken me six months of therapy once a week and homework every single night diligently and thank God for the cyclobenzaprine but some people find gabapentin or cymbalta helps also.... I am off all medication at this point and if I get a flare-up which I've had after a month of no pain I had a flare up because of constipation which I tried to avoid but it happens now and again anyway I took a single muscle relaxer did a sitz bath and it went back to normal in a few days... Oh FYI by the way some people get BOTOX in the area but it's hit-and-miss and helps some and makes others worse... Nerve blocks are hit and miss also ...you might want to read the book a headache in the pelvis which is really a helpful book...Also the only way they can tell about the nerves has to do an MRI for the nerves called MRN but I would try the therapy first ,it's the least invasive and usually helps a lot of people

[LegendaryPlayers in reply to kalecolbe12]

Thanks so much for taking the time to reply. You’ve given me hope. I will try to set up PT for this week. As a guy, the most frustrating thing is dealing with the sexual side effects. What’s funny is I rarely wake up with morning wood these days, but can still get an erection most of the time now when having sex. I guess it could be worse and I’m sure there are others with a similar condition who are worse off. Thank you so much again and God bless.

[kalecolbe12 in reply to LegendaryPlayers]

Yes there are a lot of people a lot worse off believe me but you are doing something about it early and that goes a long way