Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hello, im new here and would like some advice as to my problem. Sorry its long but I've tried to be detailed. Im 20 years old and this aside am generally healthy.

I became constipated about a year and a half ago , I've spoken to a Doc and its more likely IBS. Anyway, eventually I got fed up of being on the toilet so long and strained a lot. I noticed sometimes when I strained my left leg began to tremor/shake - the stronger I strained the more powerful the shake . Looking back this also caused a temporary numbness to the leg. This was almost a year ago now.

One day, for no apparent reason, I began to experience extreme left testicle pain. This really hurt and seemed to get worse over the period of a few hours. As there was no swelling, colour change of skin etc I put it down to random pain( though some pains radiated towards my belly button). As it continued I decided to go to the local sexual health clinic - they felt a lump and tested me for STI's. Due to my discomfort they prescribed me with antibiotics before results came back and in case the lump was an infection. The results did however come back clear and a scan showed the lump to be a cyst.

A few days later the pain lost intensity( no longer agony) and developed into a more bearable discomfort. By this I mean putting underwear on irritated the pain and catching my testicle when sitting or walking really hurt. I decided to change to more supportive underwear but the irritation still occurred. Not long after the left testicle began to feel numb.

The numbness of the left testicle continued, two weeks later a numb patch developed on my groin/inner thigh. The skin looked fine but to touch it felt numb. A few days after this I got a sharp pain running down my entire left leg, it lasted only a short amount of time ( half an hour ) but when it went the whole left leg felt numb/pins needles. The numbness also appeared to have spread to my left buttock and penis to.

This numbness is not a total loss of sensation, just a lesser than previously.

Ive currently seeing a neurologist ( after six months of Doc's unsure what to do ) and he has ran all the physicals . The pin prick I could feel BUT when he ran a ball of cotton wool over the affected areas I could hardly feel it. I've had a scan of the spin and all is fine. Im waiting for my brain scan and lumbar puncture to be done.

The numbness is greater in the original source of pain (left testicle),the inner thigh but also the left buttock and the area behind your testicles and in between your anus. Its only the let side affected. Irritation of the testicle still occurs and more so when wearing underwear and strangely having to sit with my legs closer together ( when my thighs are almost touching) such as on the bus, train or a full lecture room.

All this is really taking its toll and I feel like im going a little crazy. I've lost interest in sex as the numb sensation is off putting. I've came across Pudendal Nerve whilst searching and some similarities are there , even though the intensity of the pain inst as strong as originally or that it includes the whole left leg too.

Any advice appreciated

Hmm this might be un-related, but I had an L5S1 disc bulge revealed after a weight lifting accident. I had sciatic symptoms that progressed into pelvic symptoms that can be characterized by PNE-like symptoms (the list). Throughout the time though, my physios were always talking about my muscular hypertonicity in my spinal erectors/glutes/legs. I had that testicular pain in the left which hurt to walk/stand but I was helped with a physio jammed her elbow into my QL. Sometimes pain is felt in a different spot than its true origin, that's called referred pain. Anyway that's my experience, it may or may not relate to your situation. Best case scenario its just tight muscles that need to be massaged or trigger-point released.

You may want to check out the list of physical therapists and see if you can get an evaluation of your pelvic floor muscles.
http://www.pudendalhope.info/node/16

There is some excellent advice on preventing constipation at this link:

http://www.pudendalhope.info/node/32

Violet

I am new here too so can't offer much on what you are going through. I am still not sure about myself. One thing I can say (which I know can't be one of your biggest things right now) but I have IBS. I have tried many things for many years and the one thing that has really helped me is a probiotic. My Dr says her young daughter takes 5 a day because she likes to poop! I found that if I haven't gone 3 a day helps me but I do get some stomach nausea with that. If you can have somebody or even yourself rub your lower back that helps. I hope you get your other issues straightened out and find relief but I know sometimes one more health problem can be one too many to deal with.
Good luck,
Penny

Hi CFDME, welcome.
Sorry that you find yourself in this situation but it looks as if the medical people are certainly taking this problem seriously with brain scans and the like, which is a good thing obviously. Like Violet mentioned I think a pelvic evaluation from a PT will be beneficial. The constipation may have inadvertently added tension to your pelvic floor muscles which needs to be released. Always go for someone who is pudendal nerve/neuralgia aware, as on the list that Violet linked. Hopefully there will be someone near you and
hopefully this will be the answer to your problem, although it can take a few sessions to find improvement. If the therapist does find trigger points and tension there once they can be 'worked out', any nerve irritation subsides.
Let us know how you get on. Your problem does sound as if it could be from a pelvic nerve and probably the pudendal being irritated in those tighter pelvic floor muscles. That is a great place to start anyway.
Take care,
Helen