Health Organization for Pudendal Education

Hi everyone this is my first post,

I'm a member of various other forums but as yet have no diagnosis so I can't claim a home.

Some years ago now I suffered a sudden loss of penile sensation when I went to masturbate, the orgasm was muted. Ever since then the problem has persisted. I've seen a urologist who carried out an EMG and said that there was intact sensory traffic from the shaft of the penis. He fobbed me off to a psychiatrist and I was so disheartened I left it for years, until recently.

For the past few months I have been researching. I have a tight foreskin (phimosis) which I never went to the doctor about. It has only ever been mild phimosis and I've always been able to retract the foreskin but when erections are hardest it is uncomfortable. There is a possibility the foreskin was tight enough to restrict bloodflow to the head of the penis, but I've not been able to find evidence that this can cause a numbness in the penis and affect orgasm and the whole sexual experience in general. It was been mentioned in relation to the worst cases of phimosis/paraphimosis (where the foreskin gets trapped behind the head), however my phimsosis was never that severe. If you research tight foreskin and numbness it mostly brings up cases of men who were circumstanced and have lost a lot of penile sensation, practically nothing in the way of phimosis and sudden penile numbness.

Another possibility is muscle tension in the lower body/pelvic floor. It may be possible that due to bad form/posture and a mild case of lordosis (arched back) I was putting undue pressure on vital nerves, and this possible imbalance may have been gradually worseneing until one day tolerance was breached and something was contricted or pushed out of place permentantly. I can't say I have ever had noticable back pain, in my case just numbness, loss of penile sensation and orgasm. I have bought foam rollers and trigger point massagers but I don't understand how these work, I end up lying on my back feeling about but getting nowhere. I'm now looking at getting a referral to a good physiotherapist that specialises in the pelvic floor.

I have also researched other potential causes, such as lyme disease and infections, and I'm waiting on the urologist appointment to explore these further.

By posting this I'm hoping some people may identify with my specific symtoms, and may perhaps have some helpful words.

I would say my sensation has reduced from 10/10 to perhaps a 2 or 3/10 and if I abstain from sexual acitvity including masturbation for longer periods I feel even less when I do masturbate.

Hi GR,

Dr. Robert, a neurosurgeon in France has addressed the topic of loss of sensation in his article on the diagnostic criteria for pudendal nerve entrapment. One of the diagnostic criteria is pain as opposed to loss of sensation.

"Pain With No Objective Sensory Impairment

This is an essential clinical finding. The presence of a
superficial perineal sensory deficit is highly suggestive of a
sacral nerve root lesion, particularly involving the cauda
equina nerve roots, or a sacral plexus lesion. These proximal
lesions usually do not cause pain and present clinically with
sensorimotor deficits, especially sensory loss and sphincter
motor disorders."

You can see the entire article here. http://www.pudendalhope.info/sites/defa ... iteria.pdf

So, have you had an MRI of the lumbar/lumbosacral areas to rule out any nerve impingements, lesions, or abnormalities there?

Best,

Violet

Hi Violet, I Have read that entire article which was interesting. I don't experience any pain at all in my lower body, besides an occasionally stiff lower back. My interpretation of that paragraph and the rest of the article is that pain is present in some shape or form for PNE to be diganosed, I don't have discomfort other than mild cramping occasionally after orgasm, and this will only be if I masturbate a lot in a short space of time, for example 3-4 times in one day. If I go without masturbation for a long period of time, say a week or two, I notice that I feel even more numbness in the glans of the penis and the orgasm is even weaker. It is as though I have to apply constant stimulation to the region in order to feel a little more each time. Noawadays I can easily touch the glans of the penis without it hurting, before and after orgasm, before this happened the glans were so sensitive to touch I wouldn't have been able to do this. I'm seeing a urologist this week and perhaps he will mention an MRI, I will mention it if he doesn't. Thanks for the input