Penile Pain

[marco12345]

Hello,

I had an accident where I spilled some hot water over my crotch.
The glans of my penis got scalded as well.
Everything healed up nicely, everything looks normal again.
However at on spot I still feel a constant burning sensation.
And if touched it creates pain as well.

Do you guys think its tms or neuroplastic pain?
Is there any hope for recovery?

During the time of the accident I was in a depression.
One doctors stated that I hold on to the pain in order
to not deal with my mental problems. If I cure my depression
the pain will disappear.

The pain prevents me from living my life.
I am signed off sick and dropped out of the current semester at college.

 

[Cactusflower]

Hi @marco12345
We can't actually tell you if this is neuroplastic pain or not, that's something for you to decide. We can help you look at the fact that your injury seems to have healed. TMS is usually ascribed to chronic pain, which is 3 months or more, or, continued unexplained pain.
Is your pain unexplained?
Your doctor seems to think it is PHYSICALLY unexplained, since he smartly co-related that mental pain can correspond with physical pain.
The pain "prevents me from living my life".
I'd ask you to think about the fact that it's the PHYSICAL pain that is preventing you from living your life, and recognize that it might be the mental and emotional suffering that is preventing you from living your life.
Reading a book by Dr. Sarno - especially The Divided Mind is a great start to learning more about TMS. You will see he describes personality traits, how stress and anxiety or depression can all play a part in created TMS.
This is a short page about "pelvic pain" (which is a category your symptoms fall under) - please read this: https://ppdassociation.org/pelvic-pain (Pelvic Pain — Psychophysiologic Disorders Association)
There is also a free quiz you can take that will help you determine if your symptoms are TMS, and it is a very good idea to take it. There are no strings attached at all on this website (no ask for payment, emails etc.)

When you are finished, please come back here and let us know what you think, and get a copy of Dr. Sarno's book and read it!

 

[ARCUser831]

I think cactusflower provides great insight. In regards to the comment about the pain preventing you from living your life, I remember reading recently that while people often think of they could just get rid of the pain, they could start living their life again when actually it is beginning to live your life again that can help you overcome the pain…

the limitations you are feeling the pain has imposed on your life and the emotions that evokes all feed into the vicious cycle of TMS.

I agree with the above that we cannot confirm for you if it is TMS and it took me a while to believe mine was. In fact, I still doubt it even though I’ve been to the doctor many times without any physical explanation identified and my symptoms fit all of the criteria of TMS. Something that helped me early on and that still does today is creating and building on a “proof sheet”. That is, a list of all of the reasons you believe your pain to be TMS/neuroplastic. For me, that included things like ‘the pain came out of nowhere’, ‘it comes and goes and doesn’t bother me when I’m busy or being social’, ‘the type of and location of my pain changes’, ‘doctors visits had no answers’ and so on. I refer to it whenever I’m doubting. That might be a good step to help you assess your situation as well.

Good luck. My symptoms are in my groin/crotch as well and while the healing is not linear, I’ve improved.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

There was another reply in a duplicate thread here: Penile Pain | TMS Forum (The Mindbody Syndrome) (tmswiki.org) (now closed so that future responses will be in one place).