Penis pain - TMS or trauma?

[Redemolished]

Hello all, I have been a member here for years and had a wonderful and supportive experience during my previous struggles long ago. I have battled practically everything under the sun symptom-wise but have been living a largely pain free life for some years now. I have now rejoined under a different name because the current struggle is quite sensitive and there was a lot of personal information on my other account.

I will keep it relatively brief symptom-wise and focus on the context, but will happily elaborate if anyone asks. To cut to the chase, I am nearly 3 weeks into a very slow recovery from what seemed to be a penis injury following a sexual session. There was no obvious moment in which something appeared to happen, although it wasn't the most comfortable experience. The next day I experienced a sudden onset of pain in the penis which grew steadily worse and only really started to calm down a bit in the last week following a course of strong anti-inflammatories. Regardless, I have been mostly bed-ridden aside from essential trips to the bathroom/kitchen and occasionally trips to the GP/hospital (by car). Those trips have aggrivated the condition because any movement seems to create a sensation of inflammation and soreness, or a "flare up", and the trips have been fruitless as no one knows what to do with me nor do they seem to care. I am currently left with no clear follow up medically, and am working on the basis of the GP's speculated diagnosis of "minor soft tissue damage". However, he predicted 1-2 week recovery during which he also expected me to be able to go about my normal routine (far from possible).

Maybe this is physical and I just need to wait it out, but the lack of a concrete diagnosis makes it very challenging. There is no obvious sign of injury outwardly (bruising etc), but it is undeniably tender and feels inflamed. There also just seems to be no real advice anywhere for dealing with minor injuries of this sort. It's like blood from a stone. I can't work and I'm not getting any medical assistance, have extreme cabin fever, and am slightly concerned for my financial well being (I won't be getting sick pay).

The reason I think this could be tms is that there absolutely is emotional baggage for me around sex and it was actually convenient for me to not be able to perform for a little while. I am very aware of these issues though and am consciously trying to work through them. I have also struggled with chronic pelvic pain syndrome in the past (largely manifesting as prostitis and bladder pain), and I have a history of mild (but stable) pyronies. Lastly, some of the sensations are not dissimilar from what I've felt when I have had chronic pain/inflammation in my arms/hands. In one instance this did start out as a soft tissue injury and then later became chronic, so the challenge for me is that i don't know how to know whether what I'm experiencing is a genuine injury or purely psychosomatic. I can't even find out what the expected recovery window is because it ranges from a week to months depending on who you ask.

There are no easy answers here but I guess I'm just hoping to touch base with some like-minded people, and hopefully even find someone with a similar experience who can advise on these unusual symptoms. This was such a sanctuary for me years ago and was so valuable in moving me forward.

 

[Diana-M]

The reason I think this could be tms is that there absolutely is emotional baggage for me around sex and it was actually convenient for me to not be able to perform for a little while.

I would look here. And yes! Your TMS brain can make ANYTHING happen in your body. It has full control to give you any symptom—however rare, strange or scary. Believe it! Do the work and you’ll get out of this just like you did in the past. What’s wrong in your life? What’s too much? What do you think you’re only sad about— but underneath you’re actually raging? What seems “perfectly fine; no problems.” Your job? A relationship? Your family relationships? “Look in plain sight” for the culprit behind your need for a TMS distraction. (And, if you possibly can, forget about what the doctor said, because he really didn’t even know what the heck to tell you.)

 

[JanAtheCPA]

Hi there @Redemolished, and welcome/sorry that you're back. It's not unusual in these extremely trying times - we're seeing lots of members return who had successful recoveries in the past.

You're well-versed in Dr Sarno, but did you ever do the Structured Educational Program, or Alan Gordon's Pain Recovery Program? You could do both - Alan's program is only 21 days and thus easier to finish. It offers reminders that you might need right now, as well as new insights into the neuroscience. However, the SEP provides the deeper and more vulnerable emotional work and lifetime tools to truly recover, based on the work of Dr Howard Schubiner as well as Dr Sarno.

 

[Rabscuttle]

My first debilitating TMS symptom was penile pain follow martial arts, Dr thinking it was a back injury that caused a nerve issue, dx with pudendal neuralgia—all nonsense was always TMS. Ah those days were a nightmare. Basically my body and brain said enough is enough, quit your Fing job and so I did. The pain lasted a month.

You lose absolutely nothing by applying a mind body approach here, keep calm and don’t catastrophize over the symptoms.

 

[Redemolished]

I'm sorry I never replied to anyone here, but I wanted to check in now it's been several months. This whole thing was quite an ordeal and very distressing. I was constantly referred for scans and then had people cancelling them telling me nothing was wrong with me, then eventually getting a scan and it being for the wrong body part, then being denied again despite the botched referral. It is only very recently that I finally recieved an ultra sound after having a private specialist push for one for me (initially wanted mri, but that was blocked and received ultrasound instead). The ultrasound did reveal scar tissue indicating there was a real injury (labelled as "micro trauma"), and i have been dismissed with diagnosis of likely Pyronies expected to settle. While I have resumed normal life generally, I have discomfort day to day, and normal sexual activity is not possible without pain. I continue to feel paranoia, as my ongoing symptoms seem less related to the scar tissue and to align more with a strain of the suspensory ligament (instability and discomfort at the very base), which from what I read does not really get better on its own, requires intervention, and needs an MRI to confirm. So I guess I'll be trying again to get that scan, for what good it'll do. I really want it to be tms, but while I can live with the discomfort, the feeling of instability is challenging and I can't really live with the uncertainty that pushing past discomfort will cause further damage.

I don't know if anyone here can really advise, but I felt I should at least check in. If anyone happens to have had personal experience with symptoms/damage to suspensory ligament, that would be invaluable. But maybe I'm a unique case on this forum.

 

[Rabscuttle]

Well you’re doing a few things wrong, understandably. You’re thinking you’re a unique case. You’re fearful and paranoid and rejecting a diagnosis that should bring hope (scar tissue) and instead extending the goal posts based on your symptoms (ex- this feels like tear not scar tissue). Absolutely get the mri if you can it sounds like you need it to remove doubt but you need to find a way to lessen fear and attention in the present. Because even if you have some issue that requires physical intervention you’ve now been hyper focusing and fearful of this area for months, not an ideal place to be when trying to fix something physically.

do I have issues with the suspensory ligament in my penis? No. But I can certainly empathize as post vasectomy pain was the symptom that led me to this mess. There was a true physical issue there and still is (my vas deferens is severed) but I have no pain now. I’ve had various physical injuries that led to TMS (dislocating my jaw, fracturing my knee cap etc) my obsession kept those pains going way longer than they should. I thought I was a unique You need to find a way to lessen some of the fear and attention and start finding hope that you can get through this, because again even if it’s truly physical, you’ll need these skills to heal successfully. The genitals are areas we naturally guard so what you’re going through makes sense. I don’t think it’s wrong to go through a TMS program in the meantime and start developing some skills to detach from the physical- I really like non guided meditation.

Also- muscle tension can feel like instability. The amount of times I’ve had severe widespread facial tension that felt like my jaw was ready to slide out of its socket has been countless, but that never ever happens. And when that tension fully goes away for moments at a time, my jaw is fine. But if you google it will say tension is the result of the muscles protecting the unstable joint or ligament or whatever. The brain can easily just keep tension going even when there is no physical justification for it.

I hope the mri provides the answers you need but I hope you don’t wait for it to start changing your mindset regarding the symptoms.

 

[Redemolished]

Thank you for your reply. I used to have issues all over my body that I overcame with the tms approach, but this has felt different and more challenging, not least since having evidence of a real issue. I am trying to calm my paranoia and not let too much of the day to day be affected, but it's hard to completely escape the worry that it is getting worse or being reinjured when engaging in sexual activity.