SteveS1980 (imported) wrote: Thu Dec 11, 2008 4:20 pm Well, it looks like I found the right web sight and right forum but it also looks like there is no easy solution to my testicle pain problem. I posted my situation on my blog post so I won't go into the details here.

It looks like I have no choice but to undergo yet another epididymus removal surgery and spend the rest of my life with useless balls and no sex life. The economy has caused me enough depression, and now this. If it wasn't so dangerous I would just remove the little buggers myself, but I am not that desperate or wreckless, although I am very tempted to find some way to cause my balls to need justifiable medically necessary removal that won't land me in the psycho ward or void my insurance.

I will keep watching this forum, and browse the other forums to see if there is some way to deal with this.

I would rather have 2 normal working balls, but fate has dealt me a bad hand and I am caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't want to suffer pain, or emotional distress any more so no balls is more acceptable to me than another surgery and 2 small squishy sterile dead useless balls. I'm going to need yet more anti-depression treatments now.

Steve:

Try looking into seeing a good pain doctor. Work with him/her and talk about all the options. If you give all the other alternatives a try and really can't resolve the pain talk to the pain doctor about seeing a Urologist who knows about Orchialgia and be willing to jump through a few hoops. In the end I can say that Orchiectomy worked for me. As to the physical attributes of your natal testicles they CAN be replaced with implants that look and feel pretty good.

Of all the web sites I have visited regarding testicle pain this is the most useful. Elsewhere there's not much talk or acceptance of having the testes removed (or nobody will admit to having such thoughts).

Since I can't possibly understand, or explain, all of the details of what's going on in my situation it looks like at this point I will have to submit to removal of the epididymus. I am told that since I have chronic recurring epididymus, which could lead to epididi-orchitis (spelling right?) this can be resolved by removal of the epididymus.

As long as the main problem is resolved that's about all I can hope for at this point. I will be sterile but a lot of men are sterile. Being healthy and being able to have a pain free day, every day, is a big accomplishment.

I am assuming that after this surgery the right testesticle will be the same as the left one now is. Small, numb, squishy, just pretty much disgusting. It feels diseased, although it is not. Having 1 of these was bad enough, having 2 is just awful. So while I will be out of physical pain, there will still be a lot of emotional pain to deal with........just will have to take it one step at a time. Right now I just can't stand the thought of living a life with such deformities and would rather have them removed. Maybe after surgery I will change my opinion, but right now I don't think so. If I am no longer in pain it would then seem that having them removed is just about going to be impossible. What a catch 22. Ugh.

Nowhere else on other medical issue forums do I know of where one could interact with others to discuss such issues and thoughts. I do feel crazy for wanting my testes removed, but living a life with 2 oddities is a living hell too. What a debacle.

I ran your situation past a medical person of my acquaintance she said that the condition of your left testicle is not what she would expect from that surgery. I, myself, have no knowledge of this but she seemed sure of what she was saying. I can imagine that this is a possible outcome if the inflammation is bad enough and has gone on a long time. There don't seem to be many urologists who will accept the idea of removing testes. They will go to ridiculous lengths to preserve what can be useless, unwanted organs. --FLO--

I had an epididymectomy a few months prior to my orchiectomy and i can tell you that my testicles did not change size/shape/consistency as a result of the epididymectomy.

Hum. This is curious news. Good news I guess. It's been awhile ago and I am no MD. I have the vertical scar in my upper left groin where the incision was made. The testicle was removed, operated on, and re-inserted and now I have a squishy, small, numb testicle. Could my original condition have been orchitis resulting from epididymus? What I know I am learning from forums and the internet and it's starting to become a blur.

It was all very stressful/traumatic to me at the time and like a bad nightmare. It wasn't cancer though. I read elsewhere on this or another forum where someone else had half their testicle removed, which sounds very odd indeed; how can a Dr remove half a testicle, and why? Seems like it would be totally useless. In my case maybe they did something else that they didn't tell me or I don't recall.

Anyway, back to my current problem which is ongoing recurring chronic infection, swelling, pain, frozen pea packs, antibiotics. It gets better, then occurs again. I will do most anything to avoid such pain.

I am not inclined to blindly trust doctors, or anybody else for that matter. Doctors make money from surgery and so many surgeries are performed that are not needed. Pain makes me an easy mark.

I need more info from others who have had recent epididymectomy (or orchitis) to learn of their experiences so I think I will visit those sights again and for now sidestep my thoughts about orchiectomy.

I guess the recurring pain and hassle of it all has me thinking a bit over the top.

Each piece of info helps.

Zac (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:05 pm The doctor said I needed a months course of antibiotics because it too a while for the drugs to reach the infected area.

I guess each person's situation is different and each doctor is different. In my case my Dr is a urologist. With each flareup he prescribes 2 weeks of antibiotics followed by four weeks of NASIDs.

The flareups are wierd. Within a few hours my testicle will start to enlarge, get very tender, then painful. Wearing very tight athletic cup briefs (not jock strap) keeps the testicle elevated and I can go about my business with only an occasional stab of pain. Any amount of time without the briefs on is pain pain pain, like when taking a shower.

And then, after 4-6 weeks , in about 2 days time, the testicle will shrink back down to normal size. But the pain does not completely go away. There is always some pain. Not unbearable or debilitating, but annoying.

I can't quite imagine anyone being on antibiotics and NASIDs for a very long time with no resolution. But what do I know. I am still learning about this.

I am now wondering if my Dr. has made the right diagnosis.

The claim is that I have epididymus.

Yet, at the Mayo Clinic web site I learn this:

"Repeated epididymitis. Orchitis can lead to recurrent episodes of epididymitis. "

So maybe what I really have is Orchitis.

Doesn't sound good. Now I need to research this.

EmperorJimbo (imported) wrote: Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:08 pm I had an epididymectomy a few months prior to my orchiectomy and i can tell you that my testicles did not change size/shape/consistency as a result of the epididymectomy.

I am now wondering if my prior epididymectomy was really a sub-symptom of orchitis.....which I don't know much about yet, but will be reseaching.

I was only 18 at the time, and in severe trauma over having the problem and an operation on my nut. Could be that there was never a correct diagnosis, or I was never told, or I forgot, or maybe something went wrong during the surgery. All I know is that I had surgery and my left nut is small, squishy, feels nothing (numb), feels lumpy, and is a disgusting abomination. There is no physical sensation in that ball, but there has been ten years of emotional pain.

Steve.

Zac (imported) wrote: Tue Dec 19, 2006 3:05 pm The doctor said I needed a months course of antibiotics because it too a while for the drugs to reach the infected area.

This is correct for much of the urogenital area according to my urologist when I had a case of epidydimitis. There is some filtering effect that prevents bad things from getting down there but also delays and/or slows the effects of antibiotics