orchiectomy for pain relief

[erty]

Is orchiectomy an acceptable option for pain relief of the testicals when infection and cancer have been eliminted as causes? My urologist refuses this option but then it's not him living in pain.

[erty]

I just re-read my post "orchiectomy for pain relief" and realised there is very little info so to add to th

[erty]

I just re-read my post "orchiectomy for pain relief" and realised there is very little info so to add to th

[Shirokuma]

Orchialgia is misunderstood by most doctors it seems. Orchiectomy is not the first choice but for me after 10 years of pain it did take it away (right sided only).

Try pain management first, try the nerve block (diagnostic tool)

Many doctors will not cut because they risk getting sued. They also took an oath to do not harm.

I got to the point that drugs where not controlling the pain levels, my wife (MD) was having to give me injections so I could sleep (for 4 hours) so few options existed in my mind at that point. However, a pain specialist might have had a different idea. I only saw urologists. I will tell you it took me a couple years to feel comfortable with only one testicle. I did not get an implant.

[erty]

Thanks for the reply Shirokuma,

I tried to add a second post to my first after I re-read my first post and realized there wasn't much info in it. Don't know what happened but as I was typing it double posted the little I had written.

I tried to add a second post to my first after I re-read my first post and realized there wasn't much info in it. Don't know what happened but as I was typing it double posted the little I had written.

I am 60 years old and this has been going on for 2 1/2 years now, the first 2 years weren't really bad, more of a real inconvenience. Just a minor dull ache that was 24/7, had tests done and was told no infections and no cancer, it would clear up by itself. That's great news, no cancer, no infection except It didn't clear up and around 6-8 months ago it started getting worse, much worse, can't sleep at night and at times the pain is bad enough to get sick to my stomach.

10 years? I don't know how you did that. I don't have anyone to give me pain shots but don't really want pain management anyway. It seems to me that pain is the body’s sign that something is wrong; to just cover it up cannot be right. Had another urologist appointment today, new guy and the first time I've seen him (this is the third one). Same old routine, blood tests, ultrasound and this time X-rays. Another appointment with him tomorrow when he has the results of the blood tests. We'll see but my money is on the same outcome as before, nothing wrong just be a man and live with it.

10 years? Shirokuma your a better man than me, no way can I let this go on for another 7 1/2 years. There has to be a doctor that can either fix the problem or remove the problem.

[Shirokuma]

I was 18 when it started. The doctor was trying to keep me "normal". I was able to father a child so that is good.

The routine is the same every time.

Haha the pain shots are not fun or even really a good idea. Between the body building tolerances and the fact that shots are usually narcotics....

There is a guy in Florida that specializes. Otherwise it is really a hit and miss with urologists.

Good luck.

[rmprdl1964]

Hi,

I would not advise an orchiectomy as this might not eliviate the pain if there is a neurological pain. I'm sure that most of you might have heard of cases where people have had limbs removed to have phantom pains afterwards.

In 2000 I underwent an emergency surgery to have my left testicle removed due to a staph infection. Even now once in a while I experience pain in the left testicle area. This now has been going on for about 9 years now and I don't expect it to change. It is not allways there but is there more often than I would like it to. Even without the testicle I still experience the pain now and then.

All the best,

Ron

[hunter101551]

I had a pelvic floor injury in 2000 that tore my pelvic floor from my scrotum to my anus and then through the glute to my hamstring. It was a very severe injury. The result was chronic acute testicular pain and pelvic floor pain.The pain never really subsided and I continued to suffer from pelvic floor pain but the orthopedic surgeon I saw told me there was nothing he could do for the pelvic floor or torn hamstring. In 2003 I contracted epididymitis causing swelling of my right testicle and level 10 pain. I treated it but the pain remained, some days a dull ache and other days quite acute.  In 2005 I woke up one day and it felt like someone was standing on my testicles. I went to the ER and again they could find nothing wrong. I was referred to a urologist. When I went to see him he listened for five minutes, threw his hand up and told me he knew what was wrong. He immediately suggested removing the testicle. I told him it was not going to happen and got referred to the pain clinic. I had steroid injections into the genitofemoral nerve for six weeks with no relief. I was up most nights and occasionally vomiting from pain. Finally I relented and let him take the testicle off. When I can out of the OR, there was no pain. I was thrilled with the result.....until one morning about six weeks out. I woke in the middle of the night with the pain again just like I had a testicle again and someone was standing on it. I continued to go to the pain clinic. By December, three months after the surgery I told my wife that I would rather be dead than continue with this. I went back to the pain clinic and the doctor suggested a rhizotomy, an ablation or burning off of the genitofemoral nerves which is located where your appendix would be on either side of your penis. I agreed and it worked. The pain was greatly reduced after the procedure. The doctor told me that it my last as few as ten weeks or it could last a lifetime. The pain began to reappear at eight weeks, slowly at first and by 10 to 12 weeks it was full blast again. I went back and had another treatment and have been doing so for seven years. In 2009 I had the good fortune to find a female urologist who specialized in pelvic floor trauma. She told me that her partner screwed up big time when he took off my testicle for pain. She said there was never a reason to remove a testicle unless it was cancerous or severely injured. She did a full pelvic evaluation on me and discovered that because of the hyperextension my pelvic floor was a mass of scar tissue. She suggested a series of pelvic floor injections done in the hospital under mild anesthesia. Not only did it help the pelvic floor pain it stopped the testicular pain as well. The doctor told me that pelvic floor trauma can often result in testicular or penis pain and I had both. Now I have the nerves burned off every twelve weeks and the injections done every ten weeks and I live a fairly normal life. I don't go to male urologists anymore. In my case the guy didn't listen and he knew more about my body than I did. I am very thankful that I found a female urologist that listened and a great pain physician who happens to be a DO as is my urologist. They have a lot less ego than MDs in my experience. I would urge you NOT to get your testicle removed. I went through that hell and the result was the pain was still there but I was without my testicle.