Odd glans penis pain/ CPPS? (Alphalifestyle)

[BrettP]

No. but what I notice sometimes is that if I take a gnarly dump and my ass hurts I will feel sensitivity in penis. Those nerves are in some way connected. Not to me surprising that you are dealing with that symptom. Muscles tense up during sex/ erections.

[Jay]

Yes, just arousal alone can cause an intensification of my symptoms. You're not alone there.

My pelvic floor has always been a giant knot, but I've had a number of persistent trigger points (and general tension) in the bulbospongiosus muscle, which is involved in erections. This is a major suspect. Of course, there are also neuropathic things going on during arousal, and the stimulation of already sensitized nerves may be a factor.

[critthinker]

Alpha,

YES, this absolutely is the case with me as well. I have noticed that just an extended erection alone can cause a really serious flare-up (of course, thrusting and multiple orgasms cause pain as well). I'm just now getting over a flare that lasted for a week that was caused by this. Lots of self PT has helped with it (esp. bulbospongiosus and ischiocavernosus).

My theory on this is essentially that we need a sustained period of non-aroused time (think this depends on the individual case, but I know for me it's at least a few months). My belief is that after my muscles have stayed loose and my nerves remained calm, I will be able to go back to having a normal sex life.

[Alphalifestyle]

Hmm, good to know that others also have this problem.

Can somebody give me a list of all muscles which could in some way effect the penis if chronically tense? I have most of my really annoying symptoms as symptoms that effect my genital, like numbness in the penis, changed skin on penishead, pain in penis, painful tip, skin on penis hurts from sex, etc. + the problem of prolonged erections leading to flare-up.

Which muscles groups should I target with massage to relief nerves connected to the penis and maybe get better bloodflow and circulation to the penis?

[Alphalifestyle]

I think more and more that just massaging and internal work alone doesn't cut it, because the pain and discomfort comes back so quickly.
It seems like I suffer from muscle tension all over. I have tense and stiff muscle all over my legs, my back, neck, arms, pelvis, face. Everywhere. I tried different relaxation systems, but it seems like its not working. I am just tense and my muscles feel tired, burning and sore everywhere.

Yesterday I did some weight lifting and now my muscles hurt so much... its not normal. I wasn't like this when I was younger.

It really sucks, because my sexual problems get worse and worse and I am afraid that I wouldn't get better if I don't find a way to reduce my overall muscle stiffness.

Many say its a anxiety problem. And I have anxiety about health, aging, death and other things. But couldn't there also be a organic reason for it?
For example I read that many people suffer from chronic hyperventilation, which is hard to detect, but can lead to serious muscle problems because it lowers the oxygen level in the cells.

I am also afraid its some hormonal problem or a nutritional deficit, but testing this stuff is all expensive.

I am also afraid that having sex and ejaculating makes it much worse, but stopping it all together cannot be the solution... there are also some people out there who say that oversex or "overmasturbation" could mess people up on a hormonal/neurotransmitter level and lead to all kind of complications like muscle tension, but I don't think that is recognized by mainstream medicine so I don't consider this...

I am sure many people here suffer from muscle tension and stiffness. Anybody found a real solution to it?

Is relaxation training ala paradoxical relaxation or meditation enough if done seriously or is it just fighting the symptoms of tense muscle but doesnt get ride of the underlying cause for the muscles to tense up (organic or psychological in nature)?

Can a good therapy, maybe CBT for Anxiety Disorder really lead to a change where muscle tension just disappears. Can talk therapy be powerful enough to get rid of this long hold tension patterns?

What about really serious daily massage, not only internally, but of the whole body. Can that bring more than a temporal relief?

Anybody who found that a real organic, biochemical problem was at the base of his muscle tension problems?

Is there any checklist I could go through with my doc to find the reason for the sore, tense muscles?

I really, really want to solve this problem but how? I spend so much time everyday with internal massage, but its not doing much for my overall tension and soreness...

[DMcU]

Hi,

You seem fairly distraught, and believe me, I don't think there has been even one person on this forum and indeed a single sufferer of CCPS that hasn't been distraught at some stage. But what's also common with nearly all of us is that we improve.

I too, have had muscle tension all over, I wasn't checked out properly after an accident and lived for nearly 2 years with 8 vertebrae out along with a pelvis twisted by 12mm and shoved up, shortening my right leg - so believe me, I know about tense muscles!

Things that have worked for me in regards muscle stiffness:

Yoga stretches - plenty of info on the web and in this forum about recommended stretches, and also in the book 'A Headache in the Pelvis' which is a worthy buy. I get up early every morning and do the stretches and every so often during the day I stretch - e.g. when I'm making a drink in work I stretch as I'm waiting for the water to boil and when I'm the bathroom at work.

Theracane - this tool basically has saved me hundreds! I use it daily going over all the muscles that are tense, it's cheap and worth every penny for it, you'll have it for life then. It's great at working out them nasty trigger points, and even finding them.

Really serious anything is not good. I would think that more than massage is needed at first - physical therapy I'd say, is needed, followed by massage of the soft tissue after that. If you have trigger points, massage probably won't help, unless physical therapy has been done first.

People who suffer with this can feel very tired a lot. I did and the whole thing started to get on top of me. I had to act fast - I changed my diet, I took supplements - omega 3, vitamin complex, I ate lots of natural yogurt, gave up caffeine and changed to herbal tea with honey, ginger and turmeric (natural anti-inflammatories). I also am taking a magnesium citrate tablet twice daily to help with muscle spasm and constipation.

I was always a sensitive person, I was bullied badly and beat up in school and I used to feel sick and tense in my prone area - my stomach and pelvis - thus IBS and CPPS! I had to deal with this and I realised that I would have to deal with anxiety in a different way as it was worsening my symptoms. Talk talk and talk to someone about this, it's no biggie - there's nothing 'wrong' with you, just muscle tension so relax, that's good news.

I don't think doing any one thing only is enough. I have had to change lots of things. Here's my typical day:

8:oo am - rise, use hard small ball to work out muscle tension in obturator (ass cheek). Shower. Muscle cream applied to ass cheek. Haemorrhoid cream applied to anal sphincter. Porridge in microwave with pumpkin, flax and 4 other seeds, ginger, turmeric and honey. Glass of water with a half spoon of baking soda (reduce acidity of urine). Eat breakfast with hard small baseball ball under the perineum to loosen muscles.

Into the car, sitting on a doughnut cushion.

Work - sitting on doughnut cushion. Stretches before sitting. 10:00 herbal tea, stretches in kitchen. 11:00 usually toilet time. More stretches in toilet. 11:30 herbal tea, more stretches.

Lunch 13:30 - more stretches. Healthy lunch - salad, salmon, natural yoghurt.

16:00 - herbal tea, more stretches.

17:30 before heading home - more stretches. doughnut cushion in car on way home.

17:45 - home, more stretches. Dinnertime - turkey/chicken fried in olive oil coated with turmeric and omega 3seed mix. glass of water with half teaspoon of baking soda.

18:30 - out for a quick and easy 20 min cycle, stop half way and stretch. 19:00 - out for a walk, stop half way and stretch.

20:00 take 25mg Elavil. and meditate for 45mins with heat pack on perineum.
21:00 take alphablocker. sit with heat pack on perineum. Perhaps foot spa too.

Bedtime: baseball used again to work tension out of butt cheeks (a problem area for me since accident). Apply muscle cream and haemorrhoid cream. Elec blanket switched on half and hour beforehand - heat is a great help in chronic tension.

And the whole lot start over again the next day. I don't mind doing this, to be honest. I have good energy and I'm slowly improving (I think!) Hope this helps.

[Alphalifestyle]

Wow, thank you so much for writing this out. That's amazing... I think I am just lazy. Seems like you put a lot of effort in recovery. You must also be very faithful. Because even when I just do relaxation and massage for two hours a day I am always afraid I am wasting my time, by just treating symptoms... always fearing their might be a simple underlying solution like, lets say, magnesium deficit or chronic hyperventilation and I waste all this time... but maybe that's really the only way.

It just makes me so angry that every time I have sex, it seems I start from 0 again.

But yeah probably the daily regime of bodywork, massage, relaxation and therapy is the key. No quick fix...

[DMcU]

No problem at all! I didn't always have faith in improvement, but you have to find strength in pain.

With sex - make sure to uses condoms, they reduce sensitivity and don't aggravate already over-sensitized nerves.

And/or have good foreplay to help herself along !! ;)

I don't think anything you try is a waste of time if it doesn't work, you simply realise that it doesn't work and try something else, so it has a function. It's important to try everything, I mean I read somewhere that toothpaste and mercury fillings in teeth can cause prostatitis, probably bull but I even tried herbal toothpaste for a month, but at least now I know that it's not caused by them, so I have narrowed the list down.

Make sure you read the book I mentioned. Because, and if you don't mind me saying, you are at the early stage of this condition so:

1 - you stand a better chance of hitting it (unlike me, who suffered for a year before coming across this site which spoke sense to me)
2 - you, like many and most others (me included) have strong feelings of anger and distraught at this stage while you are trying to make sense of this condition. This pre-coital anger (you say you feel) HAS to be exchanged with a more relaxed state of mind. Run the hot tub perhaps - which can be a nice idea too.

Any more q's ask away and there are many good-hearted people here who will do their utmost to help.

DMcU

[DMcU]

Levator ani, pubococcygeus, coccygeus, bulbospongiosus, ischiocavernosus, sphincter ani. That's what I target anyway. In the book a Headache in the Pelvis it lists out the muscles that are troublesome along with their associated symptoms.

[mach5]

Yes, I have the same problem. Extended erection or sometimes even short term can increase pain or set off a flare. And after a few days of it, (off and on), I will need to ejaculate. Ie, there are only so many days I can let go by without ejaculating before the erection pains get worse. Better to bite the bullet, have sex/ masturbate till the end and have some post ejaculation pain. And then have a better week. (In my experience). Luckily the older I get, the less hair trigger I am about getting an erection. Not like when I was 18 anymore. (Which really sucks over all. I should be enjoying this youthful prime in the bedroom while I can! But alas).

[kevin]

I have this problem too. Sex, arousal, or erection is the single worst thing for my pain. My doctors believe it's nerve related.

[kevin]

By the way, I wrote a post on this a few months back here: https://ucpps.men/forum/vie ... =37&t=7195

My hypothesis is that for me, the more spontaneous or involuntary an erection is, the less my chance of getting a flareup.

Examples of spontaneous erections:
- Erections during sleep
- When I let my mind wander and end up with an erection without really thinking about it

Examples of conscious erections:
- Seeing an attractive woman
- Consciously thinking about sex

Scientists distinguish between "psychogenic" erections and "reflexogenic" erections, so maybe that's relevant here. They involve different nerve pathways, so it's not surprising to me that one could cause more of a flareup than the other.

Has anyone else noticed that the severity of the flareup depends on the circumstances of the arousal?

[Jay]

Has anyone else noticed that the severity of the flareup depends on the circumstances of the arousal?

Absolutely. At my age, erections during sleep are pretty much the norm, but this almost never results in a flare. However, erections caused by sexual arousal most always do.

I don't have knowledge enough to comment on the nerve pathways theory. I've always figured the vastly different pain responses are due to my being entirely relaxed while sleeping.

[critthinker]

Hmm, this is an interesting question (re: circumstances). I'd say this might be true in my case as well, but one thing I can be sure of is that the LENGTH of arousal time has a strong correlation to flares.

[Alphalifestyle]

Gentlemen,
I was always wondering about the following:
Around 2 years ago I started suffering from pain in the penistip. The only odd thing is this: I had chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms much longer than that, but more like sexual dysfunctions, urinary frequency, pain after ejaculation, but not penistip pain.

When I read in HITP or on the forum about people having penishead pain induced by tense pelvic muscles/triggerpoints, I always imagined it as a sharp pain that is felt all the time. BUT in my case I ONLY feel pain if my penistip touches my jeans, during intercourse, if I point a jet of water upon it or most intense while and shortly after ejaculation.

So only if I touch something with it, apply pressure on it. I even led a urologist perform an ultrasound examination because I was sure it was induced by an minor injury involving my jeans zipper.... but no, the urologist assured my that the tissue in my glans penis is unremarkable.

So probably it is a chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome problem, but I could never find a triggerpoint which could trigger that pain...

Only for reassurance, because I start catastrophic thinking about it being a physical damage, anybody has similar symptoms? Any ideas on how to relieve this symptom specifically, because it can make wearing pants and having sex very uncomfortable.