shrunken testicles after years of pain
Posted , 2 users are following.
where to begin..
it all started one day in the shower when i noticed my testicle sticking out wonkily. this became more frequent and was accompanied by bouts of pain.
after some internet research i decided it was likely torsion.
my doctor was largely of no help.
i ended up going to the hospital one time when the inflammation and pain was really bad, and the women there suggested that it was an infection. (epididymitis)
my doc puts me on antibiotics and it seemed to help i think but not for long.
i was put on them again and i think they seemed to help this time too, but eventually the problem returned again.
after some ultrasounds/hospital visits i was put on another type of antibiotic but this didn't seem to help much if at all.
i was kind of just told to ignore it and hope it goes away at this point, and my doctor actually gets irritated and dismissive when i try and bring it up and explain my problems.
the pain ended up spreading to my right testicle and from then on was chronic, neverending pain in my right teste.
the pain also radiated to my leg.
the testicle ended up gradually shrinking (and there was this strange tingling at the bottom of my scrotum) till the current peanut size it is today.
i at least comforted myself in the fact that my left teste still retained its normal size as far as i could tell, but now that one has shrunken too, and now i suffer terribly from low testosterone because i'm no longer generating enough.
of course my doctor dismisses this even though i show all of the low testosterone symptoms, simply because my blood test checking my testosterone levels came back 'normal' (just making it through on the lower end - but is not actually normal but around half of the average for my age - and plus my problem has gotten even worse).
now after like 4-5 years i am having some issues with my right foot, it feels strained all the time recently and i get pins and needles really easily, so i think there may be a problem with blood flow there which there also may have been with my testes. (varicecole or something similar perhaps, possibly not the initial condition but maybe a later implication?)
overall i feel quite helpless and depressed and this has definitely caused more suicidal thoughts, as things weren't great before all of this either.
i'm going to try to get appointments with endocronologists or others to see if they will be willing to help with my hormone issues which have resulted, but i'm not optimistic.
would staying on testosterone injections for the rest of my life be my only option at this point? if i'm not sterile already, i probably will be, though that doesn't bother me too much.
any ideas are appreciated.
0 likes, 3 replies
XXYGuy unhealthy_one
Posted
Hello, your post is very well written, it caught my attention very well indeed. When I was 17 my testes were already atrophied owing to Seminiferous Tubule Dysgenesis, (known as Klinefelters syndrome). I've been taking testosterone in various forms since age 18.
I'm not that surprised the medical profession wants nothing to do with you, over the years once they'd felt my balls or tried to give me an erection, (XXY's are supposed to have a smaller penis that regular guys and the only way to tell for sure is to induce an erection), they'd lose interest. I was never happy with their examination of my balls as it was extremely painful, although they kept telling me it was all in my mind, they reckoned my balls didn't hurt at all!
I think male sexual health isn't a high priority for the medical profession, and your post confirms that for me. It's a pity they can't be sued for lack of interest!
As you testes sound as if they're dead, you might like to consider testicular prostheses? Even though I know they're not real, feel nothing, they're inert, they did and do bolster my confidence perfectly. You may have the same response if you had them?
I see no reason why you wouldn't be offered testosterone therapy, and I find the best method to be the Androderm patch. I put on 2 per night before bed, that works out to 5.0mgs/day, although there are higher dose rates available. Depending on your age, you may be given a higher dose?
Hope you've got some ideas to play with?
unhealthy_one XXYGuy
Posted
Hi, thanks for the indepth response. I'm not sure about your condition but I'm sorry to hear that. And yes it is quite shocking the lack of medical interest and even knowledge among doctors in this area seeing as how important proper function of the sexual organs is.
I'm not quite ready to give up on my balls yet.. I mean they're small but I don't know if they're DEAD yet.. at least I hope not.
Hopefully there will be proper replacement by artificial organs in the future which possess all the functions you need.
Honestly that seems like the most likely cure for me at this point.
You'd be surprised.. apparently I heard you have to be 35 to qualify for TRT in this country, and plus my testosterone results didn't come back low enough to qualify as 'low' (even though it was almost half of what you'd expect at my age and I can feel that it's gotten a lot worse since then, displaying all of the symptoms very clearly).
I am thinking I may have to move to Thailand to receive TRT as absurd as it sounds, because these doctors are just completely clueless and unhelpful on the matter.
I guess I could try an appointment with an endocrynologist but it costs a heap of money and I think it may be a waste of money in the end when I am rejected.
Anyway I'm still left with this underlying problem which is still a question mark at this point.
It may be varicecole, but I don't know if that would account for the frequent urination.
I'm really at my wit's end.
XXYGuy unhealthy_one
Posted
Yes it's a big step getting castratred, you'd want to be 100% certain they were broken to get rid of them.
Humans usually have 46 chromosomes, and the males are referred to as 46XY, females are referred to as 46XX. I'm referred to as 47XXY. I have another X chromosome. For some reason another X causes the testes to atrophy quite dramatically after the onset of puberty, but females (47XXX) don't have atrophied ovaries from their extra chromosome.
Some XXY males have a shorter penis than XY males, but most XXY's have an average sized penis, depending on what reports a GP reads will determine if s/he tries to give XXY males they find an erection or not. All mine determined XXY males must have a shorter penis and all determined to get me to prove it, but I failed. Like most XXY males I have a normally sized penis.
I don't think your need to pee a lot has anything to do wtih your atrophied tetses. If it does, it's by way of an infection, that really ought to be seen to. The need to pee a lot, or not being able to pee, or dribbling after peeing, is associated with prostate problems. If that's not fixed it can lead to kidney problems, both kidney and prostate problems can kill us. If it were me I'd be wanting to get that sorted double quick.
Medcial researchers reccommed XXY boys start hormone therapy as they enter puberty. Medical doctor usually ahve no idea when their male patients are entering puberty as thery just don't check. I've detailed 6 instances when I was entering puberty and after where I could have been diagnosed earlier, but wasn't, as the doctors I saw didn't look. Those doctors were in both my home country and Great Britain where I was living in my early to mid teenage years. So it's a world wide trend to not bother to chack male sewxual health and development.
I see on Drugs.Com that American doctors are reccommended not to check testes of their male patients owing to the increase of self examination. This is a mistake, even less XXY guys will be discovered as a result.