Life-long lack of penile sensitivity

Posted , 4 users are following.

As the title says, I've had a lack of penile sensitivity my whole life, as far back as I can recall at least.

I've never been able to masturbate or ejaculate (Nocturnal emissions only) as there's no feeling (The sensation would be the same as rubbing my arm/leg for example) I've seen urologists in the past and aside from prescribing cialis/viagra they've been no help and suggested that self-stimulation might be the issue, however I recently entered into a short relationship and having someone else's hands, mouth etc on me felt like nothing still, which was an issue for both of us.

I'm on citalopram for depression & anxiety issues relating to my autism, but the issue of no sensitivity predates the start of medications by a good five years so I've effectively ruled them out.

Previous testosterone tests I've undergone had always comeback as borderline-low so the urologists have claimed that's a non-issue.

I've got another urologist appointment later this month, but I want as much new possibilities or suggestions for areas to discuss as possible as this is now beginning to negatively impact my life and the possibility of a lasting relationship.

0 likes, 8 replies

8 Replies

  • Posted

    Hello Rick, the first question I would ask is your age- if you've never masturbated to completion i would say that it's a possibility that you do not know how to. Masterbation isnt always just a physical feeling and there has to be some sort of arousal to ultimately end in an orgasm.

    Depending on the spectrum I'd say you are close to my brother, who has a form of autism , who complains that it is very hard to orgasm.

    People will say something about how autistic people just dint do things the same way"normal" people would do it and that is true, but doesnt make you any less of a man- in fact you may be smarter than a lot of people just in your own way. I have a slight form of autism as well smile

    If also like to know how healthy you are- are you diabetic, do you have a family history of family members that have any kind of neurological disorders , how active you are.

    I have low testosterone levels as well and was put on injections and it helps with sex drive quite a bit, but in the long run I'd say it's better to go on hcg( human chorionic gonadotropin). It is an injection as well but it stimulates your body to make testosterone instead of just putting it in your body.

    Another thing I'd like to know is your circumcised status- men circumcised at birth are typically less sensitive ( some more than others)

    If all else fails I would think you are going to the wrong type of proffesional and should be advised by a sexual therapist.

    Feel free to ask me questions directly

    Good luck!

    • Posted

      Hi Tang and thanks for the reply.

      First off, age-wise I'm in my early 30's now. I've always looked at it as supposed to be a physical/sensation based thing and that the penis is naturally meant to be a sensitive area at least from what I've read and heard, but I can't relate to or understand.

      Even back into my teen years where that sort of thing is supposed to be common and frequent as a result of bodily changes I never got the point because it didn't feel like anything.

      As for my health, well aside from what I mentioned above (The anxiety sand depression linked through autism that I'm on pills to treat) I have mild asthma but that's it that I'm aware of. I'm aware of no neurological disorders or any serious medical issues on my mothers side of the family, though I've no real medical knowledge of my fathers side aside from second and third hand knowledge that they were all a bit 'mental' and would probably in today's society qualify as having antisocial personality disorder's.

      As for being active? Well when it comes to cardio based exercise, not very as the asthma makes that an issue. But strength training, sit-ups, push ups and the like are something I try to do most days to keep muscle-to-fat ratio controlled. I also take part in air-soft so there's a good bit of jogging, crawling, rolling etc plus carrying a lot of weighty equipment involved in that.

      Not circumcised though I've read up about that too that many men lacking a foreskin tend to have an reduced sensitivity too.

      I have seen a sexual therapist back in 06 or 07, and she told me that aside from my lack of libido in general and my attitude towards relationships and women (the ideas of emotional over physical, and love over lust etc) considering my age, I was a normal. Of course this is all pre-autism diagnosis and all the rest of the things, so it's rather dated, but I have been there.

      I'll admit to being curious about testosterone injections and the likes, and how they affected people who underwent them, especially people more like myself who may be on the spectrum. One of my concerns with any medication or treatment is, how is it going to affect how I think, feel and act? You know? It's also one of the reasons I don't drink or do non-prescription drugs.

  • Posted

    I understand your worry about medication. Some of the medications you are on can affect your ability to get and attain an erection as well as delay orgasm/ejaculation:unless those are new medications or constantly changing the strength of the medications I do not believe that they could be the root of the issuse.

    Testosterone will make you feel more energetic, stronger and better in most ways that the public describes as a masculine man- it all depends on you and your body. Testosterone is a sex hormone that not only controls and aids in reproduction but it's also improves "manly" urges. That may be self descriptive but elevated levels of it can make you quicker to anger or more emotional. I would do some private research on the symptoms as i do not have a lot of time.

    Is there anything that you've come across that you would describe as an attraction or a turn on?

    On a quite private note it could be the way you are stimulating yourself- some men find it pleasurable to manipulate the foreskin and some men it's the glans. You, who's never experienced this I would take some alone time to try to figure it out- just dont hurt yourself.

    In my nonproffesional words I would say to try different ways to masterbate such as retracting your foreskin back and forth for a starter a second way would be to have your palm on your foreskin (while its covering the glans) and manipulate it back and forth. Another way would be to retract your foreskin ( glans exposed) with some lubricant and stimulate both the glans and the inner foreskin itself. If that fails possibly buy a sex aid tool such as an artificial vagina.

    Dont be afraid to experiment with different speeds when in concerns of the stroking pattern as some men get off to a rather slow pattern whereas some men need a rather fast paced thrust to achieve orgasm desirably

    • Posted

      Once again, thanks for the reply.

      The medications are all long term stuff, going back years, but the issue existed before the med's became involved that why I ruled them out as a root issue.

      I'll have to look more into testosterone and read up on peoples reviews of how they felt after going through the injections and what have you.

      As for attraction and turn-ons, that's sort of complex. I've never really had urges or desires when looking at the opposite sex (or the same sex) in general, but I can appreciate ascetic beauty in some, while finding others less so, but it rarely results in any form of arousal, which I'm led to understand is common in men.

      I've found that for me, sexual attraction is mostly linked to my having an emotional connection as I find women I've gotten to know and understand are more sexually appealing than any random woman I might see on the street, for example.

      The woman I was briefly involved with recently was very physical and sexual (She was Italian and lived up to the stereotype about being passionate), and we had a lot in common interests wise, but even though I was aroused by her (Erections aren't really an issue), I still felt nothing physically (Not 100% accurate, there was no penile sensation, as I mentioned my issue was, but I could certainly feel light feelings akin to gentle tickling in the surrounding areas) when things were happening. It really put a dampener on things, since she loved sex and saw pleasure as a two way street, but it was all one-sided for her.

      Prior to her, I was in a quasi-intimate but emotionally deep relationship with a younger woman for four years (She was Chinese, smart as hell but due to strong traditional and familial values she was under a lot of pressure for dating a white guy so it wasn't working out) and again, while I could react to her, I didn't feel anything physically.

      I have tried various means and methods of masturbation over the years, and utilized various sexual aids too. I've tried things like the Fleshlight and similar male masturbatory tools, including various vibration devices, none of them felt like anything to me either.

      As to being careful, well when I was in my late 20s I actually managed to tear my frenulum after a prolonged session of attempted masturbation (Was approaching 30 minutes and I was getting bored an irritated, not a good mix) so I know about hurting myself with trying to find something that works, to no avail.

  • Posted

    If you havent tried it already; possibly try unconventional methods such as prostatic stimulation. This can be done through the rectum or stimulating it through the perenium. Do this by itself or while you are stimulating your penis as well- some men are able to orgasm through "prostate play" and no penile stimulation.

    Just to help rule out a condition- do you have an abnormally small penis? This size would be below the 3.5 inches in length while in its tumecent stage.

    If you havent tried it already; possibly try unconventional methods such as prostatic stimulation. This can be done through the rectum or stimulating it through the perenium. Do this by itself or while you are stimulating your penis as well- some men are able to orgasm through "prostate play" and no penile stimulation.

    Just to help rule out a condition- do you have an abnormally small penis? This size would be below the 3.5 inches in length while in its tumecent stage.If you havent tried it already; possibly try unconventional methods such as prostatic stimulation. This can be done through the rectum or stimulating it through the perenium. Do this by itself or while you are stimulating your penis as well- some men are able to orgasm through "prostate play" and no penile stimulation.

    Just to help rule out a condition- do you have an abnormally small penis? This size would be below the 3.5 inches in length while in its tumecent stage.I know very little about it but theres some meds that help with delayed ejaculation such as

    Buspirone and Cyproheptadine

    Again I know very little about those drugs but consult with your doctor on oral drugs that are used to treat your condition.

    • Posted

      Sorry for the lateness of my reply to your post, real-life stuff, you know.

      So no, I've no abnormalities regarding my size so that was ruled out.

      Also had a full workup done by urology when I was back to see them. The senior urologist basically admitted she's got no clue what's wrong with me, beyond the possibility that it's psychological and I've somehow 'mentally castrated' myself.

      I'd say would be one hell of a feat since I can recall back into teen and pre-teen years that I never had any feeling there, certainly not during puberty, so I'm personally ruling that out, but still going to see the psychologists they want me to see.

      Following this disappointment with the urologists, and the claims they have no idea why, medically, I shouldn't feel anything, and their guarantee it's nothing to do with being autistic, I've turned to alternate possibilities, such as the possibility that the answer is that I'm Asexual.

      It would certainly tick a lot of the boxes and answer a lot of my questions I have to say. It would certainly explain the lack of interest I generally feel towards sex and the associated activities and why I got into my 30's before bothering to even try sex, and why I found it so dull and was more interesting to me from an intellectual standpoint.

      Anyway, thanks for the help provided.

  • Posted

    Okay, so as you'll likely see, I first posted on here roughly a year ago, and this is still an issue for me, though in that time I've seen a two different urologist's (8 months for an appointment after the first one) and both have pretty much walked away clueless and offering nothing helpful (Doesn't help I could barely understand the second one due to his accent and fast pace) and only scheduled me for another appointment 3 months down the line (Less now, and it's on Christmas Eve of all times)

    I underwent MRIs and extensive blood work to check for any issues and everything came back clean, no nerve damage or spinal issues that could be to blame for a lack of penile sensitivity or anything of issue with my blood, other than my testosterone once again came back as borderline low but within acceptable margins to disqualify it as an avenue of investigation.

    This issue is now being further exacerbated however, by a slight increase in my arousal levels of late, which is resulting in considerable pain radiating from the left testicle along with some swelling.

    The first time this happened real bad I went to the doctors with it and he wrote it up as Epididymitis and proscribed me an antibiotic to ease it. I cant say if the antibiotics helped or not, but the pain faded within a day or so. But then it always does.

    But then next time I was aroused for any length of time, the same pain and swelling occurred again. Then again and again, it pretty much happens any time I get properly aroused, which leads me to think it's got to do with blood or other fluids building up or getting stuck.

    Now, I'm no stranger to testicular pain, with the whole being unable to ejaculate thing, but I always wrote the pain up as 'blue balls' because I couldn't release anything, but the pain is always in the same side, around the same point, and always occurs after I've been aroused for a while, so I'm wondering if its related to something else or what.

    Does anyone have any ideas, clues or suggestions?

  • Posted

    I'm going through what you are feeling but have no solutions either.

    I am 37 and I can hardly feel any kind of pleasure from my penis anymore. I don't know what happened because back when I was 15 it was so sensitive I could barely touch the head. I noticed the older I got the less sensitive it was getting.

    I wonder if it is just low testosterone even though they said it's normal you could try supplements to see if anything improves

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.