Tingling sensations in penis

[Guest guest]

I was just wondering has anyone else noticed a tingling sensation in your

genitals? I notice this tingling sensation in my penis mainly when I'm naked. I

feel the same tingling sensation in my feet. I wonder why this happens. I never

had this pre-SSRI.

Thanks,

[Guest guest]

Joss is only half-right.

It *IS* called paresthesia -- that is the name of a SYMPTOM, not a DISEASE.

Neuropathy IS a disease. But not all paresthesias are caused by neuropathy.

Some are " idiopathic " -- i.e. they don't know the cause.

Paresthesia as a symptom name covers several different things -- the most

typical being " pins and needles that won't go away " (i.e. the feeling you get,

e.g., when your foot " falls asleep " -- i.e. the nerves have been compressed for

a while by you sitting on it the wrong way -- and then you take the weight off

the nerves and they start functioning again -- that's when you get the pins and

needles -- THAT isn't a paresthesia: it's only a paresthesia if the pins and

needles have no obvious cause and don't go away as quickly as normal). Numbness

(full or partial) without obvious explanation is also a form of paresthesia.

Feeling as if you are touching something hot, or something cold, when you're

not; feeling actual pain, sharp, dull, whatever, those are also paresthesias.

The most commons CAUSE of paresthesias is peripheral neuropathy: that is a

degenerative disease of the peripheral nerves.

The most common cause of peripheral neuropathy is diabetes. Though there can be

other causes.

You can have nerve-conduction tests (they use electrodes to measure how well

your nerves carry the impulses from point A to point B -- they are quite painful

tests) to see if you have large-fiber peripheral neuropathy.

You can have a skin-punch biopsy (which will leave a small permanently-numb

area) to see if you have small-fiber peripheral neuropathy.

EVEN IF YOU DO have peripheral neuropathy, there is no cure or treatment. You

have to live with it. And it may just keep getting worse. So if you DO have

peripheral neuropathy, confirming it by test is of limited value: since all

they can do is say " yup, you have peripheral neuropathy; there's nothing we can

do " .

*HOWEVER* -- there are many paresthesias that are " idiopathic " -- not caused by

any degenerative nerve disorder that they can test. In that case, you have the

symptom (paresthesia) but not the disease (peripheral neuropathy).

The only reason to have a nerve conduction study (and I'm not sure I would want

to have one done on my penis) would be to RULE OUT peripheral neuropathy. That

way you could breathe a sigh of relief that you don't have a degenerative and

incurable nerve disease. It wouldn't however give you any explanation for where

your penile paresthesias are coming from.

Oh -- two fairly common causes of paresthesias in the hands are:

a) carpal tunnel syndrome (this is where the carpal nerves -- which ennervate

your thumb through half of your ring finger -- are compressed)

ulnar paresthesias (this is where the ulnar nerve -- the nerve that is

exposed just under the skin at the elbow -- the so-called " funny bone " -- which

ennervates the other half of your ring finger and your little finger -- is

compressed). Since the ulnar nerve is stretched over your elbow, when you bend

your arm, you can compress the nerve. If you sleep on your stomach with your

arms bent under you, you can get ulnar paresthesias; tennis elbow can also lead

to it as the tendon inflammation in the elbow can compress the ulnar nerve.

So -- it sounds like you have paresthesias like Joss says. You cannot know if

you have neuropathy unless you see a neurologist and get tested. And whether

you do or don't, a neurologist can't fix it either way. But if neuropathy ISN'T

the cause of the paresthesias, at least it won't keep getting worse and may just

go away on its own.

> > >

> > > I was just wondering has anyone else noticed a tingling sensation in your

genitals? I notice this tingling sensation in my penis mainly when I'm naked. I

feel the same tingling sensation in my feet. I wonder why this happens. I never

had this pre-SSRI.

> > >

> > > Thanks,

> > >

> > >

> > >

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