I suffered a herniated disk at l5 s1. I had bad sciatica and complete numbness on half the penis/scrotum. I saw a few doctors and am normal urologically and the herniated disk.

I have done physical therapy and have been seeing a chiropractor. My sciatica is almost completely healed and I have recovered some in the genital area, but penile sensation still is not normal. It bothers me immensely particularly during sex and just walking(feeling the strange sensation against clothing).

I posted in the neuropathy forum but was told to post here as well.

I am 21 and perfectly healthy otherwise, slightly high bp, no signs of diabetes.

My leg EMG's were normal, it seems the doctors don't really have a way to test this area as I have already asked a few.

I saw the advice about b12 on here and my chiropractor has me taking large amounts of vit C, b6 (although i heard too much can actually cause this issue), and some other supplements.

Right now it feels like one side has something strange going on and has very little fine touch response, the top and bottom arent normal either.

Any advice. I kind of wished i got back surgery as soon as possible to minimize the chances of permanent damage but none of the doctors wanted to do it because i am young.

acetyl l-carnitine and a multi b complex,, all the b vitamins help nerve damage,both are in the vitamin section and regenerate nerve damage,,, praying to the Lord helps too

Hello there,
I just saw your posting from 2009 and felt I was going thru a similar problem with my genitals. It happened one day all of a sudden that I realized I'd lost much sensation at the base of the 'shaft' and the scrotum area. ANyway,, I wanted to know if your conditions had gotten better over time (I certainly hope so). Please share any info or tips for healing. Thanks!

Hi Mike.

I see nobody has responded to you and I don't think I'll be of much help so don't get your hopes up but we may have a bit of a similar situation. I suffer from scrotal tingling with occasional numbness. It doesn't cause numbness in my penis but I do sometimes get a feeling in my penis like its moving and in fact it is. That may not seem strange but obviously a mans penis moves countless times throughout the day but you're not supposed to feel it. I feel it moving all of the time like minor twitches. I believe for me these sensations are caused by the muscular mass that appears between my testicles when I have an erection.

So anyway, I know this probably isn't much help but maybe one of us will have a minor bit of insight that will help the other person solve his own puzzle.

Thanks and good luck

Well, guys I too kinda have this problem. I have been dealing with it now for about 5 years, trying off and on to find a solution. But Im in the same situation pretty much. I dealt with herniated discs and it squeezed off some of my nerves for the whole time I dealt with my back which was about 2 years in total. Some of those nerves were the same ones you are referring to. I pretty much lost feeling in my one leg and foot and also in my penis as far as responding to touch and even being able to ejaculate sometimes without tensing my muscles around that area. Well, I ended up having surgery which corrected my sciatica pain of course and brought back most of the feeling I lost only to about 85 -90 %. The surgeon I saw had said that it was going to be very possible that I wouldnt get 100 % feeling back when those nerves are squeezed off for 5 or 6 mths or more and he was right. Well, it has affected our sex life to the point where my wife sometimes doesn't want to do anything cuz she says I can't feel anything like I used to so I probably don't enjoy it as much either. I try to explain that I still do so that shouldn't matter. This has been a cause for disruption on and off for the last 5 years or so too of course. So I really want to find a solution to hopefully get that feeling back like I used to. So I found this site after doing a google search and decided to join because this is the closest I`ve found to something like my problem.

Does B6, B12 and that really work? Right after surgery, I had to take some B12 injections for awhile which maybe is why I got a lot of feeling back. Anyways, I've rambled on enough so I appreciate any feedback or tips, suggestions if you come across any.

Just in case there is more to it than just your spine (unsure if your case is from injury or what-have-you), check for other pudendal nerve problems that can occur, such as scar tissue build-up in the alcock's canal as it passes from the spine to front of your body to innervate the **** and genitals. Other things can entrap this nerve as well (piriformis muscle problems is one). The pudendal nerve is one of the nerves your spine affected, causing numbness or pain - usually the culprit of such down-there symptoms.
Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) or hip impingement syndrome can also cause similar symptoms. Good to check if you have any hip symptoms with it.

Im 40 and have had 2 major lower spine surgeries since 2006. Last surgery was March 2013. They did a multi level fusion.. .. Im in same or worse pain still. My left leg from knee up is completely numb, both feet and right leg get numb a quarter of the time.. . I have lost about 30-50% use of left leg and within last month have numbness on tip and left side of penis..It is also very hard to achieve a full erection, and to maintain it..Only thing that works is Viagra.. . I have had Epidurals, 30 facet blocks. Recent CT scan and MRI show Sacrum joint damage, arthritis in both hips, all of spine... Im very frustrated, might need another spine surgery as well as spinal cord stimulator implant. .. . Thing I'm worried most about is the sudden numbness on my penis and erection problem.. .

Any guidance or suggestions would be much appreciated. .. . I have been a Cop for 16 years and prior to that a Navy and Army Veteran. I'm a 70% disabled Veteran. ..

I have the same, this strange feeling of moving penis, feeling of slight numbnes, tingling etc. I also started to have problems with erection when feeling of numbness became bigger one day. Never had such problems before and it occured without any rational cause(like some kind of physical damage). No idea what is the cause of it, in fact i have quite significant L5/S1 herniation but i also had some pudental nerve blocks (due to perineal pain) which i think did some nerve damage.

Very unusual and interesting explanation of similar symptoms is in dr. John Sarno's books for example in "The Mindbody Prescription"
He claims that numbness and tingling can be caused by the subconcious mind which wants to distract concious mind from unwanted emotions and slightly deprives nerves/muscles of oxygen which causes numbness/tingling/pain etc.

These numbness/tingling symtoms are so mysterious that i think mind-body explanations (TMS syndrom, trauma etc) can be more reliable than physical/mechanical cause.

Did the nerve blocks help for a short period & then the pain returned?

If so, you may have some pudendal nerve issues...

I am experiencing this EXACT discomfort just as you described. I have tried everything and am feeling hopeless. Did you resolve this issue? If so, please share.

-It bothers me immensely particularly during sex and just walking(feeling the strange sensation against clothing).

-Right now it feels like one side has something strange going on and has very little fine touch response, the top and bottom arent normal either.