Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the so-called Department of Government Efficiency terminated thousands of experienced public health professionals in an April Fools’ Day massacre. We’re all about to pay the price.
I suppose that’s fair. Just so far outside my personal experience, guess that’s a me issue…not a reality issue.
Tap for over sharing.
I’ve had mystery testicular pain since June last year. After minimal testing they’ve basically said:
🤷 Chronic pain? Take drugs.
Incredibly bitter? ✅
Massive depression? ✅
Trying to push my wife and friends away? ✅
Wife wasn’t having it, I’d say that we’re closer now?
Obviously not a common thing.
I’m dumping mine over some stupid pharmaceutical shit that has ultimately spiraled into noticeable cognitive decline and pretty bad depression (good news: appears reversible if I stop taking the thing. Bad news: I go into withdrawal if I stop taking the thing).
Yeeeesh! Yeah. That’s… that’s definitely a reason to get a new Dr.
Half my life ago I was doing…alllllll the drugs. At levels and mixes that quite honestly should have killed me. Of the friend group I had at that time, 7 of us, there’s myself and one other that aren’t dead, or been in the clink for 15 years and looking at a minimum of another 20.
When I saw the way I was headed, after the first of our group had died, and while I was serving a frankly very lenient non-custodial criminal sentence, I detoxed off coke/crack, meth and heroin (smoked not injected) all at the same time.
I can tell you, not exactly how bad or in what way, it’s gonna suck. I really really feel for you. Just make sure you follow advice on how to safely come off it, there’s a lot of drugs, legal and not, that can easily kill you if you just stop taking them.
Be safe fam.
So I’m in the UK, and while there’s a bit of leeway to see a GP that’s not in your catchment area, the next closest to where I live is really far. Also it’s not really the GP’s fault. They’re required to follow protocol dictated by the NHS. He walked me through it. There’s a program, you punch in the symptoms, follow the questions down the flow chart, it gives you a likely cause. Things like the intensive testing I’ve been told to try and get? He’s really just not authorised to refer me for that. We’ve had quite a long chat about it, and it really just isn’t something that he’s able to do. That would have to be something that a specialist sends me for. I’ve been on the waiting list for 25 weeks, so only 20ish more to go.
The results of decades of underfunded health care systems…
Hah yep - I actually tried cold turkey-ing it about a month ago, which was not awesome, and then tried titrating down by halving my dose, but ended up just going back to the original within about a week and a half. Mental state was very markedly better, but the withdrawal stuff was pretty balls. Going to be working with a new PCP, psych, and medication coordinator to get off that shit and find a better pharmaceutical balance that works for me.
The aforementioned detox was cold turkey, and I absolutely get how hard it must have been. When you have your new team as support, it might be helpful to give a trusted person a bulk of your meds to be given back on an agreed schedule. Might make sticking to weening off easier. Knowing you only have a set amount until the next time would help me(personally) to not go over what the arranged lower dose is, with the assurance that it is actually available if you say… accidentally dropped half a week’s worth down the sink drain opening the container. Which has absolutely happened to me with antibiotics once.
I’m on a lengthy wait list for the NHS urologist, so I went private. Paid £300 for a pleasant man in his 50s to fondle me for about 3mins, and to say nothing wrong anymore, whatever it was has probably passed and it’s your brain not accepting that, so here’s a referral to my equally expensive colleague for an initial consultation for chronic pain management. GP isn’t authorised to refer me for the more extensive tests that might show something wrong. Wife and I are going private for IVF, so we’ve been seeing a bunch of private specialists trying to get the best chances we can for that. Every one of them has recommended a semen culture test…
The tests I was given by the GP were all urine based, but if it’s a low level infection in the tubes from the tests I was given wouldn’t have shown anything. And if it’s, say antibiotic resistant, then the several courses of heavy duty antibiotics would have done exactly fuck all… it’s a motherfucker.
Honestly? Kinda wish it was like… fucking cancer, or a torsion, or fucking something I could point to and be like: THAT’S the issue, let’s work it out.
I had mystery testicular pain for years. It was crippling and no doctor could figure it out. I saw literally dozens of doctors, had several MRIs and CT scans, and nothing turned up. Then I went to university and learned all about human anatomy and thus I learned most urologists are surprisingly ignorant of the topic. Certainly every one I saw was.
It was two issues: I have a connective tissue disorder which led me to strain my cremaster muscle through daily activities, and I had compression of the genitofemoral nerve due to tight iliopsoas from working a desk job. I’ve included my protocol if you want to give it a try. It cured me and has helped a few gents I’ve corresponded with online. I’ve been mostly pain free for over a decade now, with it only recurring when I get lazy and don’t adhere to my system.
Cremaster strain: wear an athletic supporter with a plastic cup whenever possible. It needs to be tight enough to immobilize your testicles. After the pain starts to abate, stop wearing it in bed for a week or two, then for gentle walks, increasing in duration as tolerated. Eventually cease wearing it altogether, but still keep it for recurrences.
Bonus balls exercise: the cremaster muscle is originally a part of the obliques. For some (but not all) men, bicycle crunches with a hard “crunch” of the obliques at the end will result in contraction of the same side’s cremaster muscle. You’ll know if this is the case as your testicle will rise, as if by magic. Obviously do this exercise after the pain has started to resolve. This is also one way to see if the muscle is your issue: it may hurt when or after it contracts, but this isn’t always true
Genitofemoral nerve compression: firmly (but not too firmly) stretch your iliopsoas twice a day for 30s each. No more, no less. The “blaster pose” in this video is what I do.
Additionally, strengthen the same muscles doing the exercises found in this video.
That’s it! I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions, I’m an open book.
So up until Tuesday I was driving and hour into work and, due to traffic, my way back would be minimum an hour and a half, but sometimes up to 3 hours if everything is fucked. I had considered that I might have a similar issue, mostly from not having cruise control and how I position my leg/foot while driving on the highway. Haven’t had a chance to look at the videos yet, but I suspect that they’re either the same, or very similar, exercises that my physio has had me doing.
I’ve not been at it long, so I’ll give it time to cook. And, as of Tuesday I’ve switched depot, so my commute is now a 15min bus ride, with a ~5mins walk on either side of it, so hopefully that’ll help too…
So what my physio had said is that that nerve can get trapped/damaged by having your heel pointed in and toes out. And would be advisable to keep your heel as close to the outside of the foot well and your toes pointed in to operate the pedals. 🤷 I’m just a mason who never finished highschool. Idfk if that’s legit or not. She’s like…26, but went to school for physiotherapy, so I guess she probably knows better than me.
I suppose that’s fair. Just so far outside my personal experience, guess that’s a me issue…not a reality issue.
Tap for over sharing.
I’ve had mystery testicular pain since June last year. After minimal testing they’ve basically said:
🤷 Chronic pain? Take drugs.
Incredibly bitter? ✅
Massive depression? ✅
Trying to push my wife and friends away? ✅
Wife wasn’t having it, I’d say that we’re closer now?
Obviously not a common thing.
Seriously though, dude: get a new PCP.
I’m dumping mine over some stupid pharmaceutical shit that has ultimately spiraled into noticeable cognitive decline and pretty bad depression (good news: appears reversible if I stop taking the thing. Bad news: I go into withdrawal if I stop taking the thing).
Yeeeesh! Yeah. That’s… that’s definitely a reason to get a new Dr.
Half my life ago I was doing…alllllll the drugs. At levels and mixes that quite honestly should have killed me. Of the friend group I had at that time, 7 of us, there’s myself and one other that aren’t dead, or been in the clink for 15 years and looking at a minimum of another 20.
When I saw the way I was headed, after the first of our group had died, and while I was serving a frankly very lenient non-custodial criminal sentence, I detoxed off coke/crack, meth and heroin (smoked not injected) all at the same time.
I can tell you, not exactly how bad or in what way, it’s gonna suck. I really really feel for you. Just make sure you follow advice on how to safely come off it, there’s a lot of drugs, legal and not, that can easily kill you if you just stop taking them.
Be safe fam.
So I’m in the UK, and while there’s a bit of leeway to see a GP that’s not in your catchment area, the next closest to where I live is really far. Also it’s not really the GP’s fault. They’re required to follow protocol dictated by the NHS. He walked me through it. There’s a program, you punch in the symptoms, follow the questions down the flow chart, it gives you a likely cause. Things like the intensive testing I’ve been told to try and get? He’s really just not authorised to refer me for that. We’ve had quite a long chat about it, and it really just isn’t something that he’s able to do. That would have to be something that a specialist sends me for. I’ve been on the waiting list for 25 weeks, so only 20ish more to go.
The results of decades of underfunded health care systems…
Hah yep - I actually tried cold turkey-ing it about a month ago, which was not awesome, and then tried titrating down by halving my dose, but ended up just going back to the original within about a week and a half. Mental state was very markedly better, but the withdrawal stuff was pretty balls. Going to be working with a new PCP, psych, and medication coordinator to get off that shit and find a better pharmaceutical balance that works for me.
The aforementioned detox was cold turkey, and I absolutely get how hard it must have been. When you have your new team as support, it might be helpful to give a trusted person a bulk of your meds to be given back on an agreed schedule. Might make sticking to weening off easier. Knowing you only have a set amount until the next time would help me(personally) to not go over what the arranged lower dose is, with the assurance that it is actually available if you say… accidentally dropped half a week’s worth down the sink drain opening the container. Which has absolutely happened to me with antibiotics once.
Sounds like you need some more invasive tests or more medical opinions. Either way hope you get some relief soon brother
Ohhhhh… that’d definitely be a hard yes.
Tap for more over sharing.
I’m on a lengthy wait list for the NHS urologist, so I went private. Paid £300 for a pleasant man in his 50s to fondle me for about 3mins, and to say nothing wrong anymore, whatever it was has probably passed and it’s your brain not accepting that, so here’s a referral to my equally expensive colleague for an initial consultation for chronic pain management. GP isn’t authorised to refer me for the more extensive tests that might show something wrong. Wife and I are going private for IVF, so we’ve been seeing a bunch of private specialists trying to get the best chances we can for that. Every one of them has recommended a semen culture test…
The tests I was given by the GP were all urine based, but if it’s a low level infection in the tubes from the tests I was given wouldn’t have shown anything. And if it’s, say antibiotic resistant, then the several courses of heavy duty antibiotics would have done exactly fuck all… it’s a motherfucker.
Honestly? Kinda wish it was like… fucking cancer, or a torsion, or fucking something I could point to and be like: THAT’S the issue, let’s work it out.
I had mystery testicular pain for years. It was crippling and no doctor could figure it out. I saw literally dozens of doctors, had several MRIs and CT scans, and nothing turned up. Then I went to university and learned all about human anatomy and thus I learned most urologists are surprisingly ignorant of the topic. Certainly every one I saw was.
It was two issues: I have a connective tissue disorder which led me to strain my cremaster muscle through daily activities, and I had compression of the genitofemoral nerve due to tight iliopsoas from working a desk job. I’ve included my protocol if you want to give it a try. It cured me and has helped a few gents I’ve corresponded with online. I’ve been mostly pain free for over a decade now, with it only recurring when I get lazy and don’t adhere to my system.
Cremaster strain: wear an athletic supporter with a plastic cup whenever possible. It needs to be tight enough to immobilize your testicles. After the pain starts to abate, stop wearing it in bed for a week or two, then for gentle walks, increasing in duration as tolerated. Eventually cease wearing it altogether, but still keep it for recurrences.
Bonus balls exercise: the cremaster muscle is originally a part of the obliques. For some (but not all) men, bicycle crunches with a hard “crunch” of the obliques at the end will result in contraction of the same side’s cremaster muscle. You’ll know if this is the case as your testicle will rise, as if by magic. Obviously do this exercise after the pain has started to resolve. This is also one way to see if the muscle is your issue: it may hurt when or after it contracts, but this isn’t always true
Genitofemoral nerve compression: firmly (but not too firmly) stretch your iliopsoas twice a day for 30s each. No more, no less. The “blaster pose” in this video is what I do.
Additionally, strengthen the same muscles doing the exercises found in this video.
That’s it! I hope this helps. Feel free to ask questions, I’m an open book.
This…fuck…my DUDE!
So up until Tuesday I was driving and hour into work and, due to traffic, my way back would be minimum an hour and a half, but sometimes up to 3 hours if everything is fucked. I had considered that I might have a similar issue, mostly from not having cruise control and how I position my leg/foot while driving on the highway. Haven’t had a chance to look at the videos yet, but I suspect that they’re either the same, or very similar, exercises that my physio has had me doing.
I’ve not been at it long, so I’ll give it time to cook. And, as of Tuesday I’ve switched depot, so my commute is now a 15min bus ride, with a ~5mins walk on either side of it, so hopefully that’ll help too…
Good luck! I always wondered if driving was a factor as it was only on my right side and driving requires a surprising amount of iliopsoas activity.
So what my physio had said is that that nerve can get trapped/damaged by having your heel pointed in and toes out. And would be advisable to keep your heel as close to the outside of the foot well and your toes pointed in to operate the pedals. 🤷 I’m just a mason who never finished highschool. Idfk if that’s legit or not. She’s like…26, but went to school for physiotherapy, so I guess she probably knows better than me.