Testicular Pain In Men - Dangerous Symptoms, Causes And Treatment

2024 Author: Josephine Shorter | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:43

Testicular pain in men: causes and treatment

The male testicles are a very vulnerable part of the body. The female genital organs are located inside the body, they are protected not only by soft tissues, but also by bone structures, tendons, muscles. While the testicles of a man do not have such protection. They are located outside, permeated with a huge number of nerve fibers and blood vessels. Therefore, the testicles are so vulnerable to various factors of the external and internal environment. Testicular pain in men is the first signal that an organ has been damaged.

The testicles, or as they are also called, the testes are an important organ of the male reproductive system. They produce testosterone and sperm, which are necessary for the fertilization of a female egg. Testicular pain can begin to bother a man at any age.

Damage to organs leads to the fact that they stop producing testosterone and sperm, so it is necessary to establish as soon as possible what the cause of the pain is. This is the only way to prescribe a treatment that will be effective and efficient. It will allow you to get rid not only of pathological symptoms, but also of the most damaging factor, which led to a dysfunction of the male sex glands.

Content:

• Dangerous Symptoms: Testicular Pain
• Causes of testicular pain in men
• What diseases are common in testicular pain?
• Diagnosis
• Treatment of testicular pain in men

Dangerous Symptoms: Testicular Pain

The causes that lead to testicular pain can be very diverse. One or both organs can hurt.

Symptoms that should alert a man:

• Testicular pain and swelling.
• Increased body temperature.
• Local hyperthermic reaction. A dangerous symptom is a sensation of heat in the testicles.
• Increase in size.
• Scrotal tension.
• Change in the shape of one testicle compared to the other.
• The appearance of bumps or bumps on the testicles, which are felt during palpation.
• Nausea and vomiting.
• Increased perspiration.
• The pain tends to intensify, it becomes unbearable.
• The pain is worse when walking or touching.
• The pain is aching, dull, pulling, or cutting.
• Increased irritability, depression, fear for your life.

If you experience pain in the testicles, you need to consult a doctor. You should not hesitate with this, since painful sensations may indicate various pathologies or organ injuries.

Causes of testicular pain in men

Testicular pain in men can occur for a variety of reasons.

All of them are combined into 5 groups:

1. Physiological reasons. A pulling pain in the testicles may be the result of abstinence. Every man noticed that if sexual arousal persists for an hour and there is no natural discharge, then this leads to unpleasant sensations in the genital area. This condition cannot be called pathological. It is a consequence of natural processes in the body.
2. Traumatic. The testicles are riddled with many nerve endings, so even minor irritation of their delicate skin can lead to painful sensations. Naturally, shock and pressure will cause quite intense pain. In addition, traumatic pain occurs against the background of hypothermia and overheating, with self-satisfaction, when using sex toys. Too active frictions respond with pain during intimacy. Other causes of pain include chemical exposure to delicate testicular tissue and wearing tight underwear.
3. Infectious causes. Since the genitals have a developed blood supply, inflammation of the organs located in this area leads to severe edema. It develops due to the sweating of plasma through the vascular wall. The nerve fibers are pinched, which provokes severe pain. A similar situation is observed with orchitis, urethritis, urolithiasis, prostatitis and epididymitis.

4. Vascular causes. The testicles can hurt if the vessels feeding them are damaged by one or another pathology, for example, a blood clot or an atherosclerotic plaque has formed in them. Also, pain can be a consequence of varicocele, in which the veins expand. The danger of vascular pathology is reduced not only to pain, but also to tissue death.
5. Pain due to damage to other organs. The genital nerve is generally responsible for the innervation of the perineum. If he is irritated, it will lead to painful sensations not only in the penis, but also in the testicles. Pathologies that can affect the pudendal nerve: urethritis, urolithiasis, ureteral tumor, etc.

To understand what kind of disease caused testicular pain, you need to know the main symptoms of such disorders.

What diseases are common in testicular pain?

If a man experiences pain in the testicular area, then he should not postpone a visit to the doctor.

Pain in the scrotum can be triggered by diseases such as:

• Abstinence >>
• Testicular injury >>
• Orchitis - inflammation of the testicles >>
• Epididymitis - inflammation of the epididymis >>
• Testicular torsion >>
• Pain in renal colic (indirectly) >>
• Varicocele >>
• Vesiculitis >>
• Cystitis >>
• Testicular tumors >>
• STDs >>
• Urethritis >>
• Inguinal hernia >>
• Hydrocele (dropsy of the testicles) >>
• Chronic prostatitis >>

Abstinence

Abstinence in itself is not a disease, but it is one of the most common causes of discomfort in the testicle. The pain is explained by the interdependence of all organs of the reproductive system from each other.

When a man is in an excited state, in addition to an erection, a whole cascade of reactions occurs in the body. The ductal and circulatory system of the testicles is activated. This is necessary to prepare them for the upcoming ejaculation. If ejaculation does not occur, then there is a risk of vasospasm and ducts, which will lead to pain in the scrotum.

There is no need to take any action to get rid of painful sensations. As a rule, the discomfort will go away on its own after a short period of time. If the pain worsens the quality of life and gives the man discomfort, you can take a pill of Drotaverin, No-shpy or Spazmalgon.

Provided that after 7-8 hours there is no relief, you need to consult a urologist to make sure that there is no pathology.

Trauma

Trauma, like abstinence, cannot be attributed to a disease, but since any damage to the testicular tissue will lead to pain, it must be mentioned. The pain in organ injury will be more intense, the more severe it is. If a man received a minor soft tissue injury, then the pain will go away on its own in the near future. When the blow was very strong, the victim may even have a painful shock. In this case, the general health will worsen.

Sometimes puncture and cut wounds occur, which are complicated not only by pain, but also by intense bleeding. The likelihood of infection, the development of inflammation, with further tissue necrosis increases. The pain becomes more intense, it will be impossible to endure it. If the testicles are damaged on a regular basis, it can lead to chronic pain.

Minor injuries can be healed on their own. It is enough just to take painkillers, medicines to relieve inflammation. Cold helps to cope with puffiness, for which ice can be applied to the testicles.

A man should rest more, adhere to a semi-bed regime. This will reduce the stress on the sex glands and ducts.

To reduce pain in the scrotum and eliminate tension in the vasculature, as well as prevent blood stagnation, a suspension bandage can be applied to fix the testicles in one position. Thus, it will be possible to stop the progression of edema, the pain will become less intense.

To stop the spasm, you should take Baralgin or Spazmalgon. The use of medicines can be supplemented by the imposition of cold compresses.

If the victim develops bleeding, then steps must be taken to stop the progression of the hematoma. In this case, home treatment methods cannot be dispensed with. You will need medical help. In this case, such drugs can be used as: Vikasol, Ditsinon, Etamzilat.

To speed up recovery and normalize the functioning of the sex glands, you need to visit a physiotherapy room. The doctor can prescribe gentle thermal procedures, among which the most popular are heating, low-intensity ultraviolet irradiation, magnetotherapy.

If the injury was severe, then you should not hesitate to see a doctor. It is necessary to call a medical team, or go to the emergency room yourself. If you do not receive qualified help in time, this can threaten with a violation of sperm production and lead to infertility.

If the injury was very severe, then the victim is hospitalized. In such cases, surgical assistance is required. The damaged testicle is removed, the hematoma is aspirated, the bleeding is stopped. The field of which the skin is sutured.

Orchitis

Orchitis is inflammation that is concentrated in the testicles. Men suffer from orchitis after a viral infection: after mumps, rubella, etc. However, such a complication develops no more often than in 30% of cases. Pain in the testicles, aching, tends to intensify. They swell, the skin of the scrotum turns red.

The disease leads to impairment of fertility, in one testicle will produce fewer sperm. If the process is two-sided, then the work of both organs worsens.

What to do? What to do with orchitis and epididymitis?

Epididymitis (inflammation of the epididymis)

Epididymitis in men develops due to the fact that bacterial flora penetrates into the epididymis. The appendages are located in the testicle, in the lower part of it and stretch along its back side.

When examining the genitals, the patient himself may not notice any pathological changes. However, in the affected area, the skin becomes painful and tense. Pulling pain, can spread to one or two testicles at once. A bilateral process is observed only when there is no treatment for unilateral epididymitis.

As the pathology progresses, the organ begins to increase in size, the body temperature rises, the pain intensifies, becomes sharp. If at this stage the man is not prescribed treatment, the bacteria can penetrate into other organs, which significantly worsens the prognosis for recovery.

What to do? What to do with orchitis and epididymitis?

Pain with torsion of the testicle

If a man does not suffer from any diseases and pain in the testicle occurs against the background of complete physical well-being, then it may indicate torsion of the organ.

The testicle is suspended on the spermatic cord. This cord is represented by blood vessels and vas deferens. If the testicle makes a full turn in the scrotum, then the cord is pinched. Doctors call this condition testicular torsion.

A similar situation happens only in youth. In adult men, the tissues lose their elasticity, which makes it impossible to torsion the testicle in the scrotum.

What to do? What to do if the testicles are twisted?

Pain with renal colic

Sometimes testicular pain is not directly related to pathologies and disorders in the reproductive system. So, painful sensations can develop when the ureter is damaged. It is through him that urine flows from the kidneys into the urethra. The pudendal nerve passes behind the ureter. If a tumor or other neoplasm forms in the ureter, then it will certainly begin to put pressure on this nerve, which will lead to lumbar pain, which will radiate into the groin and into the scrotum.

The symptoms of renal colic are as follows:

• The pain is concentrated in the right or left testicle, as most often only one ureter is affected. In this case, the pudendal nerve is irritated only on one side.
• The pain occurs unexpectedly, against the background of complete health.
• The lower back, lower abdomen, thighs and genitals hurt.
• The process of urination is disturbed, urine is excreted in small portions. It may contain blood, which changes its color to pink and reddish.

What to do? What to do with renal colic?

Varicocele

Varicocele is a pathology characterized by enlarged veins in the testicles. In this case, a person has pain in the abdomen and in the scrotum. Varicocele is the result of a disorder in the anatomy of the genitourinary system.

For a long time, this disease can be asymptomatic. Sometimes pathology is discovered by accident, during a medical examination. If a man complains of pain in the testicle and it turns out that this pain is a consequence of varicocele, then one can judge the severe course of the process.

The pulling pain can become more intense if a person has been motionless for a long time in one position, or after prolonged sexual arousal. During the examination, an increase in the size of the scrotum on one side is visualized. In this case, the skin is no different from a healthy dermis.

What to do? What to do with varicocele?

Vesiculitis

Vesiculitis is an inflammation of the seminal vesicles. Pathology develops against the background of urethritis, when infectious agents with blood flow from the urethra are transferred to the seminal vesicles.

The following symptoms will indicate vesiculitis:

• Acute pain that radiates to the coccyx, but is concentrated mainly in the perineum.
• The pain tends to intensify on one side of the prostate.
• During urination or during bowel movements, the painful sensations become intense.
• A small amount of blood can be seen in the released semen.
• Ejaculation is accompanied by discomfort.
• A man is haunted by headaches that flow like a migraine.

What to do? What to do with vesiculitis?

Cystitis

Cystitis develops due to hypothermia of the body, against the background of a decrease in immune forces, as well as with hormonal imbalance.

What to do? What to do with cystitis?

Crayfish

A clear sign of testicular cancer is the appearance of a tumor-like neoplasm (lump) on one of these paired organs. At first, the tumor is small in size, but as the disease progresses, it becomes larger and larger. Moreover, not every neoplasm that forms in the testicular area is exactly a tumor. Therefore, in order to clarify the diagnosis, it is necessary to consult a doctor.

Other symptoms of testicular cancer include:

• Sharp painful sensations in the testicular area.
• For a long time, pulling pains that bother the man.
• Discomfort and heaviness in the testicular area.
• Compaction of the testicle, a change in the texture of the tissues of the scrotum.
• An increase in one organ in size.

Testicular cancer is classified according to the TNM system and developmental stages. The TNM system distinguishes between:

• T is the size of the tumor.
• N is an indicator of how much lymph nodes are involved in the pathological process.
• M - characterizes the presence of metastases in distant organs.

There are 4 stages of testicular cancer development, including:

1. Stage one. The tumor has spread only to the testicle or epididymis.
2. Stage two. Pathology has seized the lymph nodes located in the immediate vicinity.
3. Stage three. Metastases are found in the cervical and thoracic lymph nodes.
4. Stage four. Metastases are present in the brain, lung tissue, liver and bones.

What to do? What to do with cancer?

STDs

STDs are sexually transmitted diseases.

Such infections include:

• Syphilis.
• Genital herpes.
• Ureaplasmosis.
• Mycoplasmosis.
• Chlamydia.
• Gonorrhea.
• Granuloma.

Bacteria, fungi and viruses can provoke the development of the disease. The pain will bother the man on an ongoing basis. She is stupid, burning. As the disease progresses, the male genital organ increases in size, the lymph nodes become larger, and ulcerative defects may appear.

What to do? What to do with an STD?

Urethritis

Urethritis is an inflammation of the urethra that develops due to the ingress of bacterial flora into it. Microbes enter the testicles through the bloodstream, infecting their tissues. In this case, the man has severe pains, they are burning, spread to the testes.

What to do? What to do with urethritis?

Hernia

An inguinal hernia is a protrusion of the peritoneum into the inguinal canal. It is in it that the spermatic cord is located in the man. If the hernia is strangulated, then the person will need surgery. If the hernia is not restrained, then you can correct it yourself.

Sometimes inguinal hernias appear during fetal development. Hernias can develop during life, for example, due to heavy lifting.

What to do? What to do with an inguinal hernia?

Hydrocele

A hydrocele is a dropsy of the testicles. With such a pathology, an increase in the size of the testes occurs. The man experiences aching pains, his body temperature rises, muscle aches appear. One of the testicles starts pulling.

What to do? What to do with a hydrocele?

Diagnosis

If a man began to worry about pain in the testicular area, you need to see a doctor as soon as possible. It can be either an andrologist or a urologist. Doctors of these specialties are engaged in the diagnosis and treatment of male diseases.

The doctor will interview the patient, prescribe certain diagnostic measures for him, after which he can choose the optimal treatment, if necessary.

Before you go to a specialist, you should stop taking pain medications. Otherwise, it will be difficult to determine the exact cause of the problem.

If the testicle has been injured, or if the spermatic cord is twisted, help should be provided immediately.

During the first appointment, the doctor implements the following algorithm of actions:

• Listens to the patient's complaints, conducts a survey.
• Performs a finger examination of the testicles and penis, clarifies the presence of edema, palpates the site of pain localization.

These actions will allow the doctor to insert a preliminary diagnosis, on the basis of which further examinations will be ordered.

They can include:

• Delivery of urine for general analysis.
• Blood donation for clinical and biochemical analysis.
• Performing a spermogram.
• Performing semen analysis.
• Ultrasound of the scrotum and testicles.
• Testicular biopsy.
• MRI.

Sometimes there is no need for these studies, since the doctor makes the correct diagnosis after the first examination of the man and when questioning his complaints.

Treatment of testicular pain in men

Pain with orchitis and epididymitis

With orchitis and epididymitis, the pain is severe, tends to increase while walking, when you touch the gonads. At rest, the pain subsides a little, but still it cannot be called weak. Taking drugs from the NSAID group leads to relief of symptoms (Citramon, Nimesulide, Ibuprofen, etc.).

In addition to pain, a person with epididymitis and orchitis will present with the following complaints:

• The skin turns red.
• The testicles are very swollen.
• A person develops signs of body intoxication: appetite disappears, body temperature rises, nausea and dizziness occur.

An established diagnosis of epididymitis or orchitis requires initiation of treatment.

The therapy is based on the following principles:

• Compliance with the sparing regime. The testicles should not be injured. To do this, a man should rest as much as possible, adhere to a semi-bed regime, and wear a suspension bandage.
• Taking medications aimed at destroying pathogenic flora. The most common causative agent of inflammation is bacteria, so antibiotics are prescribed to the patient. If a man is hospitalized, then he is prescribed Ceftriaxone or Clarithromycin. When treatment is carried out on an outpatient basis, then Amoxiclav, Levofloxacin, Ofloxacin are used.
• Anti-inflammatory drugs are prescribed to reduce pain and relieve swelling. It is possible to use such medicines as: Citramon, Ibuprofen, Ketorolac, Nimesulide, etc.
• To restore the functioning of organs after recovery, you can resort to methods of physiotherapy.

The average duration of a treatment course is 10-14 days. Treatment should be started as early as possible, since delay threatens with serious impairment of fertility.

Pain when the testicles are twisted

If a man has a testicular torsion, then emergency surgical assistance is required. To begin with, the patient should be examined by a urologist.

To give the testicle a normal position, it is necessary to make an incision in the scrotum, after which the organ is either straightened or removed (if it has lost its vitality). To prevent testicular resection, you need to seek medical help as early as possible.

Pain with renal colic

With renal colic, a person must be hospitalized without fail. To relieve pain, you need to remove the obstacle that led to the obstructed outflow of urine.

Until that moment, until the medical team arrived, you need to apply heat to the stomach and lower back. For this purpose, hot water bottles are used. Such drugs as Drotaverin, No-shpa, Spazmalgon, Baralgin allow to slightly reduce the spasm. However, it will not be possible to completely cope with the problem with their help, the help of a specialist is needed.

Read more: Renal colic - what is it?

Varicocele

It will not be possible to get rid of varicocele quickly. You need to tune in to long-term therapy. It is important not only to receive medications, but also to reconsider the lifestyle.

To do this, the following recommendations must be observed:

• Eliminate alcohol consumption, stop smoking.
• To direct efforts to normalize body weight.
• Do sport. Exercise doesn't have to be exhausting. It is enough to start moving more, for example, running in the morning, doing exercises, walking.
• You need to stand or sit as little as possible. Static postures lead to blood stagnation and disease progression.

Since varicocele develops due to problems with veins, a man needs to take medications that will strengthen the valves of the vessels and their walls:

• Angioprotectors: Tagista, Detralex, Troxerutin, Actovegin.
• Vitamins C, E, PP.
• Combined funds: Tocopherol, Askorutin, etc.

In some cases, they resort to surgical intervention - sclerosing the veins of the scrotum. This method helps to manage the symptoms of the disease and reduce the likelihood of its recurrence.

Read more: Causes and symptoms of 1, 2, 3 and 4 degrees of varicocele

Vesiculitis

If a man develops vesiculitis, the following medications may be prescribed to him:

• Antibacterial agents: Penicillin, Rifampicin, Streptomycin, etc.
• Uroseptics: Furadonin, Furagin, etc.

Physiotherapy procedures, such as laser therapy, ultrasound phoresis, iontophoresis, etc., allow you to cope with the problem faster.

Cystitis

Cystitis is a disease that requires treatment, and a doctor should prescribe therapy. Independent selection of drugs and the use of alternative therapy methods will lead to the fact that acute inflammation of the bladder will turn into chronic and will bother a person on an ongoing basis. In addition, it threatens with serious complications: infertility and impotence.

A man with cystitis needs to undergo a comprehensive examination to determine what is the cause of cystitis. Only after that it will be possible to begin etiotropic treatment. If the disease is severe, hospitalization is necessary. On an outpatient basis, a mild form of cystitis is treated.

Basics of therapy:

• Compliance with bed rest.
• Drink plenty of fluids.
• Limiting salt on the menu.
• Avoiding spicy, pickled, spicy and other aggressive dishes.
• Taking herbal medications, including: Phytolysin, Canephron, Cyston, etc. They can reduce inflammation and pain, relieve swelling.

However, the most important point in the treatment of cystitis is the intake of drugs aimed at eliminating the causative agent of the disease. If the inflammation is provoked by microbes, then antibiotics are required. With specific inflammation caused by candida, mycoplasma and other pathogenic microorganisms, it is required to take drugs of a narrow focus.

Read more: Cystitis in men - causes, symptoms, how to treat? List of medicines

Crayfish

Treatment for testicular cancer depends on whether a man has seminoma or not, as well as on what stage of development the disease is.

The main directions of therapy:

• Surgical intervention.
• Radiation therapy.
• Chemotherapy.
• Monitoring the tumor.
• Chemotherapy combined with stem cell therapy.

Most often, the patient is referred for surgery to remove the testis (orchiectomy). If a man is diagnosed with seminoma, then he must undergo chemotherapy and / or radiation therapy.

A man should not despair after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. This type of oncopathology is recognized as one of the most favorable in terms of the prognosis for recovery. The annual survival rate of patients is 99%, and the five-year survival rate is 98%. The disease rarely recurs - no more than in 5% of cases. At the same time, the removal of one testicle does not have a significant effect on a man's sexual capabilities and on his reproductive function.

STDs

Treatment of sexually transmitted diseases requires the use of drugs that are aimed at destroying a specific pathogen. Chlamydia therapy is carried out with Azithromycin and Doxycycline. For gonorrhea, Ceftriaxone or Ciprofloxacin is prescribed. The doctor takes into account not only the infectious agent that provoked the pathology, but also the characteristics of a particular organism.

Urethritis

To get rid of urethritis, antibiotics are required. If the disease is caused by candida, then antifungal drugs are prescribed.

Chlamydial urethritis is treated with Doxycycline, Levomycetin, or fluoroquinolones.

If mycoplasmas were found in a smear from the urethra, then tetracycline is prescribed.

Sometimes urethritis develops when the body is infected with herpes viruses. In this case, it is advisable to take drugs such as: Penciclovir, Ganciclovir, Ribavirin, Acyclovir.

Read more: Symptoms and Causes of Urethritis

Hernia

To get rid of an inguinal hernia, surgery is needed. It can be performed in an open or closed way (using laparoscopic equipment).

Patients over the age of 18 can undergo inguinal canal plastic surgery. In this case, a special synthetic mesh is used.

Hydrocele

If the accumulation of fluid is insignificant, then men with hydrocele are prescribed therapy with antibiotics, anti-inflammatory and decongestants. The patient is shown bed rest and wearing a special bandage.

When the edema is pronounced and there is a threat of tissue necrosis, the man undergoes an operation or hydrocelectomy. Surgical intervention can be of 3 types. If the hydrocele communicates with an inguinal hernia, then a Ross operation is performed. Bergman's operation or Winckelmann's operation can also be implemented. They are used when a man is diagnosed with an isolated hydrocele and lymphocele (clamping of the lymph nodes).

Read more: Dropsy in men - symptoms, consequences and treatment methods

Video: transfer of Elena Malysheva "pain in the scrotum as a symptom":

Author of the article: Lebedev Andrey Sergeevich | Urologist

Education: Diploma in the specialty "Andrology" received after completing residency at the Department of Endoscopic Urology of the Russian Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education in the urological center of the Central Clinical Hospital No. 1 of JSC Russian Railways (2007). Postgraduate studies were completed here by 2010.