Well It has been about 4 months of painful discomfort from the circumsition scar to the tip of my penis (only when rubbing it against my clothes) and I have seen 3 urologist, 1 dermatologist, and every single one of them diagnose me as "crazy". Some days the pain is almost unbearable and others just bad. They did some blood test to find herpes and I came back positive from type I and II. and although I have had periodic cold sores in my mouth since I was a kid, I have never had any blister or visible sign of herpes II in my genitals, not even now. One thing I was doing before this thing from hell came on me was eating around 30 almonds a day. I know now that almonds are rich in Arginine and arginine fuels Herpes Virus. Has anyone of you guys can recognize a trigger for your condition or found anything so far that helps?

Thank you!

I just want to mention the possibility of more advanced problems just in case, since you are having problems getting treated.
Hypersensitivity - hard to tell if it's just the skin (as in skin irritation) or the nerve underlying innervation of the penis.
If it's the nerve (and not just the very external layer of skin) then it may be pudendal nerve problems. This is the nerve that runs from the spine through the alcock's canal near your bottom, through to the exterior portions of your ****, testes, and penis to innervate them.
Problems along this nerve line can cause pain, numbness, or hypersensitivity along this nerve route.
Problems can include lower back problems (anywhere from L4 through S4) tugging on it, ligaments rubbing it the way, alcock canal getting smaller and rubbing it (scar tissue or by other means), piriformis muscle problems since it runs close to it, etc. It can even be from Femoroacetabular Impingement (FAI) or hip impingement syndrome. So if you have any other symptoms like these check them.
As a female, I have pudendal nerve entrapment problems from L5 S1 disc degeneration. So, yeah, anything along that route can upset it. Sometimes my clitoris (on you it is would be the same with your penis) would get hypersensitive in not so nice a way. I didn't even want to touch it or have anything like underwear rub it. On other places along the nerve line, I swear it felt like the skin was highly irritated, but the skin was actually fine. It was the nerve that was having problems. Figured out it was my spine pulling on it from above by being a bit out of place through an MRI.
So, if your symptoms progress to other things, too, thought you may want this info.

I've had this problem my whole life.When I was a kid my parents took me to my pediatrician many times looking for a way to help me and he always said the same thing "I've seen this before,there is nothing that can be done,hopefully he will outgrow it".By the time I grew up I realized that some sort of covering would help and went looking online to see if something existed.I found that products were made to help with this problem.One is called the Manhood,another is the Senslip.I decided they weren't for me and continued searching for a better solution something I didn't have to think about or remove/replace all the time.I found out about a procedure called foreskin restoration and decided to give it a try.It wasn't easy but after 2 years of restoring I had a covering that kept me comfortable 90% of the time.Every once in awhile just the tip of my penis will still rub on my clothing and cause some pain so I have decided to restore until this problem is permanently fixed.The sensitive circumcision scar area is also fully covered by the new skin.

hi John, just reading your post and sorry to but in to your men only group but I may be able to help you. I am wondering about your symptoms. I have a condition called Behcet's which has very similar symptoms to those you describe with the mouth ulcers and so on. It's just that normally there will be some blisters on the genital area. Though for me this happens so so rarely. Maybe once 2-3 years.....so if your symptoms are just beginning then it could develop yet. Also though, what I recognise, is the pain you are talking about. I get the same sort of pain around that area which is like a kind of neuralgia pain. Very uncomfortable. All kinds of things can result from Behcets. I am not sure if you have any other symptoms going on.

Probably about a year ago I began having the same symptoms, extreme sensitivity at the tip of my penis.
I liken it to how it would feel if you put your tongue on a frozen pump handle and pulled it off, and it tore the skin off. That's how sensitive it is, even though there's absolutely nothing visibly wrong with it.
It's absolutely maddening, and I've tried all kinds of ways to keep it from touching anything. I feel nothing unless it's rubbing on something, which is pretty much every time I walk.
I went to my regular doc and got tested for STD's, and it was negative. Went to a Urologist who found nothing conclusive but suggested prostate problems could cause pain in that area.
I am 54 and have had herpes I and II for a long time. I also had shingles about 10 years ago.
Remarkably, it kind of went away on its own after about 6 months, which was a HUGE relief -- but to my dismay it showed up again. This is beginning to look like it's going to be for the rest of my life -- especially after reading some of the posts here.
I am going to go on an aggressive course of Valtrex and see if that makes a difference. I will be back to tell you if that helped, or if it didn't.

The aggressive course of Valtrex (generic name valocyclovir) didn't seem to have any effect on it at all.

You might look up the Low Oxalate diet. Oxalates in urine have been implicated in genital pain in females.

http://www.litholink.com/downloads/S...xalateDiet.pdf

It is worth a try IMO.

Here is a longer list:
http://www.ohf.org/docs/Oxalate2008.pdf

the pudendal forum pudendalhope is filled with this kind of issue...herpes can result in pudendal neuralgia, even if it is rare! good luck ! I have some pudendal pain as well

I went to an O'Reilly Auto Parts store and happened cross these Viking brand untra-soft microfiber spa towels, they are the most velvety soft material there exists i think. As they are the perfect size, I have taken to just putting one down the front of my pants and the pain is 98% gone.

It wouldn't let me post the link but if you go to O'Reilly Auto Parts site they are under car wash products within that site.

They are a godsend. I still don't know what my problem is causing the pain, but at least now I'm not reminded of it every time I move.

Healthy middle aged male and have the exact same problem. At this point it has been 5 weeks. At first noticed what could be sort of friction burn type pain over a few days with sexual activity. Then one day Im sitting on the couch and get a severe burning pain on the underside of my penis. I have also had some burning and redness of the anterior portion of my scrotum (not sure if scrotal pain could be due to steroid rx that would have touched this area). It has never gone away in 5 weeks. It comes and goes, and clearly seems to get worse as the day goes on. I have also had some dysuria at times, particularly at the end of my urine stream. I have also sometimes have dribbling and will wet myself after urinating- much more than the usual "last drop ends up in your pants". I will usually sit to pee and spend a minute on the toilet before I get up. But mostly skin/nerve pain, and most of the time no dysuria.

The area affected seems to be from the circumcision scar to the head only on the underside of the penis. HSV 1 and 2 negative at 2 and 3.5 weeks. No blisters or discharge. There has never been any visible issue, except for some redness along the frenulum that is not impressive. Ive been to see 3 dermatologists and 3 urologists. All of them are clueless, except the last dermatologist that suggested I might have the male form of male vulvodynia, aka pudendal nerve entrapment, aka genital dysesthesia. I believe I have some sort of this diagnosis.

The pain is clearly a hyperesthesia. The skin is super sensitive to touch and from day one, what I have wanted to do is to have nothing touch my penis underside from the circumcision line to the head. My preferred method is to put a pillow on either side of myself and pull sheet/covers over so that I'm covered with nothing touching my penis. Walking around with my penis rubbing my scrotum/clothing can be excruciating. It can also be quite painful just sitting still with nothing touching it. Like i said above, gets worse as day goes on, starts as 2/10 in morning, 10/10 by evening. But I cannot say it comes and goes with sitting and then standing up. This is just there.

My sexual function is intact. I have had sex twice successfully, primarily to see if it would help. (It did not) But with the pain, I have no interest, and I couldn't imagine wanting to masturbate. Prior to the first day of symptoms, I was your typical high sex drive middle aged male.

I was intially diagnosed with contact dermatitis, and tried a mild steroid cream and zinc oxide with miconazole (triple paste). One week of this had no effect whatsoever so i stopped it. One week after stopping this, I tried rubbing alcohol on the whole area, just once. This made the area I had been treating with the creams turn into an ugly rash. This cleared up over a week, with no change in symptoms before, during or after these local treatments.

Other rx Ive tried to no avail: short course keflex, 4 weeks doxycycline, valtrex x 3 weeks, mobic x 3 weeks, 3 days prednisone (stopped for worry it could be HSV), one dose diflucan. Nothing has touched it. Urinalysis and STD screen negative x 2, two weeks apart. I have not had a camera put up my urethra, no urologist wants to do this.

I have a spinal MRI scheduled soon. I saw an othopaedic md and basically insisted on an mri. He was clueless. Im hoping to get a good look at my sacral nerve roots and pudendal nerve area.

The way my symptoms get worse during the day make me think this could be pudendal neuralgia. I have had sacro-ileal soreness/inflammation for 20 years. But its never been a serious issue. Just the place I wish anyone doing a massage would spend most of their time.

Clearly this is nerve related. For a while I thought I had a friction injury.

But given the lack of visible issues, and the lack of point tenderness, while having severe pain, I don't think it is a skin friction problem. I am thinking it could be:
1. Pudendal neuralgia/entrapment
2. Nerve damage from over stretched skin that suddenly got worse for some reason
3. Soft tissue damage under skin in the spongiousum, irritating or involving my urethra.
3. My herpes will turn positive (it could take a few months for HSV 1 or 2 Ab to turn positive) and this is herpes pain
4. Whatever the hell genital dysesthesia is.

In any case, my life has been severely effected. Anxiety, ~10 lb wt loss, dark circles under my eyes, insomnia and depression. Im not sure I will be able to keep working. Im just glad to see there are others out there who have had the same thing, so I know Im not crazy. I have never had any pain issues/fibromyalgia. In fact prior to this, I have been a competitive 40 something year old male athlete with no medical issues whatsoever.

Im going to try neurontin and a SSRI, but I'm not optimistic. The best chance of improvement would seem to be time. And from posts Ive seen that doesn't look too good either