Do you balls hang low? Can you swing them too and fro?

June 23, 2007 10:31 PM

My left testicle is suddenly hanging significantly lower than the right. Eek.

About 3 weeks ago I whacked off as per normal (for a 24yo guy). Went to bed and woke to find my left ball hanging a little low with a dull aching. It's about half an inch lower than it used to be, and feels........different. Lighter. Not as much a part of me as it used to. Dare I say it, detached.

The aching has now passed (except for the occasional throb) but it refuses to move back upstairs with its brother. Even when chilled it's reluctant to snuggle up as close as it used to.

The whacking off was no more prolonged or vigorous than previous sessions, so maybe I just slept funny? Everything seems to still function normally.

What have I (possibly) done?!

posted by anonymous to health & fitness (19 comments total)

For frick's sake, go see your doctor!
posted by junesix at 10:37 PM on June 23, 2007

You could have a serious condition. If you ever have pain in your nutsack for more than an hour or two you need to call the doctors office and/or emergency room. Sometimes things can get twisted down there and if they do it needs to be fixed by surgery right away. Usually though, if something gets twisted it straightens itself out before there is any pain.

I had this (not the nut hanging lower part though) happen to me and I went in and they did an ultrasound on my sack. It turned out to be nothing. Something prolly got hung up earlier that day, causing me pain, but finally managed to figure itself out. Coulda lost the nut though if it was twisted for too much longer.

Get checked out right away! esp. if your nut has changed position and there is pain as well.
posted by jammnrose at 11:02 PM on June 23, 2007

I'm pretty sure one hanging lower than the other is normal.
posted by thelongcon at 11:12 PM on June 23, 2007

Friend of mine had similar symptoms, ignored it. Turned out to be testicular cancer. Yet ye to a doctor, young man!
posted by zia at 11:13 PM on June 23, 2007

If your junk was all twisted and cut off as jammnrose suggested, you wouldn't be typing. You'd be curled up in a ball throwing up. It's bad. That said, you should still have this checked out, and sooner rather than later. Probably just a mild ball injury. Still, even mild ball injuries are serious. I mean, it's your balls.
posted by infinitywaltz at 11:21 PM on June 23, 2007

It might be an inguinal hernia, where a piece of intestine has moved through the boundary that keeps your innards in your thorax, and down into the scrotum. The lower mass that's feeling weird may not be the testicle but a part of intestine that's worked its way down. I had it happen in high school, with occasional dull or sharp pain, and lived with it until college when it seemed to be getting worse. It's not uncommon and easy to fix with relatively simple surgery. Anyway, get to a doctor. If it is an inguinal hernia, it's best not to wait until a loop of intestine gets caught there with some digested food or something (that really hurts) or until it loops in such a way that the blood flow is compromised (that's called a strangulated hernia and it's an emergency).
posted by mediareport at 11:22 PM on June 23, 2007

One more thing: I'm not recommending it as a long-term solution, but if the pain was bad, sometimes I could lie down and gently push the bit of intestine back up through the opening and back to where it belonged; that would give me relief from the pain, and sometimes a few weeks or months before it happened again. It was stupid to wait for surgery, though; just get to a doctor before whatever it is gets worse.
posted by mediareport at 11:28 PM on June 23, 2007

This is very normal and very common. If you're in pain see a doctor, if not, let it go.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:37 PM on June 23, 2007

Here's an article on testicular pain that offers all sorts of grist for worry.
posted by Zed_Lopez at 11:51 PM on June 23, 2007

Wear briefs not boxers
posted by A189Nut at 12:56 AM on June 24, 2007

I'm pretty sure one hanging lower than the other is normal.

Yes. But I'm not sure that suddenly changing is. Especially with the other symptoms described by the OP. See a physician.
posted by grouse at 3:51 AM on June 24, 2007

get thee to a doctor, pronto. might be nothing, but you don't want to mess around with stuff like that.
posted by thinkingwoman at 5:33 AM on June 24, 2007

Testicular horror story:
Guy fell, and thought he bumped his thigh, not the sack. Four days later, he ended up in the hospital, on morphine and IV antibiotics. With cute young ladies doing ultrasounds on his junk, which was now the size of a large baked potato. Apparently, he had torn a blood vessel and it was leaking into the sack and he got infection. Damn near lost it, but it took 4 days to show up.

Today's Health Tip: One of the young ladies told him you always void your bladder before you lift anything heavy, as some of those valves aren't as one way as you might think, and you can force urine back up into the plumbing where it doesn't belong, and Bad Things ensue. She said it was not that uncommon.

Take it to the junk doctor.
posted by unrepentanthippie at 8:11 AM on June 24, 2007

Mid 20s to early 30s is the prime age for testicular cancer. Call your doctor and see what they say.
posted by LobsterMitten at 9:07 AM on June 24, 2007

may well be a hernia, or an incipient one. You have two choices-

1) Try lifting something really heavy and seeing if your intestine pops out into a lump right above your ballsack, potentially strangulates, and causes gangrene,

or

2) see a doctor already.

I tried number 1, it was lots of fun- the surgery is way better these days, though, (keyhole / patches, much nicer than cutting a hole in your belly like a male ceasarian), so I might think number 2 is better...
posted by jenkinsEar at 9:24 AM on June 24, 2007

To put your mind at ease at least a little bit (since everyone is talking about cancer and scary shit), I had the same thing happen as jammnrose - pain which caused me to go to the emergency room, I got felt up by two different doctors, got an ultrasound, and it turned out to be nothing.

[Also, once every 3 weeks? Good lord man, are you in a monastary?]
posted by falconred at 10:14 AM on June 24, 2007

(I seem to be missing the part where the poster said he hadn't whacked off since he noticed his testicle trouble three weeks ago. In fact, he says "Everything seems to still function normally," which is probably best taken as an indication that he has, in fact, whacked off since then. If you like, you can assume it's been many times.)
posted by mediareport at 10:30 AM on June 24, 2007

aww noo noo...hoping you get better soon, please let us know what the doc/tests said. Could be testicular torsion.
posted by nickyskye at 10:34 AM on June 24, 2007

Second infinitywaltz: I had a testicular torsion in my late high school years - for no reason whatsoever, i.e. not while playing sports or doing anything particularly active. If you have that, you fall over as if you're being continually kicked in the junk once per millisecond. You may have taken a momentary twist you didn't notice, though. Should be fine.

I would see a doc, because I've always been told to check the guys routinely for lumps, etc. and to tell my doc immediately if anything's different in any way. If I had to pay for my medical, though, I might feel differently about the cost/risk ratio involved.
posted by ctmf at 7:13 PM on June 24, 2007