Medicines for Testicular pain

What it is

Testicular pain (pain in one or both testicles or the scrotum) is common and has many possible causes, ranging from minor to emergency. The most important thing to know is that sudden, severe testicular pain — especially in teenagers and young men — can be due to testicular torsion (a twisted testicle cutting off its own blood supply), which is a surgical emergency where the testicle can be lost within hours. Other causes include infection or inflammation of the testicle or the tube behind it (epididymitis/orchitis, often causing pain that builds up over hours to days, sometimes with swelling, redness and fever), injury, a twisted remnant (torsion of an appendage), a hernia, kidney stones (which can refer pain to the testicle), and, less commonly, other conditions. Occasionally testicular pain is long-standing (chronic) with no clear single cause. Because the causes vary so much, and because torsion is time-critical, testicular pain is taken seriously and assessed.

How it is treated

The approach depends on how the pain came on. Sudden, severe testicular pain must be treated as a possible torsion and assessed as an emergency without delay — this cannot wait, as prompt surgery can save the testicle. Pain that builds up over hours to days with swelling and other symptoms of infection (epididymitis/orchitis) is assessed and, where confirmed, treated (for example with antibiotics for a bacterial cause), along with supportive measures like rest, support and pain relief. Injury is assessed for damage. Referred pain (such as from a kidney stone) is treated at its source. Chronic testicular pain is investigated to exclude treatable causes and then managed with a range of approaches. Any lump felt with the pain is assessed to exclude other causes. The overriding message is that sudden severe testicular pain is an emergency, and other testicular pain should also be checked, as most causes are treatable.