![The nightmare of pudendal neuralgia patients](https://img.passeportsante.net/1000x526/2018-01-26/i62219-le-cauchemar-des-patients-atteints-de-nevralgie-pudendale.jpg)
February 14, 2017.
Difficult to live with such pain that sometimes prevents sitting. And yet this is what many people experience with inflammation of the pudendal nerve, located between the penis, or the clitoris, and the anus.
Pudendal neuralgia still poorly understood
The pudendal nerve connects the penis or clitoris to the anus. When it is compressed, it ignites and then causes very sharp pain. People with these ailments experience burning sensations between the thighs, tightness, pinching, electric shocks or tingling. “Sitting is difficult, if not impossible, except on the toilet seat. Patients use buoys to sit, live upright or lie down ”, explains Doctor Labat, neurologist in Nantes and interviewed by Le Figaro Santé.
Once poorly understood, pudendal neuralgia was misdiagnosed as the pains are diverse according to the patients. Gynecologists, urologists and proctologists disagreed and each made a different diagnosis, ranging from tumor to infection. Medicine has become more transversal in this field since 1987, but it is still today impossible to know how many people suffer from it in France.
The solution comes from cyclists
In 1987, the mystery was dispelled: Professor Amarenco received cyclists complaining of pain in the perineum, “ Professor Amarenco then mentioned the possibility of compression of the pudendal nerve, which has been confirmed by anatomical studies », Says Dr. Labat.
This compression may be accompanied by urinary problems, constipation problems, or sexual problems such as vaginismus. Some patients can no longer have sex. Treatments are offered to reduce this pain : neurostimulation, placement of electrodes in the lower back, prescription of antiepileptic or antidepressant drugs, muscle rehabilitation, or surgery.
Maylis Choné
Read also: Fibromyalgia and Pudendal neuralgia