AZMan07

Every man's left testicle hangs lower than the right. As we say in the software business, "that is by design."

Several things may cause your symptoms. Speaking from personal experience (that is about all we can do here), a varicocele can cause a warm feeling, needing to adjust yourself constantly, and may radiate down your thigh with a kind of "ache" feeling, is aggravated by both heat (in the summer you can't get out of your shorts fast enough and you prefer to wear boxers that ironically, is not recommended if you have a varicocele), and the "ache" is further aggravated by sexual activity. That last part is a real "gotcha" because as you refrain from sex in order to minimize your discomfort you start to have blue balls from not ejaculating.

Someone else, who may have had a hydrocele may speak to how that feels. But these are 2 common problems guys can have that are not at all related to cancer and don't cause immediate pain like a testicular torsion can.

Is there pain? Where? Is there numbing? Where? Does your testicle just constantly feel like you need to adjust it in order to make it feel more comfortable? Does it feel like it is kinda "full?" Does it feel warmer to the touch than the other one? Or is it an "ache" like I described above? These are all questions you need to ask yourself so you can relay them to your doctor.

Your doctor, who has probably felt hundreds if not thousands of testicles, will examine yours, probably take a urine sample (SOP for almost all visits but especially if our report a burning sensation during urination), will ask you the same questions, and may even perform a digital rectal exam to see if there is an issue with your prostate (yes, even at your age!).

Finally, if he is a good doctor who is more concerned with your health than his pocket book, he will order a testicular ultrasound. The worst you will feel there is a little embarrassment due to a woman rubbing cold gel on your testicles and rubbing the ultrasound instrument all over and around them. It not only can visually see inside but can also record the sound of blood rushing through your veins there. In my case, I could hear my heartbeat real good on the left side because a varicocele is a kind of sack of varicose veins dropping down into your scrotum from your abdomen. As veins, they are full of pumping blood and that is what I heard.

If left untreated for an extended period of time, (I am again speaking only from personal experience but there are some documented studies), a varicocele, due to the increase in blood flow and therefore producing a higher temperature where it is not suppose to be, may decrease not only your sperm count but also your testosterone level.

Bottom line is why continue to put yourself through this for a long time when a simple physical exam will allow your doctor to properly diagnose and treat you as well as alleviate this fear you have? Seriously, get this looked at. Report back to us the diagnosis.

P.S. There are various procedures for removing varicoceles. All of them a lot less invasive than the 1 I went through 12 years ago.