Are Blue Balls Serious?

An Artic superstorm and blizzard covering most the US this Christmas-New Years got the BB Team thinking of freezing buns and blue balls. Yeah, we are weird. But are blue balls for real? We guess they could be, but we aren’t the medical experts. So the BB Team turned to Very Well Health to grab the latest.

WHAT ARE BLUE BALLS?

Blue balls don’t really coincide with Old Man Winter, but there could be a possible relationship to being cooped up inside for days on end.

Per Rod Brouhard, EMT-P, “Blue balls is the colloquial term for pain or a heavy feeling in the testicles caused by prolonged sexual arousal without orgasm in males. Blood vessels swell during arousal, and that subsides after ejaculation. If ejaculation is withheld or delayed (impaired), fluids build up, resulting in blue balls.”

SEE A DOCTOR?

The article discusses what blue balls mean, what happens in the body to cause them, and how you can get relief. Yeah, we know one of the obvious ways to get relief!

Brouhard continues, “Of course, the term is one you’re more likely to hear in casual settings, rather than a healthcare provider’s office. While most males will never need to see a healthcare provider about blue balls, as they are acutely aware of their cause, scrotal pain that is chronic or occurs independently of sex should be evaluated.”

MYTH BUSTING: SEPARATING FACT FROM FICTION

Because the term gets thrown around in locker rooms, hookup chats, and bad excuses, a lot of folklore surrounds epididymal hypertension. Let’s clear the air:

Myth 1: Your junk actually turns bright blue.

The Reality: Don’t expect a cartoonish shade of cerulean. The slang comes from the subtle, faint dusky or purplish tint that skin takes on when extra deoxygenated blood pools in the scrotum during prolonged arousal. If there is sudden, severe pain and genuine discoloration, that’s not a prolonged makeout session—that could be a serious medical issue like testicular torsion, which needs an ER, not a breather.

Myth 2: It causes permanent damage (or your balls will explode).

The Reality: It might ache like a dull cramp, but nobody has ever suffered lasting harm, tissue death, or infertility from an unfulfilled evening. Once your nervous system cools down, the body naturally redistributes the pooled blood and blood vessels return to baseline on their own.

Myth 3: A partner is obligated to “cure” it.

The Reality: The oldest guilt trip in the book has zero medical backing. While a consenting partner is certainly the most fun way to relieve the pressure, your body doesn’t discriminate between teamwork, a solo session with your favorite bottle of lube, or simply getting out of bed to take a cold shower and fold laundry.

Myth 4: It’s purely made up to complain about not getting off.

The Reality: While sometimes weaponized as an excuse, the physical sensation is 100% biological. When arterial blood flows in to create an erection, the exit veins constrict to lock the pressure in. Keep that engine revving without a finish line, and the local blood pressure builds up enough to cause genuine, throbbing discomfort.

GET RELIEF

Click the article link to find out 4 ways to get relief from blue balls. And while it doesn’t mention it, we recommend a fifth way, but it needs the helping hand…or buns of a friend.

View the full article:

Featured image by Olavi Anttila | Pexels

Thursday January 26, 2023