Pulled back — living with a bare head

Quote from: BarebareL on 2024-04-05 11:40:13Hello, just wondering if everyone knows what has happened to the gallery. I was able to assert that last week but suddenly not able to.

I have already read the announcement and followed the steps. Thanks

It's asked and answered here: https://pulledback.org/index.php?topic=4077.0
And it's mentioned in the forum updates thread here: https://pulledback.org/index.php?topic=65.msg27942#msg27942

Quote from: stephen.reilly79 on 2024-04-05 21:02:42Skylar has mentioned it elsewhere

Sorry, Kylar ... not Skylar.

Quote from: HeroicGlance on 2024-02-23 00:21:41Don't even get me STARTED about not being able to have a wank for SIX DAMNED WEEKS.

Ho-ly hell.

4 days without and I start going insane. Most I've ever managed was 2 weeks and then I just HAD to, I really just couldn't go on any longer. My entire life was dominated by a constant desperation for a release.

I've seen information on those cosmetic circs in the past and thought about it for much the same reason as you, but nah ... even just 3 weeks without a wank and I'd die, never mind 6.

Quote from: Kylar on 2024-03-02 19:48:31It likely helps with being able to retract further (without it pulling the head down anymore), but it's well possible that it doesn't help with staying retracted due to for example the skin becoming too loose (and so easier for it to roll forward)

I tied because my fren was a little tighter than I liked, and I (thankfully) found it helped me to stay retracted. But only a little. What I've found though is that the extra bunched skin tends to be more susceptible to swelling and pain while retracted and I have to skin forward on a semi-regular basis to give it time to recover. I'm hoping that it'll settle after a week or two. My glans always adapts quickly but the foreskin doesn't and is always the cause of me stopping retraction, which is what has led me to look into cosmetic circ in the past. But I don't see me ever going through with something that drastic because honestly I don't want to go through that hell for something that is, ultimately, just an aesthetic choice.

It couldn't be kept with the forum upgrade. Skylar has mentioned it elsewhere. Sadly we have to do without now, but you can still upload images into the main forum.

Quote from: Mellon on 2024-04-05 20:03:11US clinic got back to me. Good and bad news. Good news is that I can get an appointment with a Dermatologist for $350, and if a swab/biopsy is needed, could be another $350 to $1000 depending how complex.........but earliest appointment they can get me is until July.

Wow... it would probably be quicker and cheaper to fly to India and get treated there.

Quote from: Mellon on 2024-04-05 13:15:35When I came back from the hospital, I was hurting pretty bad, so I started using the only thing that originally helped: The Terbinafine cream, and as of this morning, I am a lot better

Everything you've said sounds like a fungal infection to me. Have you tried the 2% Clotrimazole cream? The 1% stuff is fine, but the 2% stuff's better. You definitely need to cure the jock itch as well: I'm in a similar position, I'd not really clocked that my scrotum was itchy until the yeast infection on my glans returned. I also realised my backside was itchy and, after some awkward acrobatics with my phone, I realised I had an infection between my buttocks as well. So I'm now treating my ass, my balls, my dick, and my feet. Ugh. Fungal infections suck.

If you're using antifungal creams then make sure you're applying them 3 times a day, and in my opinion it's worth using several different active ingredients: I'm using Clotrimazole and Terbinafine in tandem and the infection looks to be mostly gone after 5 days.

By the by, what do you wash with? What you're describing could just as easily be contact dermatitis (probably with an opportunistic fungal infection). If you wash with soap it might be worth switching to washing with a moisturising cream instead, such as E45.

Quote from: PossibleMagician130 on 2024-04-05 06:01:42I'm also impressed you're doing keto. I couldn't stick with that more than a week because I became cranky and almost insane, nearly dysfunctional with all sorts of cravings.

You raise an interesting point there. I've never done a keto diet, but for an unrelated health reason I've been on a fairly strict weightloss diet for the last year and a half. I'm infuriatingly close to my weight goal but struggling to lose the last few kilos, so I've been quite severely limiting my calories recently to try and drop the last little bit of weight... which would likely also put me into ketosis. It's probably not helping my cause, and I have noticed that "malnutrition" is often listed as a risk factor in yeast infections.

Quote from: PossibleMagician130 on 2024-04-05 18:24:31Holy moly, 10k is a lot! Hopefully you can get it settled for much, much less cheaper.

If the Miconazole or any cream is causing great discomfort, you shouldn't try to suffer through it. You can just wash it off with soap. I think it only takes half an hour for the cream to be absorbed through the skin anyway. Sure, maybe it's better to be on for longer, but you'd reduce your suffering time from 4 hours to maybe just 1.5

I hope you get some good leads you can act on! All the best buddy

Thanks man, I appreciate it.

US clinic got back to me. Good and bad news. Good news is that I can get an appointment with a Dermatologist for $350, and if a swab/biopsy is needed, could be another $350 to $1000 depending how complex.........but earliest appointment they can get me is until July.

Canadian STD clinic got back to me, saying they will ask the docs what, if anything, can be done for me. I expect the answer to be "We can't do anything, wait for your dermatologist appointment".  But we'll see.

I might cave and use the Fucidin for a week, and see how that goes. If it makes it worse, at least I have one more week to get to the dermatologist appointment.

Holy moly, 10k is a lot! Hopefully you can get it settled for much, much less cheaper.

If the Miconazole or any cream is causing great discomfort, you shouldn't try to suffer through it. You can just wash it off with soap. I think it only takes half an hour for the cream to be absorbed through the skin anyway. Sure, maybe it's better to be on for longer, but you'd reduce your suffering time from 4 hours to maybe just 1.5

I hope you get some good leads you can act on! All the best buddy

odd question for this forum - and not even judging the actual idea, but more so not sure it's related to keeping our foreskins retracted

Quote from: PossibleMagician130 on 2024-04-05 06:01:42Apologies for the late reply. I got swamped by a lot of work and chores, and kept wanting to reply but then putting it off when I could get a break.......P.S: I wonder if ketonuria could be contributing to your penis condition? I've heard that the urine from a keto diet is extremely irritating

Thank you for your reply. You guys have been nothing short of awesome, that's rare nowadays.

I went to ER because after the Miconazole thing, I started getting shivers. I suspected it was just due to how much it irritated my glans, but at this point it was worth a shot just to get it noted on the system. If I get a blood infection, I can't say I didn't go to ER to prevent it.

It annoys me that I have to wait for a doctor to tell me they can't do anything. I have been thru this before with a different illness (now cured thankfully). Wait 5-6hr just to be told "we don't do anything here for that". They might as well tell me in triage and send me home with only 30min of my time wasted.

All I need is someone to scrape off some material, and have it analyzed. I can't believe what a mountain of red tape it is to get that done. When I came back from the hospital, I was hurting pretty bad, so I started using the only thing that originally helped: The Terbinafine cream, and as of this morning, I am a lot better. I'm basically back to the "pre-Miconazole" moment. No more shivers or chills.

I suspect it's fungal because, why is the Terbinafine helping? I am scared to use the Fucidin, and instead I'm going to try to wait for the April 22nd appointment, and in the meantime, I'm reaching out to some sexual health clinics to see if they have the ability to have a scraping analyzed faster.

I've also contacted a clinic in the USA that helps Canadian patients. If it cost me $10k to get this resolved in the States, I will do it. Let's see what they recommend.

Found a semi active German forum on the topic - yup, I'm still convinced it's a more common thing there...

https://www.pe-community.eu/threads/die-vorhaut-langfristig-zurueckgezogen-halten.5578/