Hi,my 11yr old son on a regular basis during the night has to get up with stomach ache and is either sick or has diarrhea or sometimes both,on two occasions one of which was last night his testicles also swelled up and became very red.i am now worried as he has been admitted to hospital once but they said he was ok but as a mum i sense this is obviously not right,he is otherwise a healthy boy on no medication.please can you help,because it is just not getting better.thank you a worried mum.
Hi, This type of pain and location is suggestive of epididymitis which is inflammation of part of the testicle and this not uncommon in males especially in young age. This is usually treated with 10 days of antibiotics, usually ciprofloxacin and there are no permanent consequences. Masturbation and intercourse should be avoided till pain persist, if possible since I may prolong inflammation course. Some more serious conditions such as tumors or torsion are rare but in doubtful cases, you should do Doppler ultrasound or scintigraphy. In this particular case, I don’t think this is required and this should improve on antibiotic therapy. Hope I have answered your query. Let me know if I can assist you further. Take care Regards, Dr Ivan R. Rommstein, General Surgeon