Another numbness question

Hey Guys,

I know there is a log of material on this topic, but I have some specific questions. This is also my first post. Bummer it’s on this issue; but hey, I’m still motivated. I also want to say how wonderful this forum is and how impressed I am by the support, encouragement, and wisdom one finds here. Thanks all. And sorry for the long post.

I’ve been hanging a little over a month now, and I think I’ve damaged my dorsal nerve. I am experiencing numbness around the nerve bundle, mostly on the the top of the glands. The first couple weeks I was using a homemade hanger; since then I’ve been using the Bib Starter. I don’t remember having this problem with the homemade hanger, though the Bib Starter is much more comfortable. Thanks Bib! I first noticed the numbness just over a week ago. I took several days off. But the numbness is back. It’s not too bad, and it has already improved with another day off. But I want to sort this out. From what I’ve read, it seems that few people have this problem with the Bib hangers. So I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong. Here are the possibilities I can think of. Any advice on what the most likely culprit is would be much appreciated.

The wrap: At first I wrapped with Theraband only, the edge of which was digging into the glands a bit. Now I use a soft under wrap, which allows me to wrap tighter: with just the warp on, the glands will become a bit engorged; but I can still piss. I’ve experienced numbness with both methods of wrapping.

Hanger position: I’ve probably been placing the hanger 1/2” from the glands, or slightly more. I’ve just read that it should be 3/4” or further back. Have I been positioning the hanger too close?

Twisting: Half the time my unit twists in the hanger, but only slightly - 1/8 of a turn or less.

Weight: I started out with light weights and am now at 6 kg (13 lb). This is BTC. The last day I hung I did try to bump the weight up a bit. Am I simply overdoing it?

Length of sets: The usual 20 min., with 10 min. breaks. But I know some say they can only go for 10 or 15 min. I now do between 6 and 12 sets a day. My goal is 15.

Tightness of hanger: I really crank the thing down. I even use a cloth to give the wing NT a few extra twists. It’s not particularly comfortable like this, but it grips the internal structures well and minimizes hanger movement. Everything I’ve read suggests keeping the hanger tight. But again, have I perhaps gone too far?

My hunch is that I’ve been positioning the hanger too close to the glands and/or pushing the weight a bit too much. But I’m very curious if the tightness of the hanger could also be the problem, or part of the problem. Thanks again in advance for any help.

Motivated

Dude you need to stop hanging asap. One day of rest isn’t going to cure numbness in most cases. This is my fourth day off and I am feeling better. Take some more time off.

Believe me, I plan on taking as much time off as is necessary. I’m just trying to figure out, for if and when I do start hanging again, what the source of the problem is. I may have underestimated the extent of the numbness, though. It now feels more like it’s just the lower half of my member, from where I attach the hanger down. Which leads me again to suspect that it may have to do with how tightly I’ve been attaching the hanger. Once again, any advice would be great.

Ok motivated, here we go. First things first, take some time off until all feeling returns. It might be a week, it might be a month. If it’s not back in 30 days, go see a qualified urologist.

Sounds like you’re wrapping too tight. Zis ist ze priority. Try wrapping a bit looser than you normally do, and just sit around for 15 minutes without attaching the hanger. Is your head still engorged? Too tight. Loosen it up and try again.

It’s more than possible. When I hang I start with the hanger about an inch behind the glans and sort of let it ride on up. It puts pressure on the glans, but always the sides (aka shoulders) of it. NEVER let it put pressure on the dorsal nerve bundle.

1/8 of a turn is ok. I’d be worried if it’s 45 degrees or more.

Did you take a peek at the Hanging 101 thread? You really need to start slowly and work your way up. Don’t worry about putting in work sets just yet. You’re building a foundation here, conditioning your penis to do(potentially) brutal amounts of hanging in the future.

Ok, start at 10 and work your way up. While you’re doing these sets, make sure to reach down and check every few minutes to make sure your glans isn’t cold or numb. If it is, cut the set short IMMEDIATELY.

It gets a bit tricky here. Try a few sets with a light weight (2.5 pounds) and tighten the hanger just enough to prevent slipping. As the tissues adapt, you can tighten up the hanger a bit more each time. Fly by “feel” on this one.

Antistar that is most excellent advice. I wish I would have read this a couple weeks ago.

motivated,

Antistar gave some great advice. I don’t think I can improve on it.

>Weight: I started out with light weights and am now at 6 kg (13 lb). This is BTC. The last day I hung I did try to bump the weight up a bit. Am I simply overdoing it?<

After one month, 13 lbs is quite a bit. Probably a little too much. Do you need that much so early to reach fatigue?

Tightening is a heck of a topic. That could very well be the source of the numbness along with wrapping too tight. BTW, your head should not engorge much if at all if your wrap is loose enough.

The best way I found to gauge needed hanger tightness is to pull every couple seconds while tightening the hanger. Give an approximation when pulling of your max weight, and see how it feels, and if the hanger slips down too far near the head. It does worry me that you have to use a cloth padding to tighten the wing nut. That sounds very very tight, especially for 13 lbs. Then considering the numbness, I would say the chances are good that you overtightened.

Bigger

I meant to add something about chronic vs acute numbness. I have experienced both.

When I first started hanging with a loop, I had chronic numbness sneak up on me. This took quite a while to go away, and for my unit to return to complete sensation.

I have also had acute numbness. This is what I think of as ‘sleep’ much the same as when your arm or leg goes to sleep because of pressure or lack of blood flow. Acute numbness goes away as soon as the pressure is removed, and blood flow is restored completely. I see no problem with this numbness, as long as it does not happen too often, and does not become chronic.

The point is, if you reach down and touch your head while hanging, and find numbness, then take off the hanger immediately. If feeling returns immediately, then no problem. The more dangerous occurance is one that is hard to recognize, and that is a slow, chronic loss of feeling.

Bigger

Bigger,

So you have experienced chronic numbness, that is nice to know that your feeling has come back as well. Do you know of anyone who has experienced true chronic numbness? Where the feeling never came back? How long did your chronic numbness take to fade?

I was going to make a similar post, but neglected to because it would have taken a while to type out the history & time has been short lately.

In my instance, I only developed a very slight numbness manifested in a slight loss of tactile sensation at the tip of my glans. I could still feel pressure, but there was a lessening of perception of a soft gliding stroke across the tip of my glans. This persisted during my two days off per week.

That symptom isn’t what got my attention though. What made me quit for 2-4 weeks was a tingling sensation that seemed to follow the length of my shaft from the glans. It felt a little like a muscle cramp (wasn’t a cramp; more like a tingling) in a well-defined long & very narrow area. Even after one week of rest, the tingling sensation came back on one or two occasions. I wasn’t doing any other PE during that time. The sensation lasted only a few seconds.

It’s been three weeks since I’ve hanged, and I haven’t noticed any problems since. I’m going to take another week off just for certainty (you never can tell w/ nerve issues) then I’m going to work up slowly.

I think my problem was that I increased my amount of sets too soon, along with too much weight in later sets. The week I noticed problems, I was hanging 20 mins x 3 with 10 lbs in the AM, then 20 x 3 in the PM (one set w/ 10 lbs, then two remaining sets w/ 8 lbs). I decided to work at this level after only 4 weeks of hanging. I feel very confident that if I had done only the AM workout, that I wouldn’t have had any problems. It’s hard to say, and time will tell.

Good luck to all.

Phila,

>So you have experienced chronic numbness, that is nice to know that your feeling has come back as well. Do you know of anyone who has experienced true chronic numbness?<

I would define chronic numbness as a loss of sensation for more than a few minutes after all stress and/or pressure is removed. IOW, for a significant time period. Now, I recognized what was happening to me after a few days, and stopped the pressure behind the head.

After I found out what was happening, I started working on a way to place the hanging pressures where they would not do harm, or lessen any harm. That is when I started concentrating on the shaft, getting away from the head. Essentially, I rested for the amount of time it took to come up with the original homemade Bib. I was not fully recovered when I started back hanging. IOW, I was recovering while still hanging.

When the loop was in great use, there was a tremendous amount of numbness going around. In fact, it was hard to supply enough stress without getting numb. So the answer is yes, I have known of many guys with chronic numbness.

>Where the feeling never came back?<

I know of nobody that did not recover. There have been a very few over the years that have not reported back on their condition though.

>How long did your chronic numbness take to fade?<

As best I remember about two weeks. But as I said, I was hanging while recovering, after I came up with a new way to hang. I could tell sensation was returning each day.

Bigger

I should add that the occurance of numbness does seem to have gone down steadily over time, as hanging technique has improved. If any guy experiences numbness, it is probably not the act of hanging itself, but bad technique, that caused it.

The first thing to do is check for pressure on the very top side of the shaft, and directly behind the head on top. If your wrap and/or hanger is placing pressure there, then correct this problem.

Bigger

Thanks Bigger you are the Man! This is just what I needed to hear.

I also had several bouts with numbness. Mine was mostly due to twisting in the Bib Hanger. I changed my wrapping technique and started to wrap first with the gray Theraband and then with some ace bandage on top of that and the twisting stopped.

Sorry guys for not replying sooner. I decided to use the non-hanging time to get out of town for a couple of days. Thanks to all for the very useful advice, in particular to Antistar and Bib. I will certainly follow it. Fortunately, the numbness has dissipated greatly. Of course, I’m going to wait until it’s entirely gone. Philadelph, how are you doing now?

I will wrap looser and drop down on the weights. I’ve been reading some old posts again and saw that Bib took six months to work up to 17 lbs. Bib, how long did it take you to work up to eight-hour sessions? I will also experiment with the tightness of the hanger - but I agree Bib, this must be at least one of the causes of my numbness.

Okay, here are some reply questions for Bib (and others):

>The first thing to do is check for pressure on the very top side of the shaft, and directly behind the head on top. If your wrap and/or hanger is placing pressure there, then correct this problem.<

Could you please explain this further. I understand what you mean by avoiding pressure directly behind the head on top, i.e., on the nerve bundle. But it strikes me that with the hanger tightened even only moderately, it would be impossible to avoid putting pressure on the top side of the shaft. Do you mean that the shaft should be low enough in the well of the hanger that, when tightened, no significant pressure is placed on the top side?

>After one month, 13 lbs is quite a bit. Probably a little too much. Do you need that much so early to reach fatigue?<

I must confess, I’ve read a lot of posts on fatigue, but I still don’t understand this concept completely. I’m certain I’m just being slow. Is fatigue simply a measure of the weight one can tolerate? For example, if one’s maximum weight is 20 lbs, then fatigue is reached when one cannot hang another set at that weight, and “total fatigue” is reached when one cannot hang at half that weight, 10 lbs. Let’s call this “quantitative fatigue.” Or does fatigue refer to the exhaustion of either the ligs or the tunica (depending on the angle of hang)? This would be to define fatigue in terms of a specific sensation, and thus as “qualitative fatigue.”

I know that the weight one can tolerate is also determined by level of discomfort, and thus by a sensation. But this sensation may not have anything to do with the exhaustion of the ligs/tunica. For me, at least thus far, it has mostly had to do with the discomfort I feel on the shaft where the hanger is attached (which may also be from attaching it too tightly). On occasion it’s because of discomfort of the glands. I know the latter is a big problem for many. At any rate, this is what I mean by “qualitative fatigue” and “quantitative fatigue.” So understood, it seems to me that the concept of fatigue in hanging is sometimes used qualitatively and other times quantitatively.

If we mean qualitative fatigue, then I’m not certain how much weight I need, as I’m not clear just what the sensation of lig/tunica exhaustion is supposed to be. I’ve been hanging BTC, i.e., for the ligs. At my maximum weight (13 lbs), I certainly feel the ligs stretching. Sometimes I can even feel the stress in very specific regions of the ligs, as you have commented on Bib; at othertimes, the feeling is more diffuse. But I’ve yet to feel anything in the way of soreness in the ligs, at least while hanging. After hanging, if I press my fingers on the ligs, I feel a bit of soreness (in particular at one location), but only a bit. If fatigue is to be measured qualitatively, can someone please try to explain further what this sensation is meant to be like. I know this is difficult.

If we mean quantitative fatigue, then again the answer to how much weight I need depends. How much discomfort do some of you allow before you decide, “That’s too much weight?” I’m not talking pain - just discomfort. Like many of you, I hang while at my desk working. Therefore, I’ve been measuring discomfort by how much the hanging distracts me from my work. I must say, this is the aspect of hanging I have liked least: even at less than 13 lbs, hanging prevents me from having 100% concentration on my work. (No doubt this also has to do with the position one has to be in for twenty-minute sets while hanging BTC - i.e., slouched in a desk chair!) I’d really appreciate hearing from some of you on this, especially those of you who are working while hanging. How much discomfort do you allow yourself? I can’t imagine ever being able to hang 20 lbs or more while getting any significant work done.

Thanks again,

Motivated

motivated,

>Bib, how long did it take you to work up to eight-hour sessions?

I think about six months. Between 6-8.

>>>The first thing to do is check for pressure on the very top side of the shaft, and directly behind the head on top. If your wrap and/or hanger is placing pressure there, then correct this problem.<

Could you please explain this further. I understand what you mean by avoiding pressure directly behind the head on top, i.e., on the nerve bundle. But it strikes me that with the hanger tightened even only moderately, it would be impossible to avoid putting pressure on the top side of the shaft. Do you mean that the shaft should be low enough in the well of the hanger that, when tightened, no significant pressure is placed on the top side?<<<

That is correct. The shaft should be low enough in the well that the pressure is on the top sides on the shaft. You do not want the teeth mashing in on the very top of the shaft. This is a function of the wrapped flaccid girth, and the bottom hex nut adjustments to get it right. Also, when you put on the hanger, before you tighten, you can push the shaft down in the well further.

>I must confess, I’ve read a lot of posts on fatigue, but I still don’t understand this concept completely. I’m certain I’m just being slow. Is fatigue simply a measure of the weight one can tolerate? For example, if one’s maximum weight is 20 lbs, then fatigue is reached when one cannot hang another set at that weight, and “total fatigue” is reached when one cannot hang at half that weight, 10 lbs. Let’s call this “quantitative fatigue.” Or does fatigue refer to the exhaustion of either the ligs or the tunica (depending on the angle of hang)? This would be to define fatigue in terms of a specific sensation, and thus as “qualitative fatigue.” <

Fatigue is both a description of the feeling induced when hanging to tissue deformation, and/or the actual deformation of the tissues. It is a feeling of failure of the tissues, so that you feel you cannot hang at a current weight. It can be soreness.

>I know that the weight one can tolerate is also determined by level of discomfort, and thus by a sensation. But this sensation may not have anything to do with the exhaustion of the ligs/tunica. For me, at least thus far, it has mostly had to do with the discomfort I feel on the shaft where the hanger is attached (which may also be from attaching it too tightly). On occasion it’s because of discomfort of the glands. I know the latter is a big problem for many. At any rate, this is what I mean by “qualitative fatigue” and “quantitative fatigue.” So understood, it seems to me that the concept of fatigue in hanging is sometimes used qualitatively and other times quantitatively.<

That is a very good point or question. I do not think I have seen it before, or at least not lately. Fatigue has little to do with the condition or feeling of the tissues at the site of hanger attachment. If you are hanging to the point where the skin, or head is giving problems, that is an attachment problem, and is not what I am referring to as fatigue. This calls for wrap and or hanger adjustment, or you are trying to hang too much weight too quickly.

The soft tissues must be given time to adapt. That is why you should move up slowly in weight, and in time. But you should be experimenting with different attachments to allow for as much stress on the collagenous tissues as possible.

For the skin, arnica and a good Vit E lotion are priceless. The arnica also seemed to help me with shaft soreness.

>If we mean qualitative fatigue, then I’m not certain how much weight I need, as I’m not clear just what the sensation of lig/tunica exhaustion is supposed to be. I’ve been hanging BTC, i.e., for the ligs. At my maximum weight (13 lbs), I certainly feel the ligs stretching. Sometimes I can even feel the stress in very specific regions of the ligs, as you have commented on Bib; at othertimes, the feeling is more diffuse. But I’ve yet to feel anything in the way of soreness in the ligs, at least while hanging. After hanging, if I press my fingers on the ligs, I feel a bit of soreness (in particular at one location), but only a bit. If fatigue is to be measured qualitatively, can someone please try to explain further what this sensation is meant to be like. I know this is difficult.<

You are correct, it is difficult. But it seems you are experiencing soreness, or fatigue, in the ligs now. If you can feel it when you touch them, then you are getting there. I do not believe most guys report soreness unless there is some exterior stimulation to the lig area. If you are just sitting and not doing anything, you probably will not feel them. If you do some situps, or crunches, you might.

As you progress and go up in weight, you will probably reach a point where you feel the failure in the ligs while hanging BTC.

>If we mean quantitative fatigue, then again the answer to how much weight I need depends. How much discomfort do some of you allow before you decide, “That’s too much weight?” I’m not talking pain - just discomfort.<

If I could not concentrate on business, or would catch myself watching the clock, I would usually be at failure for that particular weight. I would usually reduce the weight at the moment. If I was at the end of the set, I would reduce on the next set. I almost NEVER pushed it. If I was not comfortable, I would stop the set, or reduce the weight.

>Like many of you, I hang while at my desk working. Therefore, I’ve been measuring discomfort by how much the hanging distracts me from my work. I must say, this is the aspect of hanging I have liked least: even at less than 13 lbs, hanging prevents me from having 100% concentration on my work. (No doubt this also has to do with the position one has to be in for twenty-minute sets while hanging BTC - i.e., slouched in a desk chair!) I’d really appreciate hearing from some of you on this, especially those of you who are working while hanging. How much discomfort do you allow yourself? I can’t imagine ever being able to hang 20 lbs or more while getting any significant work done.<

You will be amazed at how much you can hang. But hanging pounds is not the goal. Gaining is the goal. If you cannot concentrate, you are fighting yourself. If you cannot concentrate on your work, either your attachment is faulty, or you are hanging too much weight.

Bigger