Priapism probably is not a term you're familiar with. And with good reason, it's a rare medical condition where a man gets an erection for longer than four hours.
The latest issue of the Irish Medical Journal carries a case study of a young Irish cyclist who suffered the condition for seven weeks. Yes, he had an erection for seven (7) weeks.
Curiously, it took him five of those weeks to present for medical treatment. Because anything less than that is, of course, normal and absolutely nothing to worry about.
The ailment came about when the cyclist sustained a blow to his perineum (that's the area between the scrotum and anus also known as the gooch) when he fell onto the crossbar of his bike.
It took two weeks of treatment at a Tallaght hospital to alleviate his erection with it eventually subsiding after medical staff used catheters and platinum coils to return the blood flow in the area to normal.
You'll be glad to learn that everything has returned to normal and he's now back in the saddle (yes, that's a euphemism).
