Phantom tissue sensation?

[PinkCloud]

I came across this page which discusses some of it:

Following sexual reassigment surgery, it's apparently pretty common to suffer from some phantom penis and phantom erectile syndrome for the first few weeks, while everything settles and cortical remapping takes place. However, in this case, the patient continued to experience the sensation of an erection for over 6 months after surgery.

Source: http://scicurious.scientopia.org/2008/10/10/you-think-your-phantom-limb-is-bad-check-out-my-phantom-erection/

Is this true?

Sometimes I do feel some muscles contract involuntarily in the area, which does "feel" like an erection is about to happen, but never happens because it cannot happen. I am not sure what is causing this, but the above does give some explanation.

[mrs izzy]

Could be the extra blood flow in the vain that's with the nerve bundle that feeds the clitoris. So it used to fill a large area now not so much so will get that feeling.

Now if the surgeon (some do) left to much erection tissue then that also could be what is felt.

[Rachelicious]

Every once in a rare while I have a nightmare of something like this happening - it's become less common over the years, thankfully. When I wake up I'm greatly relieved to realize that my down-below is, in fact, very much complete.

[Jenna Marie]

I had nerves mis-reporting their location for the first couple days post-op; mostly, the packing felt like something pressing against my scrotum! That passed once my brain rewired to map the nerves to their correct locations.

That "tightening" sensation is actually what cis women feel at arousal too, or so I've read and been told. It is, as Izzy says, basically a clitoral erection... which is absolutely normal and typical with female equipment.

[PinkCloud]

Weird. I now can control that "muscle", when I do I see the minor labia being pulled back into my body slightly... very strange... sometimes it seems to contract on it's own. It does not seem to be erectile tissue, because I can control it on demand now. So it has to be a muscle... ?

[Jenna Marie]

Yep, that's your PC muscle (the same one that gets in the way of dilation early on). You should be able to flex that muscle to pull the dilator in or push it out now, too. It won't be dramatic, usually, but I can definitely see the dilator move a bit. During sex with a man, that's the muscle that women use to clamp down on a guy's penis, too.

[PinkCloud]

Yep, that's your PC muscle (the same one that gets in the way of dilation early on). You should be able to flex that muscle to pull the dilator in or push it out now, too. It won't be dramatic, usually, but I can definitely see the dilator move a bit. During sex with a man, that's the muscle that women use to clamp down on a guy's penis, too.

Wow... so many new experiences! I am glad I do not have a "ghost penis" LOL. That would be weird... I have mistaken it for the muscle sensation. It almost feels the same though.

Talking about new experiences, farting is something else! LOL! sometimes it seems to go straight up. First time that happend was crazy... I thought my neo vag was farting... 

[Jenna Marie]

PinkCloud : It's true, one of the "fun" experiences of being newly pre-op is figuring out where everything is and what's going on down there. Both the "slight erection" sensation and the muscle one take some experimentation to recognize, much less control; if you do try clenching on the dilator a few times, you may get a better sense of what's going on.

And, yes, the farting!! I get little bubbles trapped in my labia, which is gross and could NEVER have happened before (my wife says it's normal, but I had to ask her half-panicking the first time!). Also, you *can* actually get a little air trapped in the vagina, especially during dilation; it's harmless and it's not actually a fart, but it'll feel a little bit like it when it escapes.

I still sometimes have a tiny drop or two of pee trapped somewhere in there when I'm finished wiping, too, that only reappears when I stand up. I do not miss having a penis, but it was certainly more... straightforward, and sometimes cleaner.

[PinkCloud]

It's nice to experience it how it was supposed to be. What else to expect? I heard that some girls had an orgasm just weeks after surgery. Can't imagine how that must feel. Some even reported a wet discharge.

My surgeon told me that I should be rubbing the clitoris, and play with it. I told him that I am not ready for any orgasm or sex. But he insisted playing with the clitoris, probably because of the nerves that need to adjust and the healing. He squeezed the hood and clitoris two times to see if I had any sensation. Sheesh! Yeah that works alright! Well, I'll see, I still don't feel like playing with the area... it's just... I don't know, a bit strange yet.

[Jenna Marie]

PinkCloud : I had an orgasm in my sleep (and some discharge) at 3 weeks post-op, and it was around six weeks or so that I could get lubricated if I was aroused. (Took me months to figure out how to get to orgasm while awake, though; the new equipment is a lot more finicky.) If you don't want to play with your clitoris you shouldn't have to, either; you know you have sensitivity, but some of us are *too* sensitive to touch it directly.

The main thing I noticed when I was about where you are was that swelling going down meant all the structures were constantly shifting position slightly - my urethra didn't always point the same way each time I tried to pee, my clit would poke out a bit or recede, that sort of thing. It does all settle down, but the healing phase means nothing is ever how/where you left it for a while!