A case of sleep-related painful erections with chronic daytime genital discomfort

Sleep-related painful erections (SRPE) are an uncommon condition characterized by recurrent nocturnal penile tumescence accompanied by penile pain without penile pathology, which occurs during the rapid eye movement (REM) sleep stage. A report of a 59-year-old patient with SRPE is described. Turgid painful erections (five to seven episodes of tumescence) during the sleep hours caused pain together with burning and tingling sensations in the penis and perineal zone during the daytime hours. Swelling of the pubic and perineal area was recurrent. Sleep loss, chronic fatigue, mild anxiety, lack of concentration and decreased work occurred along with this condition. Polysomnographic findings indicated REM sleep fragmentation. Attempts to treat this condition with muscle relaxants or anxiolytics did not prompt an improvement of this disorder, but a single daily dose of gabapentin 300 mg in combination with 1 mg clonazepam at bedtime improved total sleep time and reduced full sleep erections.