Man suffers endless erection after taking sleeping tablet

A man who endured a painful erection for several weeks after  suffering a rare side effect to a sleeping tablet says his penis has been left permanently damaged.

Edward Stalling was hospitalised for 10 days as doctors treated his prolonged erection.

He developed fibrosis – where the arteries and muscles in the penis becoming hardened with fibrous tissue – as a result of the continued erection.

He claims this has left him impotent and with difficulty urinating – and is suing the hospital for not making the side effects of the sleeping tablets clear to him.

Mr Stalling suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and takes sleeping tablets from time to time to deal with the insomnia, CBS46 news reports.

In October, doctors at Alanta VA Medical centre prescribed the drug Trazodone to help him sleep.

While it helped temporarily, by December he was having trouble sleeping and so took the drug once again.

‘I took it that night and the next day I woke up with that problem,’ Mr Stalling told CBS46 news.

When the problem didn’t subside, Mr Stalling drove himself to the hospital.

But when he arrived, he claims doctors ‘made a spectacle of his condition’.

‘One had mentioned that I should line up all the women,’ Mr Stalling said.

He added: ‘I haven’t had that many people who’d seen it in my whole life until I went to that hospital.’

He said that multiple doctors and nurses came to his bed to look at him.

Trazodone is an antidepressant which is also commonly prescribed for insomnia.

One of its rare side effects is a continued painful erection, which occurs in one out of every 10,000 to 20,000 users.

Mr Stalling alleges after being hospitalised he was left with a ‘non-functioning sex organ and trouble urinating’.

‘I can’t look too far ahead because the future don’t seem that bright,’ he said.

He plans on suing the hospital for damages after developing fibrosis in his penis, according to his lawyer, Jonathan Johnson.

Priapism, the medical name for a continued erection, is known to cause fibrosis.

This is when hard, fibrous tissue forms in the penis – in a process similar to scarring.

Scar tissue forms on the lining of the erectile tissue, where blood is held in the penis when a man has an erection.

The area becomes hard and the scar tissue prevents normal stretching, affecting the size and shape of the erect penis.

If the muscle and the arteries of the penis become hardened with fibrous tissue, it can lead to erectile dysfunction.

A spokesperson for the The Atlanta VA Medical Center said: ‘[We] place the highest priority on delivering quality care while respecting the privacy of veterans.

‘Our focus has always been to deliver this care in a professional, compassionate and safe environment.

‘When issues occur in our system we conduct reviews to identify, correct and work to prevent additional risk.

‘It would be inappropriate to comment on this case without consent from the veteran.’

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