It sounds as though it has nothing to do with his sex organs at all. He had a back injury, one assumes that the problem stems from damage to his nervous system. I'd guess castration would lead to a similar scenario to those who suffer from chronic pain in phantom limbs. Likewise there are neurological conditions, such as tinnitus, where the symptoms are caused by essentially an aural hallucination due to a lack of stimuli. So yeah, the problem might not be over-stimulation but rather a lack of it.

Anyway, it sounds horrible. Hope they find a cure or at least a way to alleviate the symptoms.

This phenomenon is very similar, albeit in contrast to, the phantom limb phenomenon, by which amputees continue to feel sensations in the part of their body that is no longer there. For this reason, neurologist, VJ Ramachandran has used a mirror box to help relieve phantom limb pain by using multisensory input to convince the mind that the amputated limb is not in distress.

To quote Brock and Phantom Limb on the subject:

Brock: Not even a scar? Did you look around the nipple, or belly button? Sometimes they- they put 'em in through there.
Phantom Limb: Look, she is all woman. I have explored every supple inch of her and have found nothing but nectar.

This is the future for the amputee fetish community.

(suggested tags: upper extremity loss,phantom limb,toga)

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag. (show it anyway)

I guess phantom limb syndrome would be an example of an illusion involving the sense of touch. Is there such a thing as a "taste" illusion?

Maybe the Miracle Fruit.

Tags for this video have been changed from 'TED, Vilayanur Ramachandra, phantom limb, synesthesia, Capgras syndrome' to 'TED, Vilayanur Ramachandran, phantom limb, synesthesia, Capgras syndrome' - edited by oxdottir

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rl2LwnaUA-k

This is a clip of Vilayanur Ramachandran giving a TED Talk. It's not quite a replacement for your "Mirror Box - Phantom Limb" video, but it's the next best thing.

sorry to be a bit of a party pooper as I thoroughly respect dr ramachandran and his work - he is truly doing some great research. But... the mirror box to treat phantom limb pain isn't new, it's been around for decades - I've got a psychology text book from the 60s with it being used to treat this.
Equally, the "revelation" that pain might be just a mental construct... shock horror.. pain, like ANY sensation is ONLY a mental construct.

Ah, thanks, lucky.

And cancel that alert re Death Cab -- it was Phantom Limb by The Shins, which has now been saved.

I'll just go have a nice lie-down now.