A man had to have an operation on his penis after fearing it would "die" during a two-day erection.
Elliot Rossitter, 41, said he was in excruciating pain when it happened while on holiday in Nice, France.
Surgeons there eventually warned Elliot he'd never be able to have an erection again if he didn't undergo the procedure.
A hole was cut into the base of the penis to drain out blood and finally restore it to its normal size after some 36 hours of discomfort.
"I thought it would never go away. It was bigger than a usual erection and wouldn't stop throbbing.
"I've never experienced pain like it," the occupational therapist, of Bristol, said.
It was caused by a rare reaction to coming off painkillers, doctors said. Elliot was taking codeine, oxycodone and morphine sulphate after tearing a leg ligament in a skiing accident some seven years ago.
But Elliot, who is childless, feared for his fertility.
He continued : "It was absolute agony and I was terrified.
"I couldn't let any clothes touch it, that's how painful it was.
"They [doctors] basically said my penis would die if I didn't have an operation.
"I would like to have children at some point and wondered if I'd get the chance to."
Elliot was unable to be intimate with his girlfriend for one month after the surgery.
But he said his manhood has worked fine since the scare.
The occupational therapist, who is in a relationship with 32-year-old Sarah Willis, admitted his erection "just came on" in Nice and it "wasn't sexual".
Blood in the penis deprived of oxygen can damage or destroy tissues.
It causes priapism, which the NHS stresses can be very painful.
An uncommon condition, it can affect a man's ability to get or maintain an erection (erectile dysfunction).
Priapism most commonly affects men in their 30s and older.
