I have undergone chemotherapy twice. Once in 1992 and again in
1995-1996.  I have PN in my legs and feet and in my hands (although
not as severe). I dol not have any pain but am constantly aware of the
discomfort of the numbness. I want to know if PN can also affect the
male sex organs.  I am able to achieve an erection but have an
extremely difficult time reaching the final result of the sex act.  Is
this normal for PN?

Dear Ettubrute,

I went to the MEDLINEplus consumer health website
(www.medlineplus.gov) from the National Library of Medicine to see if
I could find information on peripheral neuropathy and impotence (which
could be considered a more extreme case than what you've described). 
After reading some of the information available from such
organizations as the Mayo Clinic, I can tell you that peripheral
neuropathy can affect function in the sex organs as well as the
bladder and intestines.  That is, some people do experience sexual
symptoms with their PN.  It looks like the majority of cases, though,
primarily affect the hands and feet.  Whether what you are
experiencing is "normal" in your case is really only a question your
doctor can answer.

Here are some sites that have some general information about PN, and
which mention impotence as a possible symptom:

Mayo Clinic: Peripheral Neuropathy Overview
http://www.mayoclinic.com/invoke.cfm?id=DS00131
Click the "Signs and Symptoms" link in the "article sections" menu to
read about various symptoms.  This section includes the following
reference to sexual problems:
"If the motor nerves are affected, you may have weakness or paralysis
of the muscles controlled by those nerves. And if you have damage to
nerves that control certain functions of the autonomic nervous system,
you might have bowel or bladder problems, reduced sweating or
impotence."

MEDLINEplus / Adam Health Encyclopedia: Peripheral Neuropathy
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000593.htm
This article gives a good general overview of PN, and includes male
impotence as a symptom of damage to the autonomic nerves.  You may
also find the article on male impotence (linked from this article or
go directly to http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003164.htm)
of interest.  The general article on sexual problems
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001951.htm) may also
be of help - it does mention that neurological problems often cause
sexual problems.

In addition, I decided to look in PubMed MEDLINE, the main database of
medical literature citations, to see if there have been studies of PN
and sexual dysfunction in the last few years.  I found that, in
general, PN and sexual dysfunction in males tends to occur in
diabetics.  However, there are about half a dozen articles that
discuss both PN and sexual dysfunction but NOT diabetes.  If you'd
like to take a look at the abstracts, try this link:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=search&db=pubmed&term=("peripheral+neuropathy"[tw]+AND+sexual+dysfunction)+NOT+diabetes

The search question I used was the following: "("peripheral
neuropathy"[tw] AND sexual dysfunction) NOT diabetes".  This search
will not get you all the articles available on PN and sexual
dysfunction (to do that, take out the [tw] in the link, you'll get
more than 70 articles), but I think it gives you enough articles to
show some kind of connection between the two symptoms.

Again, I urge you to discuss this issue with your doctor.  From the
sites above, some instances of PN can get worse with time - but not
show up in terms of pain or numbness.  If your case is changing, your
doctor should know about it.  There may be some simple remedies that
he/she can suggest that will solve your problem.  As I am not a
physician - I'm a librarian - I cannot give any medical advice.  All I
can do is show you some sites that have information that I think
answers your direct question.  The rest is up to you.

Good luck!

librariankt