Jason Garnett will always remember last Friday.
Garnett, 23, woke up that morning with an erection that refused to go down. In fact,Garnett’s penis stood at rapt attention for more than 17 hours, the Northern Echo newspaper reports.
At first, Garnett wasn’t worried much about it, and went to his job at a hotel in Harrogate, U.K.
But around lunchtime he became concerned. When taking an ice bath and going for a jog didn’t alter the situation, he realized something was up.
Eight hours after waking up, Garnett told his roommate about his problem.
“You should have seen the look on his face when I told him what was wrong,” Garnett told The Sun. “He was in hysterics at first, but then he realized how serious the situation was.”
Garnett was taken to a hospital and was diagnosed with priapism, a rare condition where erections do not subside. It is not caused by sexual desire or stimulation, but, untreated, it can permanently damage the penis, News.com.au reports.
Doctors had to drain two pints of blood from his penis to reduce the pressure on his organ, HuffPost UK reports. When that didn’t work, they were forced to inject him with 24 rounds of medication before things settled down.
“Seeing them stab my penis with a needle was a horrible experience, like something out of a horror film,” Garnett told the Sun. “The pain was 10 out of 10.”
He said it’s completely normal now “apart from the fact that it looks like it’s been through a war,” according to UPI.com.