Prostatitis and Gerd, is there a link?

Hi,

I'm suffering with symptoms of prostatitis I think.

I'm a 31 year old with the following...

I have a constant need to pee. No pain whilst peeing but it seems to cause urethra pain afterwards.

I have a dull ache in my genitals, which can become quite bad at times. Just 'general' most of the time, but also can be quite specific in my glans/urethra.

I have lower back pains, sometimes its like a shooting pain in my kidneys. My back/buttocks/hips/back of thighsball seem to just ache.

Sex drive is right down (single at the moment so not too much of a problem!) But I've also noticed that I cant last very long at all at the moment.

Thinking back, I think this has been a repeated thing over a few years. I remember going to A+E one evening with kidney type pains and testicle ache.

I'm also suffering from Gerd/acid reflux, I've had an endoscopy which just showed stomach inflammation.... is there any link between prostatitis and this?

The acid reflux has been pretty bad, I've been on medication which caused oral thrush and balanitis so I feel in a pretty bad way at the moment!!

Any advice/experiences would be appreciated. I am going to go for STD checks to be certain but dont think thats the issue.

I would just like to be armed with as much information as possible so I can get the most effective treatment when I visit the GP

Certainly no expert here but I have read a lot about BPH and have suffered from it for many years myself. Your problem does not sound like BPH which is simply an enlarged prostate that squezees the uretrha and makes passage of urine difficult.

It's very unusual at your age. A urologist can tell in one minute if your prostate is enlarged. My God, man! I can't believe you are seeing a urologist! I have been treated by one for about 15 years and have never had symptoms as serious as yours. Your symptoms are nothing to fool around with, sounds very serious to me. Modern medicine is unbelieveable, get yourself to a specialist. You are too young to suffer so, it's not necessary.  

Hi Luket,

I myself have been having similar problems over the last 2-3 months and wondered if there was some kind of connection. I had acid reflux around 12 months ago for which I was put on omeperazole for. Having eventually weened myself off them it dawned on me around New Year I no longer needed the medication even if I ate certain trigger foods which usually gave me heartburn; wheat etc. However I was getting stomach pains and these pains have persisted with intermittent indigestion for the last few weeks and I am having an endoscopy in the next couple of weeks to investigate, although the specialist reassured me he does not think it is anything serious. As well as this around end of Feb I was having pain in my groin, genitalia and having problems urinating ie needing to go more often and urgently - I had water infection tests and STD tests which all came back negative, without a diagnosis from the doctor's I put this down to chronic pelvic pain syndrome or chronic prostatis, however since then these issues have subsided so they probably aren't 'chronic' in nature but they was not caused by traditional bacterial infections. I am 26 and fairly fit however do suffer from anxiety and I think stress and anxiety can cause or worsen the symptoms of both of these conditions so the link may well be there.

I have had exactly the same symptoms you describe! Did you ever find a resolution to this?

Same symptoms here. I'm 29, and it began with a weak ache in testicle. Then I got pains on chest, and reflux. Now everything hurts with urine channels, around kidney etc. Nothing come out from pee, ultrasound, blood... Still going to different doctors to find out.

Did you get this resolved? I'm having the same, severe heartburn (been on medication for this for 15years) and pain in right testicle.

unfortunately no, taking medicines for reflux, some of them helps temporary but nothing helps prostate

Hello-   I have similiar issues. Did you find anything out or get any relief?  

I'm having the same symptom. Went to doctors other day and everything came back negative.They gave me antibiotics and sent me home...4 days later still feel pain. I bought some extra strength Zantacs and it help with both pains temporary so that makes me think it's related...I'm going to see a specialist later this week for more test...hope this helped!!!

I have the same thing going on and have not gotten any answers. What did you find out?

Did anyone get any answers about this. Ive been suffering from bad stomach acid which suddenly came on about 5 months ago. its now concentrated in my left side/back and is pretty constant. I then suddenly started having issues with pain in the tip of my penis. urine tract infection tests have come up negative as well as scans of my bladder and kidney. its exactly as described, pain is not while urinating but after and the urge to go more frequently.

If doctors diagnose u with prostittus then try kai kit wan

i am having the same problem . i have not been tested for stds as of now but ecoli came out in semen analysis. i am having pain genital region and back.

Also since i was taking a lot of medicines i develop stomach pain. I underwent an endoscopy and it came out to be gastritis and duodonitis ( inflammation).

I literally joined just to help everyone out. I got prostatitis (of unknown origin, no bacteria or at least 120 days of 4 types of antibiotics didnt work, I dont recommend that lol, I went to an infectious disease expert and that didn't work either, got tested for every STD imaginable and some rare bacteria i dont recall what because I had unprotected sex a few times right before this and figured that was surely the cause) at first it was ache in balls, urethra tip hurt a little, pee all the time, lower back pain and then it turned into an ache which was my prostate. About 4 weeks before this happened I destroyed my stomach with stress anxiety and junk food, so sick to my stomach i threw up and couldn't eat for a few days, at age 27, I am fit lean and no underlying health conditions at the time except wild anxiety. I freaked out when the prostatitis happened made it worse etc. Now this was 3.5 years ago. what made a huuuuge difference for me, was diet, and probiotics, visbiome work for me. gluten free was huge as well. my gut to this day is still not fully healed but was going strong, prostate was under control, I mean no throb, definitely don't get constipated that makes it feel awful lol. Now! so I got covid a few weeks ago, and that doesn't make your gut feel good lol and I ate bad and alas, I got horrible acid reflux, i have gerd btw I forgot about that because I'm dumb when I get anxious and woah Nelly now 5 days after the gerd attack my stomach is coming around I can eat again, but guess what. my prostate, that dang dull heavy feeling its back! Get your gut health in order and stress anxiety under control, I saw results for this in about a month or two the first time. I also take an advil every other night (dont do this on an empty stomach like my dumbass recently that also contributed to my bad gerd attack) In short though the gluten free and good diet thing is #1 for me and close second probiotics. Now, there is also research suggesting a yeast overgrowth in the prostate as a cause which would certainly be linked with poor gut health and they have provided antifungal medications with I belive 80% effectiveness. I was never able to find someone to give me that. Modern doctors mostly scoff at gut health, its annoying. Anyway hope this helps people, message me if you have questions because good lawd was prostatitis scary and annoying the first time for me!

I had covid back in september of 2020 since then my health has taken a huge toll on my life. I am 23 years old and about a month after having covid I got a viral infection affecting my lymphnodes that lasted about a week and went away with antibiotics during of which i had a random sharp pain in my left testicle which scared me a bit. 2 weeks later i notice my left testicles was feeling that same weird pain i had and this time i stayed for about a week and half. I thought I had an std from unprotected sex so the doctors tested me for legit everything which all came back negative thank god! After going to a different doctor and conducting a urine test It turned out i had bacteria in my urine leaving me with a UTI which was cured with some antibiotics. 2 more weeks go by and I wake up one morning with really dry lungs and air ways leaving me with a bad cough for about 2 weeks (could've been bronchitus) you can only imagine how much stress and anxiety this was putting me through. Fast foward to late december i had done a CT scan on my lungs all of which came back normal then i had a CT scan done on my abdamin and lower pelvis area where the radiologist found my gallbladder is inflammed and is sending me to meet with a gastrologist next week. Long story short i have really bad acid that flows up my esophagus and causes really bad chest pains, difficulty breathing, sometimes heart pains, body aches especially in joints and back mainly, and worst of all when I pee now especially at night its so frequent and burns when im done and feels like i have to go again and with that sometimes comes a pain in my left testicle. I have urine test and blood test all which come back really healthy so I dont know if it is my gallbladder that is causing all of this but it sounds all pretty similar to what some of you all have been experiencing and if I find anything out from my gastrologist or specialist I will keep everyone updated!

any updates?

First of all, thank you all for sharing! I have been researching my issues for almost 2 years.

I am a married male, 45 years old and fit/athletic. I am a long distance runner and workout like 5 times a week. When I was 43 in May of 2019, I got this pain during ejaculation that caused concern. I got checked for a UTI and it was clear. I got a PSA test and they said that my results were high, 8.0. I then went through a variety of tests; MRI - cancer, Ultrasound on my prostate, Urine flow test, manual prostate exam, Cystoscopy, and a few others. All my test results came back clear, no issues. I did a first round of antibiotics (Amoxicillin) and everything seemed to go away. I got away from vitamins, because I was concerned about Vitamin C causing bladder pain and changed my coffee intake to low acid coffee.

As soon as I got off the antibiotics, I started having minor issues again. Then one day in June of 2020, I was running and my right testicle had pain. A few days later, I started noticing that my testicles were swelling. He checked to see if there were some type of vericoles (veins) issues, but there wasn't. Basically it felt like my nuts were heavy and it would cause a dull ache. If I lifted them up, it would ease the pain. So your boy had to go to tighty whiteys and sport briefs. So I called the doctor and he had me come in for an appointment. I got on the 2nd round of antibiotics (Bactrim) and got an ultrasound on my testicles. Everything came back clear. I finished the rounds and immediately the next day, issues were back. So I went to the doctor and he said that there isn't much else they can do, besides put me on more antibiotics. So I decided to look at my diet more. I switched to cold brew coffee, b/c it has lower acid the warm coffee. I do not have any acid reflux or IBS, but was thinking maybe I have stomach gut issues. I saw bloating here and there, but didn't take in affect what it was. I didn't write down my symptoms. I avoided buffalo sauce, spicy foods, etc and tried to focus on reducing my stress levels, which I did half hazardly. Remind you that we are in the middle of the COVID pandemic and stress is taking a toll, with work, personal, and social situations. I started trying spices again and everything was fine. I had no problems with bladder pain. In addition to changing my diet, I was researching and reading threads like this. Someone brought up back pain and how it may cause prostatitis. In addition to this issue, I was also researching why my right leg felt numb and itchy every day. I got an MRI on my back to see if I had any issues. Well, the MRI came back with herniated discs and loss of hydration in something else. I went to my chiro and she said to go see an ortho surgeon. I went to the very best surgeon here in my city. He looked at it and said these results are inflated and the areas that are affected would not affect your prostate, or bladder. However, he did solve the leg mystery. As a runner, I was stretching my femoral nerve/tendon too much. He told me to stop stretching that way and it will go away. Guess what? It actually did go away. I was excited, but also let down because I am eagerly trying to solve the Prostatitis puzzle.

Fast forward to a month ago, I have no idea what is causing it and all of a sudden I start getting these kidney pains. They would come and go, then they would be more frequent. So I go to an internal medicine doctor to see if he can shed some light. That office visit was a complete waste of time and money, except for he asked me if I am taking in too much estrogen. My wife is not on the pill and doesn't do any artificial hormones. So I decided to change the water I drink to Spring Water, so I have been doing this for a few weeks. After a few more pains, I made an appointment with my Urologist. I got on another round of Bactrim for a 2 month cycle and I am currently still taking them. My testicles are back to normal and I can wear regular boxers, for now. I got an ultrasound on my kidneys and everything is clear. He advised that I look at Pelvic floor exercises, working on my core, and yoga. I don't do this as much, but trying to do this here and there.

Current Plan: I was also noticing just recently that I am getting nauseated after I drink coffee. I thought it was a pill (Ridlin) I am taking for ADHD/Anxiety. My psych thought that I am getting frustrated easily b/c I can't focus and it causes me to lose it quickly, which is very true. I had to get off the medicine b/c I was getting nauseated. I got on Adderall which I took before and also started feeling nauseous. So I looked at coffee and dairy. I realized I didn't have any issues with dairy, but realized on Sunday that coffee is bothering my stomach. Almost crapped myself on a run! I have been drinking tea all week and no nausea. But guess what? I decided to inflict punishment on myself and drink a cold brew expresso shot. Nausea is back in full force. Some sites say caffeine is the problem, but it isn't for me. It is the coffee acid. I still notice the kidney pains here and there. I also realize that my kidney pain is somehow related to having to use the bathroom and working out. Can't figure this one out yet. I am thinking it could actually be nerves around my muscles the squeeze the bladder, but honestly no clue yet. Once I pee, it goes usually goes away and then comes back when I have to pee again. If I hydrate a lot, I have zero pains.

So today, I am going to stay hydrated and workout. If I get kidney pains, I will realize that it is actually back pain that mysteriously disappears when I am hydrated. Insert hands up emoji. I am also going to stick with tea and reduce my caffeine intake down, which is very low to begin with. Insert hands up emoji. I will then one day, not work out and drink less water to see what happens. I am also going to try a few things individually like people said above, like focusing on probiotics, gluten-free, and reducing my anxiety. I find it interesting that the majority of us have anxiety issues. Honestly, I didn't have all these issues until my company was acquired, personal stress, and then COVID. At the end of the day, it could be anxiety and stress causing this. I have less anxiety on medicine, which is great and started taking 5-HTP (natural stress reducing supplement). The other thing that has been affecting me lately, is poor sleep. I will sleep well until 1-3 am and then I wake up to pee. After that, my sleep is horrible. Still trying to figure out why this is another situation. Everything is so random. To get better sleep, so I take an aspirin or Advil and 5-HTP, then will go right to sleep. Oh, I almost forgot to talk about alcohol. So I cut it out and still had issues, so it wasn't that. I do notice if I drink and do not hydrate, I may have some issues. However, it is not affecting me as much. I drink alkaline water to reduce some stomach acid as well and will start eating more bananas, like religiously.

I am about to test out these different things individually, maybe week by week and see how it goes. I will keep you all in the loop. I hope and pray that me going through this journey, will help as many people solve the puzzle to their symptoms as well. Cheers!

How has your prostatitis been treating you, like has it gotten better, stayed the same or do you still get bad days/weeks?

Matt is there anyway you could email me or message me on the site. I am having the same issues and would love to talk about how you fixed them. Im dying over here.

There could be a link. Gerd can be fixed by avoiding eating wheat and yeast and taking over the counter probiotics.