Hi All,
So I've been trying to get rid of prostatitis for the last 3 and a half months now, hard to get a diagnosis but eventually got put on 6 weeks of meds (4 weeks levo, 2 weeks doxycycline). After 6 weeks of up and down in regards to progress, a few days after finishing the script the symptoms got better and urine flow improved (no more retention feeling etc.)
Read about only 5% have bacterial blah blah, but my doc seems to think all prostatitis is caused by bacteria at the beginning. Anyway, symptoms improving but I have also stopped drinking, smoking, eating spicy foods, sitting down for longs periods of time and cut down on sex. From your experience If I lapse and do these things will the prostatitis just come back?
thanks
Sounds to me like you may have cured yourself! I have not had your problem, mine was BPH. I have followed these forums daily for the last six months ago and in that time there have been several with simiarly-sounding problems to yours who changed their life-style, eliminating gluten primarily but also losing weight, getting lots of exercise, more sleep and just getting their bodies into a lean and mean condition. I have heard of no one who benefited from less sex. Even alcohol is recognized as beneficial if done in moderation.
Another major factor in better health of many on these forums is paying attention to the real-life experiences of other posters. I, for example learned of the solution to my BPH here, and I have found a new therapy for my wife's difficulty in another thread which we are just beginning to implement. My bph solution was not even heard of by my urologist and was criticized by both he and another urologist. I'm 100% better as a result of this unknown surgery that I had to go out of state to find a Dr to perform it. My wife's therapy was totally discredited by my GP and her specialist. It's the "not invented here" syndrom at work. Maybe it won't work but testing on a limited number of patients has worked beautifully. We learned of it here, not in a Doctor's office.
Her therapy, in a nutshell, involved thrty six steps she and I can do to get our bodies in the best condition of our lives, from exercise, sleep, no suger, no gluten, certain vitamins and minerals, some prescription drugs, the idea being that none of these 36 actions help in any way, by themselves, to solve her problem but the specialist who developed this protocol has found a synergistic relationship among these factors and has a limited understanding of how they fit together but he has found that if most of the actions are taken it simply works.
I would guaranty you that it would work for you but I think it would be overkill for your problem.
I hope that I have instilled in you an urge to further-pursue a solution on your own and these forums are the best place I have found to do so.
Best of luck to you and Merry Christmas to you and your loved ones. Ron
Sex should help relieve it by flushing secretions from the prostate. Mine is a mixture of bacterial and non bacterial but mostly non bacterial. At worst it has taken four months to go away and has actually sometimes gone overnight. I don't think that det is a factor in it.
hi max.
I have been battling the same symptoms for about two months now and yeah mine is a case of bacterial prostatitis as well. i also followed the similar routine of antiiotics (ofloxacin and doxycycline) so i can relate to the irritation this wretched disease causes.
the lifestyle changes of cutting back on alcohol, caffine and smoking definitely help. if you revert back to your old ways the infection won't come back but it could irritate your prostate causing inflamation and making it susceptible to infection. thats what my doc told me.
you could always drink in moderation and make sure that you are not dehydrated. that could take you back to square one (personal experience).
moreover it seems to be a myth that more ejaculation is helpful for prostatitis. an inflammed prostate needs rest. i found that out the hard way. my symtoms were improving but then one fateful day i jerked off and even though there is no urinary retention i can feel my prostate swollen and painful.
moreover take saw palmetto and pumpkin seeds extract supplements for 6 months. my doc told me they would help heal the prostate.
congrats on the recovery and best of luck mate.
Hi Youngman,
Sounds very similar to my experiences to be honest - one of the most stressful things to happen to me at the beginning, guess it is one of those things that doesn't go away over night however much you try.,,
Agree about the ejaculation myth - im no doc but it seems that for CPPS or the type that is related to pains in the pelvis, masturbation will help relax the muscles and eveleate pain but if it is purely to do with the prostate (my symptoms been 90% urinary with slight pains and fatique) then the prostate needs to rest and my doc said it is like 'kicking the prostate' when ejaculating.
I haven't drunk any alcohol or caffeine for 3 weeks and this has helped alot. I'm taking the saw palmetto which also helps (maybe placebo but ill take a placebo)
How is your recovery going? I reckon I'm 95% better on a good day but then I'll have a lapse and it's back to 60%. Also - boring - but apparently just getting back into being healthy, gym, swimming, eating well, seeing mates will help,
Wish you a speedy recovery too - been scared outta my mind that I would be like this forever especially when reading the internet!
The myth is encouraged by the Channel 4 programme Embarrasing Bodies:
'if antibiotics don’t clear up the infection then self-help measures such as hot baths, avoidance of strenuous activity and regular ejaculation are normally prescribed, the latter helping to drain the prostate and clear infected matter'
Also by the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health:
Role of ejaculation in the treatment of chronic non-bacterial prostatitis
Abstract.
Chronic non-bacterial prostatitis (NBP) is the most common prostatitis syndrome. Prevention and cure are not possible because the cause of NBP is unknown. However, patients may benefit from supportive measures. The impact of the frequency of ejaculation alone on the course of NBP was evaluated in the present study.
METHODS:
Thirty-four single male patients who avoided masturbation and extramarital sexual intercourse for personal and/or religious beliefs and who did not respond to a clinical trial of doxycycline hydrochloride therapy (200 mg daily for 4 weeks) directed against mycoplasmas, chlamydiae and ureaplasmas were enrolled in the study. They were encouraged to masturbate regularly at least twice a week and were re-evaluated at the end of a 6 month period, including a complete inquiry regarding their sexual function during this time. Response was assessed by a symptom severity index.
RESULTS:
Clinical and laboratory re-evaluation could be performed in 28 patients. Of 18 patients who adhered to the recommendations, two (11%) experienced complete relief of symptoms, whereas six (33%) had marked improvement, six had moderate improvement and four (22%) did not benefit. In contrast, three of seven patients who masturbated less frequently reported partial improvement. Three patients who did not ejaculate other than during wet dreams had a worse prognosis.
CONCLUSIONS:
Young men who are single and suffering from NBP must be informed about their illness in detail and, if they are not doing so, they should be encouraged to ejaculate regularly, for example by masturbation in the absence of a sexual relationship with a partner. We believe that normal sexual activity decreases the incidence of NBP in some cases.
PMID:
10226823
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Well it must have worked for someone!
Doesn't personally for me and this has been confirmed by my doctor but from reading these boards, if you can take anything from them, it's how different everone is and especially their reaction to prostatitis.
Are you in the UK? Not many doctors apart from in Germany give credence to Saw Palmetto. I took it for about ten years for BPH while waiting for somehing better than TURP to arrive in UK.
I buy it in tincture form from a herbalist and have started to take it again for prostatitis.
Hi Derek,
Yeah UK based - although I haven't been recommended saw palmetto from my doctor - dunno if it actually works but worth giving it a shot for a while along with the pumpkin seed extract on the road to recovery.
Hi max.
Tell me about it bro. Internet is a scary space. Even I felt instant improvement after taking saw palmetto and even I don't care whether it's placebo or if the the berry actually works.
Yup on a good day it's like no trouble at all and on bad days I can feel my prostate swollen and expanded and its damn irritating, though not painful. It's like the gland is pushing against abdomen.
Unfortunately I realised the no jerking off Part quite late. I had been feeling better for about four days and thought now might be a good time to clear the pipes. And bam Mr. Prostate got angry.
I don't have trouble peeing anymore or penile pain ( man the first ten days were excruciating. It was like my penis wAs on hot thorns ). It's the stupid discomfort and the knowledge that the problem still persists after two months that's disconcerting.
Even I haven't touched liquor for two months. Started with the gym a week back. Hopefully it'll help.
One thing man, sitting for long hours is a big no. I have an exam coming up and so have to study for it. Each session leaves me sore.
I found another supplement while surfing the net "quercetin with bromalein". This had great reviews on the net. Apparently this an effective prostate anti inflammation drug. Medical studies also support it (net info). Apparently taking it together with saw palmetto increases the anti inflammatory action.
I hope it is as good as it's purported to be. I've ordered it, hopefully it'll reach by the end of the week.
It's an herbal supplement And to be honest I'm willing to give anything a shot.
Everyone, including my doc keeps telling me you're young you'll recover quickly. Hopefully the age would work to our advantage.
Keep posting about your recovery and experiences man, may be something that works might creep up.
Hi All,
Quick update - went back to urologist a few days ago and he inspected my prostate - all healed (gone from 'boggy and slightly enlarged' to 'smooth and normal'
so that is great news. Only problem is that I explained I was still experiencing urinary symptoms - frequency, slight split stream sometimes, uncomfortableness after ejaculation etc. So he is put me on another month of doxycycline (to clear everything up and to make sure it doesn't become chronic etc.). Still not drinking alcohol so this festive period is great fun...
Anyone else experienced this - they have 'cured' the prostate but still experiencing issues - granted they are nowhere near so bad as before - but is it about waiting for the body to align again or that slowly it will get back to 100% normal or is that still cause for concern? Do I need to be doing pelvic floor excercises / normal exercise to get this all back and firing as per before prostatitis?
Many thanks,
Still taking palmetto
How are your testicles? Are you getting any pain there? My main prostatitis type symptoms cleared up but I was still getting pain in the left testicle going up into my abdomen.
I had read a Daily Mail article about Epididymitis some time ago and wondered if it could be that and took a urine sample to my GP that he said was full of protein and something was evidently brewing away. He examined my testicles with the right one being pain free but the left one very painful on examination. He confirmed Epididymitis and prescribed a week’s course of 750mg Cipro twice a day. After three days the pain was much reduced and my urine flow was also much improved but on day six the pain returned and worsened overnight. I phoned him and he thought that I possibly had two infections and that Cipro had dealt with one but not the other. He then prescribed what he called a gentler antibiotic (Nitrofurantoin) for another week. I'm now on day three of that one and have some improvement.
Yes, STRESS can be a major player in chronic prostatitis aka CPPS. Google "Stress chronic prostatitis cpps HPA axis". Complex but interesting!
so update - massive relapse.
Went off medication then back on doxycycline for one month - in last week. Had a curry and sex over weekend and I feel like I'm back to square one, also back to work so there is a lot of sitting as well which was avoided over the christmas break.
Back to near 20 pees a day, slow stream, all of that .. over night basically. I was literally 95% over this... as I said before - prostate has no further sign of imflammation (as it was before meds) so no idea what is going on. Starting to really suspect it is a muscle/nerve thing as many say over internet. Any ideas?
My advice would be to stay away from antibiotics. Google "Antibiotics are Anti-Inflammatory Agents Prostatitis" (with the quote marks). That should tell you why you need to get off them for good.
Hi there,
Thanks for the response. I know what you are saying and I know the article but placebo /anti imflammatry / fairy dust - I couldn't care less as long as I get better. If antibiotics are not the answer (I've taken my fair share and don't want any more) then what is? Is bodywork the answer? Haven't drunk alcohol for months etc. Keep this up?
I have no pain that typifies CPPS only urine issues and sometimes a numbness about the lower back /pelvis. It has nearly vanished only to come back strong as ever. Any further advice out there?
Thanks in advance,
Some doctors prescribe anti-inflammatories for prostatitis. Along with or because of my last prostatitis I now have Epididymitis that my GP has prescribed Ibuprofen for.
Some BPH sufferers take Ibuprofen at night as it stops them peeing during the night.
I took ibuprofen PM for a year or so at bedtime as the PM portion was a sleep aid that allowed me to sleep deeper and thru the minor pee urges that woke me up several times. It worked very well. Now I take a melatonin concoction which is supposed to be easier on you and I'm sure it is.
Hi all,
Advice would be greatly appreciated,
So, I'm 4.5 months into prostatitis and to date since being diagnosed I've had 4 weeks levofloxicin, 2 weeks doxucycline (few weeks break after that), then 1 week doxycycline 2 pills a day and then 3 weeks doxycycline once a day.
I am convinced that this is the bacterial type as the antibiotics really made a dent in the symptoms but I'm still not better (frequent urination and other urinary problems) less split stream etc. though. I am not in pain or anything like that.
Went down teh route of a tension disorder and went to a ciropractor who told me without prompt that my pelvis is twisted (one leg slightly longer than the other) and I will need some work. My uro told me the prostate is better (not swollen or boggy anymore etc.) and that my problem is now interstitial cystitis which I'm not convinced by at all as my diet (apart from curries and perhaps loads of alcohol) isn't swaying the condition either way.
I'm very very tempted to take another month of cipro as if it is bacterial, surely another month will knock it on the head for good.
I have found general practioners and doctors alike to be utterly crap in this whole hellish episode and I feel I've been left on my own to deal with it and work out what is going on.
What do you think? Will it just gradualy dissapear, chronic?, or should I go for more meds to sink this (I took 3 days of cipro because stopping cause my leg was feeling very dodgy right at the beggining of this whole thing and it did clear it up for a few days). Sorry for the long post but really need some advice at the moment,