Pelvic Congestion

[bti20]

You often hear that chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers complain of painful blood vessels on the surface of the skin, and indeed, that their chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome pain is either exacerbated or instigated by the palpation of these blood vessels. For me it feels as if my pain is simultaneously IN prominent blood vessels on my penis and scrotum, and in the rest of my groin. There is a definite symptomatic focus on these blood vessels which I do not believe, as nothing more than a hunch, is not a crucial fact about my CPPS. Combining this hunch with the fact that my chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome started with damage to a tiny blood vessel on my penis, and the fact that my brother has recently begun developing chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome symptoms which are focused on an alleged variocele on his scrotum, as well as the fact that one sufferer here recently complained of a symptom complex similar to mine and my brothers, I have decided to focus my chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome counter attack on finding out what can go wrong with blood vessels. I do not have much time at this sitting but I hope to find out more and post here. The first thing of interest that I have discovered is that there is a condition called 'pelvic congestion in women, which although having some differences, seems to bear some similarities to CPPS. Here are two links:

http://www.dyspareunia.org/html/pelvic_ ... mptoms.htm

http://www.dyspareunia.org/html/pelvic_congestion.htm


A certain Bob Vogelzang - who apparantly knows about these things says at http://www.scvir.org/members/cscl3/0998 ... es/32.html:
that pelvic congestion is associated with:

Severe deep pelvic pain often described as burning which may localize or be diffuse.

Pain which interestingly radiates down the legs

Dyspareunia but specifically post coital pain.

Physical examination only very rarely is revealing

He then says

I'm not certain but in men varicocele is a reasonably common condition (I think varicocele is seen in 10 - 25%) and it is said that 10% of those men are symptomatic.

And then he says that

since this condition is essentially identical to varicocele...


Have chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers all got hidden blood vessel abnormalities? Perhaps there are current triggers such as nerves or muscle problems triggering blood vessel abnormalities, or maybe there is some inflammatory process in blood vessels which remains even after a trigger has gone.

I think there should be more consideration of [painful blood vessels as part of the symptomatic complex of CPPS.

[bti20]

I read this on the internet: I have a feeling it was from a dubious source:

http://www.actionlove.com/cases/case10269.htm

The first part is a question, the second the answer:

Can you explain vasocongestion? Can females experience it?
If a female is multi-orgasmic and then due to some emotional problems she is not reaching any orgasm with her partner then she experiences pelvic discomfort, is that or can that be vaso-congestion. What can she do to alleviate the pain?

It is due to the blood trapping in certain parts of the body after the arterial dilation or tissues expansion resulting from the excessive production of prostaglandins.
Yes! both men and women can experience in the crotch, pubis, groins and tailbone areas.
We call the problem the pelvic congestion.
When you become sexually aroused without achieving an orgasm to release the blood, you will have this problem in your pelvic area. This problem forces people to masturbate for self-release.
Antihistamine (allergy medicines) drugs can block production of prostaglandins in the tissues, reduce or eliminate vasocongestion, and return the swelling tissues to the flaccid state.


I feind this very plausible as an account of male pelvic pain. Any ideas?

[webslave]

That website and the associated advice is complete nonsense, made plausible by the additon of a smidgin of truth.

[bti20]

Thanks Webslave. I agree that this is a highly dubious website, but I can't help thinking, as you say, that there is a smidgin of truth in it - and its this smidgin of truth that I want to try to expand upon in my efforts to get rid of CPPS. Have you ever heard of pelvic congestion touted as a possible cause of CPPS? The notion does seem to reconcile lots of different aspects of the chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome condition, namely, (i) painful blood vessels (ii) post coital pain (iii) qualitative pain descriptions similar to varicose vein pain - "fullness, heaviness, aching" [from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency ... 001109.htm]: consider the "feeling of a golf ball", (iv) (anecotally) common incidence of varicocele in men with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (v) painful sitting/after sitting - "increased pressure within the abdomen may increase susceptibility to the development of varicose veins or aggravate the condition". [ibid.], (vi) seeming redness of genital region -"phlebitis" (blood vessel inflammation) sometimes causes skin redness or inflammation, as well as tenderness over the vein and pain in the part of the body affected, (vii) feeling of 'overuse' - perhaps excessive sex causes excessive dilation of pelvic blood vessels - furthermore, I can recall having the 'overuse' feeling especially if I did NOT ejaculate (here I am relying on the plausibility of Mr (Dubious) Herblove's claims about ejaculation and the release of 'congestion'), (viii) congenital susceptibility to chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome tallies with congenital sdusceptibility to venous disorders.

[bti20]

More points:

(ix) phlebitis can cause veins which "feel hard, warm and tender, and surrounding tissue may become itchy and swollen" [from http://www.lebanonhealth.com/condi/446.htm] - sounds like phantom itches to me, which most chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome sufferers can relate too, (x) back at the beginning when my chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome was terrible I had almost constant irritation around my anal blood vessels (nice to meet you...) - passing a motion caused a chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome flare almost every time for about a month. I was confused at the time as to why the pain around my backside felt qualitatively the same as my supposed 'prostate' pain - like an extension of the prostate pain into my backside - but obviously there is no confusion if the pain was deriving from blood regional venous inflammation, (xi) it says on ucpps.men that "abnormal blood flow and vasodilation in the prostate is a feature of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS)". What if it was not a feature but precisely the locus of the pain itself? (xii) David Wise says in his synopsis: "the state of chronic constriction [of pelvic muscles] creates pain-referring trigger points, reduced blood flow, and an inhospitable environment for the nerves, blood vessels and structures throughout the pelvic basin". So all this doesn't contradict the prevailing 'headache in the pelvis' theory: in some, muscle tension could perhaps cause painful vasodilation in the pelvis. (xiii) (very speculatively), maybe cold is an exacerbating factor for chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome because of a combination of greater muscle tension (drawing the old chap in) and heightened blood pressure as blood tries to escape the pelvic extremities.

[bti20]

(xiv) phlebitis - like 'prostatitis' - can be a complication of a vasectomy.

[webslave]

Mast cells produce chemicals that cause an increase in blood flow and vasodilation.

It's important not to get caught up on just one symptom of this syndrome and see it as the cause.