My first experience with any prostatitis-like symptoms was when I was diagnosed with a bladder "virus" at age 17. For a few days, I could only pee when pushing and felt the urge to go all the time. It went away fairly soon. In fact, I never thought about it much again until this June when I first heard the term Prostatitis from my GP.
It's weird because I had a nasty winter here with viruses, sore throats, etc and turns out that in April, after a monospot, I actually had Infectious Mononucleosis. As I started to feel stronger again by early June, while at work I noticed a sharp pain in first my right, then left testicle when I moved or sat down. It then went away...but a week later, I started getting almost cutting or burning pains in my left groin/abdomen where my bladder would be. I then visited my family doctor, described my symtpoms and he did a rectal examination, which hurt like bloody hell when he touched my prostate. He said I had prostatitis, prescribed me 4 weeks of Tequin, a new and powerful antibiotic. I treated this like any other infection...take the pills, and it will go away. How wrong I was.
While I don't want to say it worsened while on antibiotics, it didn't really improve either. By the end of June, I was noticing more difficulty peeing, especially just getting started. At times, I had to strain quite hard to get it out.
In early July, I went back to my GP, gave him the situation, and he said stuff about "chronic inflammation." This is when I started to get a little worried...why wasn't this going away, why don't the pills work? He put me on Xatral to help peeing but the side effects unfortunately led me to stop after 2 weeks. My heart was literally pounding out of my chest, I felt dizzy all the time, etc. I later went back to him and requested I see a Urologist. In Canada, because or doctor visits are free (paid by taxes), we must see a GP to first see a specialist. He reluctantly agreed and started the referral process. I was booked for late September, if you can believe it...but that's how stressed our system is these days. The waits are ridiculous! By late July, my pain had spread to my anus, perrineum (never horrible, but always annoying), but seemed to calm down for long intervals, usually hours or days. My urinary symptoms were getting far worse though. I could not pee in a single go any longer...it came out in spurts, dribbles, split stream, hesitanty, you name it, I had it...just awful. I also had stinging in my urethra as well and this is when I first noticed an uncomfortable feeling in the tip of my penis...like friction or irritation.
So I phoned my urologist to be, bitched about my current state and they rushed me in within a week. We did our consultation mid August, asked my history, sexual relations, illnesses, etc. He did not think Mono had anything to do with my problem, despite the coincidental timing. He did a rectal again and my prostate did NOT hurt this time, which surprised me. he asked if he could do a csytocopy and I agreed, fearing cancer or strictures. He did it and said there were no "mechanical" problems he could see. He said I had inflammatory prostatitis which is treated by reducing symptoms. He put me on 20mg of Amitripyltine a day for pain and relaxation. Initially, I felt improvement, but was still having a rough time urinating quickly and forcefully. The pain, especially in the anus and perinneum, nearly disappeared.
So here I am, 4 months with this bastard and I'm only getting worse off. The last two weeks I've started to have cystitis like pain in my bladder or abdomen (I can't tell if its the inside or outside muscles). I feel the constant urge to urinate and when I do, it stops, starts, dribbles, in spurts, etc. Lately, I've been having a hell of a time just getting started, spending sometimes an hour in the bathroom. I notice peeing in a hot shower helps with this, however. There is always pressure in my bladder almost...and the pain in my penis is still there. Also, and this is strange, since early August, I started getting whitish spots on the sides of my penis tip and nasty red spots/marks on the top part of the tip and around/inside the opening as well. It is worse after I urinate or ejaculate...but somtimes ejaculating makes the itchyness go away. I just do not understand it. Wouldn't redness after voiding indicate some kind of pathogen?
So here I am, as miserable as ever. I am scared to have sex, my sex drive has taken a nose dive and at one time, I was quite energetic and proud of my "mojo". I cannot pee properly, I am in pain nearly always though it is rarely severe pain. I go out less and less. Nobody quite understands what is wrong or how this can happen...but what do you expect from young males who pee like race horses? I always used condoms except once or twice (an episode in February with a girl I did not know well) but I was tested for HIV, Herpes, Chlamydia and Gonnorhea, all which came back negative. Orgasms, when I can have them, are still enjoyable and I have had little problems with bowel movements.
I am only now delving into the theories of the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol, Q-Rol, diet changes, etc. I am seeing my urologist again next week to see about taking Flomax so I can pee close to normally. I would rather be able to pee like everyone else and deal with the pain, which doesn't seem to be as bad as some of you guys have it. I'm very worried about the long term prospects of this disease and how it will affect my life. I'm in my last year of an undergraduate honors history degree and plan to do a masters. But already this year, I have missed a few too many classes while in the bathroom or at home in bed. I wouldn't wish this on anyone.
Thanks for reading and the best of luck to us all. it feels a lot better to be able to say all that.
