New from Australia - my story

[aasaph]

Hi I'm new to this site but have already found it to be a wealth of information, one of the most useful internet forums I have come across in any sphere.

Let me tell you a little about myself - I'm a 29 yr old Australian guy with 2 young daughters aged 6 and 3.

I have had symptoms consistent with prostatitis/CPPS intermittently over the last 8 months or so. Prior to that I have had minor problems with post urination dribbling for many years (not sure if that is a risk factor for this condition?) and have tended towards urinary frequency.

My first bout of symptoms commenced early this year. At that stage I had the following symptoms :
- mild irritation / itch at tip of penis
- mild pain in pubic area and base of penis - sometimes burning, often more of a dragging sensation
- mild ache/dragging pain in scrotal area
- ? very mild dysuria at times although perhaps I was over-analysing, certainly not severe

At no point have I ever had urethral discharge or any sort of rash, although at times I convince myself that my urethral meatus is a bit swollen.

At that stage I went to a GP who did urine culture and PCR and a urethral swab, which all came back negative. He prescribed empirically Azithromycin 1g and cephalexin 500mg 4 times daily. Within 4 days I was symptom free, although I think perhaps my symptoms were already improving a bit before I saw him.

2 months passed, and I was fine, until the same kind of symptoms came back. Again it lasted about two weeks in total. After 1 week I was tried on some cephalexin again with no improvement, and then again took Azithromycin. Within about 4-5 days of this, the symptoms were gone. [as an aside I gave my partner some azithromycin at the same time, still paranoid about an STD - told her it would help her cold...]

This time I was symptom free for roughly a month, maybe less. During this time I only had sex once with my partner and we used a condom for contraception. A week after the symptoms recurred (though admittedly they were even milder) I started on Doxycycline 100mg twice daily. This didn't help immediately but after about a 5 days of this I was once again pain free. 2 weeks later, the symptoms came back, while I was still taking it. I continued the doxycyline for another week but with no relief (3 weeks in total doxy). After a week of this I started on Ciprofloxacin 500mg twice daily but within a day or two of this my symptoms were even worse.

And this brings me to now. 4 days of Cipro made things worse. I haven't taken any today but feel no different. Over the last week my symptoms have included :
- constant pain in pubic area, at base of penis and directly above, usually of a burning nature, ranging from 2-5/10 severity (main symptom) - best first thing in morning upon waking, increases gradually throughout the day, some relief with hot bath
- mild irritation in tip of penis and perhaps mild ache in shaft
- intermittent ache or burning pain in upper inner thighs and lower back at times
- intermittent mild scrotal/testicular discomfort
- occasional mid abdominal discomfort
- urinary frequency (every 1-2 hours) but no urgency
- no bowel symptoms or urethral discharge
- a couple of times ejaculation has intensified the pain for a couple of hours afterward, but usually it makes no difference (haven't done it very much though)

So that's my story to date. Thank you for reading if you've got this far. Scanning this site has been very illuminating to me and even somewhat of a relief, since I have been paranoid I might have an STD, which if the case would be devastating for my young family. I am guilty of sexual infidelity in the past (several times over the past 2-3 years with multiple women) though always with condoms and the last time was over 2 months before my initial bout of these symptoms. This is a whole other story of sexual addiction and problems that I am not proud of, but feel I am on the road to beating at last.. (my partner does not know of this, and I hope she never has to...) Before you point it out I am sure that both my worries about STDs and perhaps even the symptoms I experience are wrapped up with my feelings of guilt, remorse, and stress over all this. Reading this site has helped reassure me that chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome is the most likely diagnosis and STDs are unlikely. Logically both the nature of my symptoms and the time course of things is not really consistent with an STD such as chlamydia or gonorrhea, as far as I can ascertain.

I have a couple of preliminary questions if anyone is able to answer :
1. Do you think it is worth me continuing with Cipro? It has only been 4 days and the symptoms actually seem to have been made worse since starting it. Do you think I should stay off it, or go back on for another few weeks to see if I get any benefit.

2. Am I justified in believing my condition is more likely to be chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome than any STD? Do you think I can be reasonably reassured about this?

3. I won't make a blanket request for treatment advice since there is a wealth of it for me to explore on the site (and I've ordered the "Headache in the Pelvis" book), but if there is anyone who has read this and really identifies with my story, I would be really interested to hear about it.

Thanks for listening. Look forward to being involved in this forum.

~ Asaph

[webslave]

Welcome!

1. No. And stop taking antibiotics.

2. Yes. And yes.

3. I've heard your story hundreds of times. There is no unique advice for your particular case.

[Clay]

Welcome, keep on reading. You can find a lot here.

Best of luck with the sex addiction thing. I can easily imagine that being incredibly stressful. My wife is about the only thing keeping me going through this year, and I'd be terrified to do anything that jepordized her support. On the other hand, I suspect everyone on this board understands that we didn't choose all the activities that cause our emotional downfall, either. Anyway, I hope you getting good support for that problem.

[aasaph]

Thanks guys.

Ironically, these symptoms may well be a blessing in disguise in terms of the sexual addiction problem. For several years I struggled with it, finding myself impulsively doing the wrong things with very poor self control and intense regret afterwards. Every time I swore to myself "never again" but all my efforts and resolutions were to no avail.

But since getting these symptoms and going through the constant stress of worrying about STDs and playing through the scenarios in my mind of telling my partner, breaking up our family, not seeing my kids, or if we did somehow stay together the potential for infertility due to chlamydia/gono - this stress has driven me to a sort of depression (only mild, not a true clinical depression) and intensified my resolve to not stray back down that path. I still do get the impulses and thoughts regularly but it's been 8 months since I've tripped up in any serious way.

I think because of that, if I can finally get over my fears of STDs, I will actually begin to see these symptoms as a kind of friend (how crazy does that sound??) as a sort of reminder to keep on the right path. "A thorn in the flesh" to borrow a phrase. Since discovering this forum and beginning to read up on CPPS, my symptoms have aleady lessened a little - the pain is still present though perhaps a little less intense, but the psychic angst, anxiety and depression associated with it has begun to lift.

But it's early days yet.

[perth]

Hi all,

I trod a similar path and I'd agree with the others that this sounds like CPPS. I had alomost exactly the same symptoms and exactly the same treatment path.

I ended up buying the HITP book and I even atteneded the course in SF. Am I better for this. No. But I'm more confident that I might get better when I finally get off my arse and follow the program properly.

I'd have to add my support to Clay's comment that your Wife's support is critical. My life would be an even worse hell without it.

[aasaph]

Thanks Forcefan.

My wife is great and as you can probably tell I am not deserving of her. So far I haven't told her of my symptoms at all - mainly because of the STD/infidelity issue, but partly because they haven't been that severe that they have had a massive impact on my life (aside from stress.) If it continues or gets worse, I will begin to talk to her, especially once I have stopped worrying about STDs.

At present I am not planning on seeing a Urologist about this. Not sure if it is worthwhile. What do you think? Did you see anyone in Perth and if so, how did you find them?

Cheers,

~ Asaph

[perth]

I did see several GPs and a urologist in Perth but, frankly, they were useless. I ended up buying the HITP book and eventually going to Stanford to do the course. I can share the name of my current Urologist if you like. She (yes, she) is good. no false promises and has agreed to help me manage the pain while I work my way out of this. I can't ask for much more. There is someone local who does internal stuff too, but my wife was trained in SF so I rely on her good graces.

[webslave]

Please post the names of any Australian PTs or uros who have helped.

[lookouth]

"finding myself impulsively doing the wrong things with very poor self control and intense regret afterwards. Every time I swore to myself "never again" but all my efforts and resolutions were to no avail. "

It seems to me, that part of your problems lies in this fact- that you had feelings of guilt/shame associated with sexual behavior. I know that similar things were a factor for me, and I did not start to really get better until I started to address those issues with a psychotherapist, I recommend looking in to this. The fact that even consciously you can admit chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (pain and discomfort) came a sort of relief to you because it stopped your bad habits is a sign that your bad habits/psychological state may be manifesting this pain for just that reason, and it will not go away until you treat that aspect...just my opinion.

[LightningTree]

I agree with webslave and lookouth that you should do the Stanford/Wise-Anderson Protocol. If you are having or had issues with fidelity, it will take a tremendous toll on your in terms of anxiety and self-worth until you figure out a solution that you are comfortable with. This stress can make the condition far worse.

Scrotal ache and dribbling urine are common early symptoms. If you are getting to treatment now, you can stop if before it gets worse.

Because you have seen a urologist, I am assuming you have had the usual workup for serious problems like infections and cancers. Do you feel you should get a second opinion?

Assuming tests came back negative for infection and cancer, the first thing you need to do is get real and honest. The next thing is work on relaxing and letting your real emotions out. Because I guarantee you that if you are engaging in compulsive/impulsive behavior it is for more reasons than just carnal ones, probably anxiety/depression driving ones.

I'm not claiming that habitual gratification isn't largely your responsibility or that you can shirk it on 'your feelings', but often times, unwanted compulsive/impuslive behavior is made far worse by many trigger issues. And you have got to deal with those before you will be even able to feel the kind of emotions that lead to tension in the pelvis.

On the physical side,stretching and relaxing are important. Mild exercise often helps as long as you can keep your muscles limber. The stretching can take years to work up to the point where you get good at it, so start now.

This is a long road but you can do well.

[aasaph]

I haven't actually seen a urologist thus far, and am not sure I currently see a need to. From what I have seen on this site I don't know that most Uro's offer very much of value in terms of clarifying the diagnosis or planning treatment. Tests I haven't had done which they might do would be EPS culture and cystoscopy, and I'm not sure either is of much help. Cancer is a low risk considering my age and lack of family history so I'm not particularly worried about that. Do you consider that urology review is essential? The feeling I'm getting is that they are likely to just throw me back on some antibiotics regardless.

I'll probably get the standard STD cultures and PCRs repeated for piece of mind but I am travelling on business for 6 weeks from next week so will probably just do that when I come back.
For now the diagnosis of CP/CPPS is one I am comfortable with and even reassurred by (since it now seems the chance of this being an STD is very very unlikely) - now that I have a degree of clarity regarding my diagnosis, the symptoms (though still present) do not bother me as much, and in fact give me more focus on addressing my other issues.

Thanks to everyone for your support and advice thus far.

~ Asaph

[perth]

I've seen a Dr Jessica Yin in Perth. She's been helpful because, unlike other Uros, she's happy to admit she has little to offer by way of direct help. Instead she feels her role is to rule things out, then send me off to pain management clinics, PTs and Psychologists.

That's about as honest as you get I think.

The PT I haven't seen yet but I'll post the name when I do.
Another local PT who does internal stuff (but I haven't seen) is Cheryl Bryce. She's a PT who works here in Perth. She's at 77 Scarborough Beach Rd, MT Hawthorne, 9201 2054.