I might be slightly out of place here, as my problems have (as far as I can tell) only been going for about 3.5 months, but I'm curious to learn as much as I can in addition to what I can gain from qualified medics. I've found the UK NHS approach frustratingly leisurely, but then I haven't really made a fuss... my symptoms have mostly been pretty mild, and I know I'm fortunate compared to a lot of people.
Anyway, a brief summary. I had a standard urinary infection in March 07, killed off by five days of antibiotics. After feeling perfect for a week, the symptoms seemed to be returning, so I was prescribed another set of antibiotics. However, it turned out the symptoms weren't the same, and the antibiotics didn't have such a dramatic effect.
So... for about 6 weeks I had a mixture of fairly mild symptoms, alternating with days when there'd be nothing obvious. There'd be a feeling of "golfball in the rectum", occasional stinging sensations in the base of my penis, a feeling like I needed to pee even when I had an empty bladder (not a full-bladder feeling, more of a "warning twinge") and sometimes a sensation at the end of the flow... not really pain, more like the feeling of sore muscle. Sometimes the base of my bladder feels sore if I press on that area. Oh, and occasionally I'd get a morning, afternoon or evening of feeling generally "under the weather". These symptoms always seem to be isolated, never usually in combination.
I then saw another doctor who felt my prostate, diagnosed prostatitis and prescribed two weeks of Doxycycline. Nothing dramatic happened, but I felt fine at the end of the course, so I was happy. After two weeks, the symptoms returned, so I was given a double-strength course of Doxycycline, which didn't really seem to change much... just the same mild symptoms, coming and going. Hardly a major health crisis, but the long-term nature of it was starting to wear me down a little. All through this period since the actual UTI, I'd provided 4 or 5 urine samples, all of which had been clear of infection.
I then started reading about chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome and started thinking about a few things. All along, I'd been able to control some of the symptoms by consciously relaxing my pelvic area. I wondered about the antibiotics I'd been prescribed, despite the clear urine samples. I realised that alcohol had not worsened the symptoms, but may often have relieved them. I bought the "Headache in the Pelvis" book and found that the stretching exercises seem to keep me mostly symptom-free.
I've also started to wonder (duh! how did I miss this?!) about the occasional pain and tenderness I've been feeling on my coccyx and the muscles immediately adjacent. I'd assumed this was partly to do with slumping for too long in front of the computer or TV and partly due to inefficient running technique at the gym, but who knows... I'm intending to see an osteopath about this, so I might uncover some new info.
So, maybe all of these new realisations are just coincidental, and I just happen to be going through another "good patch", I dunno. I'm still going to attend the flow test and cystoscopy that the doctor organised for me, too... I want to keep my options open.
