My 7 month struggle...please help

[Vanella11]

Hey guys,

New to the site and really looking forward to hearing some opinions/advice on my situation. I thank you in advance for taking the time to read my post. I'm 30 years old and was relatively healthy until this all started. It will be near 7 months of ongoing issues next week. Some days are definitely better than others, but the feeling is always there. The most common feeling is my prostate just aching. Just a dull burning and throbbing sensation. There's days where my legs and butt just ache from this pain. There's also days where I feel like "wow, I think this is really going away" just to have it return again. My right testicle, and only the right one, seems to ache a lot as well. The epididymis looked larger than the left side and actually made my testicle sit almost sideways. After taking the antibiotics for a few weeks it seemed to improve, but never back to normal. By now it is much easier to deal with it everyday than it was in the beginning, but still not even close to normal. I have a mild burning sensation when I urinate and ejaculate, but it burns more after I have went, sometimes for hours after, and continues to ache for a few days. My urethra seems to always be sore, mostly concentrated towards the tip and actually hurts when I squeeze my penis. The most noticeable change was my right testicle. I'm going summarize my past 7 months and try to keep this short as possible, as I have many more questions and concerns.

February 12th - First sign of pain in perineum and right testicle. Thought I pulled a muscle. After a few weeks I knew it was more than that. After about a week, I was walking with a limp at work. I was in a lot of pain.

February 18th - 27th - Went to MedExpress and was prescribed Doxy 10 days with Prednisone. Felt an improvement but was still hurting. He really grilled me about have sexual relations with other women, which I haven't had at all. My wife was away for work for a few months before this all happened, and I wasn't with anyone else. Just occasional masturbation. I have had epididymitis in the past and thought maybe this was the same issue by just the way it felt. I tried to figure out what had started all this in the first place. I hadn't had sex for over 3 months. The only thing that even made any logical sense came to me. I was driving down the highway in my car about a week before I noticed any symptoms. I pee'd in a water bottle while sitting in my driver seat. Maybe it leaked back inside? Maybe that's the dumbest thing you've ever heard? I didn't know what else I could have done to cause this.

March 1st - Appointment with family doctor. Suggested a sonogram which came back normal. Also prescribed Levaquin, but I had a severe allergic reaction and it landed me in the ER. The ER physician said he highly doubted I had an infection and sent me home.

March 19th - Sat idle for another few weeks while the pain continued to get worse. This is when I noticed the changes in my testicle. Knew it was time to see a urologist. Saw a PA and he prescribed me Bactrim for 30 days. 1 dose a day. I feel like every time I went to the urologist, my testicles were really tight and basically in my stomach. Maybe due to nerves or early morning. They examined me but couldn't feel anything out of the ordinary. When my testicles were relaxed at home or in the shower was when I could notice the difference between the two. At this point they were really sore to the touch and I couldn't even think about having sex or masturbating.
Bactrum March 20-April20

April 20th - Had my first follow-up appointment with the PA. Felt little improvement if anything at all. Just gave me the testicle exam and noticed nothing. Had me schedule a CT scan of my pelvic region which also came back normal. I was on FMLA from work at this point because I honestly couldn't tough it out anymore. I was doing heavy lifting at work and thought I would make sure I didn't have a hernia with an appointment with a surgeon. Everything checked out "normal" again.

May 16th - I sat idle with no hope for another month. The symptoms continued, but didn't seem to get better or worse. I wasn't ejaculating but maybe once a month at this point. My sex drive was gone and it really hurt to even think about it. I called the urologist back and made another appointment to see the actual doctor. By this point, it had been over 90 days with no relief. He gave me a prostate exam, which was a terrible experience. When he pushed on my prostate, it literally felt like fluid wanted to pour from my penis, although nothing ever came out. It was super tender to the touch and he determined I had prostatitis. He explained to me how it takes a long time for the antibiotics to penetrate the prostate and it might be many months until I felt any improvement, so just stay patient. He put me back on Bactrim for 60 days. 2 doses a day. Throughout these 2 months, I started to masturbate more often. Maybe a few times a week. I had read online that I was important to increase blood flow in that area while the medication penetrated it?? At this point I had been dealing with these symptoms for so long that I actually began to feel "normal" to me. I had just learned to deal with it enough to get through each day. I thought that since I was finally diagnosed that there was light at the end of the tunnel.

Bactrim May 16-July19

July 22nd - I had my last follow up appointment with the doctor. I told him that I was maybe 20% of the way to feeling normal again. The burning while urinating had subsided, but still was not gone. I still ached in the prostate and testicle. At this point I was back at work, but like I said I feel like I was just managing the pain and not feeling better. He determined that since I was on the antibiotics for so long that the bacteria must be dead and now I'm dealing with inflammation. He said to come back if I needed to.

Its now August 20th and I still in a lot of pain. The first few weeks off antibiotics I really did think I was going to become normal again. I still was hurting but not as bad as before. I quit drinking coffee throughout this whole ordeal until a few days ago when I had a few cups. I feel like maybe it was the reason I started to hurt again. Maybe its the infection returning? It's hurting me as I'm typing this. I'm just so confused and lost on this whole thing. I'm looking for answers everywhere and anywhere. Starting to overthink everything I do. I just really want to get back to my life. I was never tested for anything to determine it was bacterial, even though it probably was. I was on so many antibiotic scripts by now that I didn't know what to think. I know there's someone out there who has been through something like this. I don't know if going back to the urologist would be smart or not. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

[webslave]

The ER physician said he highly doubted I had an infection and sent me home.

You do not have an infection. Forget about that issue. Don't take any more antibiotics, especially Bactrim.

I feel like every time I went to the urologist, my testicles were really tight and basically in my stomach

Clear sign of pelvic tension/spasm.

I was doing heavy lifting at work and thought I would make sure I didn't have a hernia with an appointment with a surgeon. Everything checked out "normal" again.

Fair enough, but be aware that sometimes hernias can be subtle and only found by ultrasound. If your pain always happens/gets worse after lifting, investigate this issue more.

I was never tested for anything to determine it was bacterial, even though it probably was wasn't

Fixed that for you.

In general, a fairly typical case, question mark over inguinal hernia/s, but proceed as if you are a run-of-the-mill CPPS case. Lots of reading here ahead for you.

[Vanella11]

Thanks for the quick response. Honestly, sometimes it feels better after a hard day of work. I had a week out of town and felt pretty good the whole time. Come back home to rest a day and the pain returned. Maybe it just takes my mind off the pain? Or loosens me up down there? Just figured I had the infection from listening to the urologist, not to mention the burning and the current state of my right testicle.

[ChgoGuy]

Honestly, sometimes it feels better after a hard day of work. I had a week out of town and felt pretty good the whole time. Come back home to rest a day and the pain returned.

Vanella - Same here! I have urinary issues along with it. If I work my @$$ off and sweat, most of the pain and urinary issues disappear. Soon as I am ready to rest up, it would flare back up. I said just the other day elsewhere in this forum, its as if resting and sleeping has been a curse to me with this. You would think taking a break would be beneficial, but not so with me. I started working more than 17 hrs a day with little to no sleep, just to avoid the pain and chronic urge to pee all the time while being idle.

You're in the right place being here. Honestly?! The worst place to be is in any Doctors office. Most if not all are just guessing. If you want to get better, only you can fix YOU! Find yourself a great PT that handles pelvic pain. That would be a great start. Also buy the book A Headache in the Pelvis.

[Vanella11]

Thanks ChgoGuy. So glad I found this place. My next question was what is next for me? What works best for you guys? I really want to take any necessary steps to start feeling like I'm tackling this thing. Is a good PT a good start? Diet or anything else seem to help to? Guess I have a lot of reading to do. I just ordered the book. I'm reading your description of symptoms in your profile and wow, exactly the same as me, I mean to the tee exact!

[ChgoGuy]

If you want a little insight about me and my issues, search my thread in "General Discussion" ChgoGuy thread. You can search out anybody's profile and posts and comments. I've only been here a few months, and made more progress coming here than the previous 2.5 yrs. PT is only as good as the therapist and how willing a participant you are IMHO. I actually am starting PT up again today for the 3rd time looking to pick up a few extra pointers to move forward on my own. At some point you may have to decide to do things to get better, that seem embarrassing for a guy, but you gotta do whatever you gotta do!

Webslave is the best person to listen to, although there are plenty of other good people to give you advise. I'm always in the learning stage.

[Vanella11]

Well thanks for the warm welcome. Lucky me that I found you guys! Looking forward to sharing pointers and getting though this with you all. Just feels good to be here with others in the same situation.

[Force 6]

Some things that worked for me

1. alpha blocker (tamsulosin, alfusozin) and anti-inflammatory phytotherapy (quercetin and bee pollen, for instance 1 capsule of any accredited quercetin product (Quercetin suppliers, Santa Monica CA) twice daily) for 6–12 weeks. Or try Voltaren suppository pain is gone in 45 mins but will come back
2. Hot baths
3. drink only water
4. cut out all citrus fruit
5. lie on the bed 1 hour and focus on the lower muscles and just relax all of them.