My situation. UCPPS from anxiety?

[elcangri416]

Hello,

I'm a 26 y/o male. For the last 3 weeks, during an especially stressful period of my life, I've had pain and discomfort in my urethra most of the day. I sometimes have pain in other parts of my body but nothing serious. Usually, after I read something online, I start to feel that symptom. I went to urgent care and they did the test for UTIs and bacterial culture and found nothing. I've yet to go to urologist but I'll go soon.

I've had anxiety nearly my whole life, but it got much worse after a long-term relationship ended about ~1.5 years ago. I was prescribed anti-depressants but decided to try other ways to handle anxiety as I've never been big on taking medication. I did therapy, meditation, and long walks in order to deal with my anxiety. Since my job is low-stress I managed my anxiety, even though it was very hard sometimes.

Anyways, I think that I should no longer avoid the medication since apparently it's given me this urethral pain. Would you guys agree with my thinking? What else should I do?

[LivingRoomFanatic]

I experienced severe prostatitis / CPPS from September last year. It started during a period of intense anxiety. You’ll come to find that to be a common feature in men’s descriptions of how pelvic pain starts. Anti-biotics don’t usually work as it’s rare for infection to be found (and any immediate benefit is from their analgesic effect). But it can go away during the time you are on them. It can come back as a result of stress though.

As to what to do. Someone else can chime in hopefully. Your symptoms don’t sound very bad but the fact things flare up when reading about it is probably due to the ‘HPA Axis’ (Google that). You are getting anxious about it and producing cortisol and adrenaline which is triggering symptoms.

You’ve identified the problem as anxiety. It’s about managing your mental state as best as possible (easy to say, hard to do I know). I was unlucky to have it be severe. I think you should maybe try and take extra steps to live a calmer life. Look into things online to reduce stress and see which of them you think you’d be able to do (and stick at/see them through as part of a daily routine).

I’m no expert in this. As I say I’m new to this too so keep that in mind. It’s a bit of a minefield of information to be honest.

[LivingRoomFanatic]

Also, specialist physiotherapy can help stop symptoms or reduce them significantly. It’ll still be up to you on the mental side though in terms of the anxiety.

[elcangri416]

LivingRoomFanatic, thank you for your help. I've been dealing with my anxiety for the last ~1.5 years but the whole time I've felt it's unsustainable. The anxiety stops me from pursuing certain ventures such as graduate school which I know that I'm capable of. Have you been able to manage your symptoms since September?

[webslave]

It is typical of over-anxious people to avoid taking prescribed medication, due to their hypervigilant nature. My advice: take the antidepressant. You have nothing to lose, and possibly much to gain. Some SSRIs can act as anxiolytics.

[Dylan_36]

Elcangri416,

Go to my profile and read my story, I think you'd benefit from it.

[European]

Anxiety is half (sometimes more than half) of this condition and main agent perpetuating this vicious cycle. Problem is that it has many masquerades, you never completely know your own "map of anxiety". For examples, I am struggling all my life with "anticipatory anxiety", there were times when flare up came exactly one day before travelling. If I postponed traveling week later, flare up would come week later. Other people struggling with performance anxiety, with anxiety related to something they regret etc. Very tough for mental work and with the proceeding of time, anxiety sometimes completely dominates the clinical pictures, side-lining the muscular trigger points and other physical aspects.

[LivingRoomFanatic]

LivingRoomFanatic, thank you for your help. I've been dealing with my anxiety for the last ~1.5 years but the whole time I've felt it's unsustainable. The anxiety stops me from pursuing certain ventures such as graduate school which I know that I'm capable of. Have you been able to manage your symptoms since September?

I’d agree with Webslave and advise to start on the anti-anxiety medication. I had the opportunity in 2018 and decided against it. I wish I had done now (but don’t think it’ll completely remove all anxiety. You should continue to address it with other methods too). I’m on anxiety meds since 6 weeks ago. On a Beta Blocker too.

I’ve been going to physiotherapy but it’s been very up and down. I’ve had days of really bad pain which incapacitates me and I feel ill with it. I think I’ll eventually go to Wise Anderson but I have a bit of a unique symptom that I’ll need to decide if they can help or if surgery is the better option for it first.

[elcangri416]

Hello, I'm seeking some opinions on my meeting with my Urologist. For one they checked to see if I was emptying my bladder and they found that yes, I'm completely voiding. This guy was at least somewhat competent because he stated that he felt it was not bacterial since I had undergone antibiotic treatment already. He explained it could be a virus but he had no way to treat or diagnose that(??)

He was honestly puzzled and was honest about it. He told me that I may have irritated a 'pain fiber' and prescribed me some NSAID that he wants me to take for 1 month so that the pain fiber 'turns off' as he explained...he didn't check my prostate at all. Quite possibly because I described no testicular pain and no urinary problems...only the pain around the opening of my urethra. Does anyone have any advice?

[webslave]

He sounds pretty clueless to me. Are you taking quercetin? PEA?

[elcangri416]

No, I'm scrolling through amazon and see a large selection. Do you recommend any specific brand?

[webslave]

No, no specific brand, but try to get a big, well known brand that been around a long time and had a reputation to protect.

[elcangri416]

Well, I'm approaching 2 months of intermittent pain in my urethra. The pain is rather low sometimes, but it does flare-up. There is certainly a psychological component to this as I had more intense pain during stressful moments (graduate school interview and meeting with the urologist).

Sometimes I feel pain in other areas such as around my rectum but it's not as intense as the opening of my urethra. My penis is still sensitive and I keep it wrapped in gauze most of the day. I've cut down ejaculation to twice a week maximum, trying to make it once a week.

I began taking an anti-depressant for 2 weeks now, haven't felt much of a change. I've also begun doing stretches and I plan to make this a nightly routine.

I live in South Florida(Miami area) and I've found 2-3 facilities that either offer pelvic PT and one center that seems to specialize in UCCPS. Should I visit these places or wait it out?

[webslave]

I would say yes, if you have the opportunity, visit a pelvic floor PT. Nothing to lose, and potentially much to gain.

[elcangri416]

Thanks. I'm going to try Turmeric and PEA before investing money into the clinics. Do you have any guidance regarding the amount that we should take of each? I saw a user say that 2-3 grams of turmeric worked for him but that would be 5-6 pills...thanks.