Newbie, am i on the right track?

[Drpest]

this all started on Nov. 1 2006. I had pain after urinating in the tip of penis. it was on a weekend so I went to walk in clinic. they diagnosed urethritis and gave me doxy. after a week and feeling a little better, I went to a uro who immediately diagnosed acute prostate infection although my urine culture was neg. also, my symptoms had expanded to a pain in rectum (golf ball), frequent urination, and pain in backs of legs, and groin stabbing and aching pain. the worst was the stabbing pain down my penis, unbearable.....anyway....he put me on Cipro for 20 days and told me to ejaculate often. most of my symptoms went away within days of the doxy, but the pain in urethra, and golf ball pain remained. I have to mention that at the time this started I was working out 3-4 days a week with heavy weights for the last 20 years (I'm 39) I was very stressed out (i had just moved for the 5th time in 4 years, I'm a contractor/developer so I move from house to house quite often) and I was for whatever reason having either a lot of sex or masturbating quite often just prior to this starting. anyway.........the uro then switched me to levaquin 500mg. same as the Cipro, initially felt better but wouldnt knock it out after 3 weeks (now a total of 6 weeks on bx) went to a new uro who put me on prednisone for 1 week and bumped my levaquin to 750mg and told me to ejaculate often. the prednisone had no effect. I actually felt better after getting of it. the levaquin made my joints really hurt, but I felt a little better. about 2 weeks into the lev 750mg, I came across the book a headache in the pelvis and immed. bought it. I started doing the stretches and trying to relax, also, Dr. wise has a section on the importance of not ejac. often as this is nothing more than a muscle spasm. so I stopped all that. within a week the vast majority of my symptoms got a lot better, within only an occasional penis pain (is there anything worse?) I also started trying to relax my pelvis region. when I would sort of push down, I could feel a burning like I was pushing on a raw nerve. that has greatly subsided. I then called dr wise's clinic and was surprised when he called me back. he told me to contact a dr in Knoxville that he highly recommended. I made an appt. and went to see her last week. she did a dre and immediately found to trigger pts. she told me to stop the levaquin (after 11 weeks) and made an appt for me to see a PT who upon doing a dre, found that my muscle was spasming way up in there. this whole process has been quite an eye opener. in retrospect, I remember having pains in the back of my legs on and off for years, and always telling my wife that it was just stress and would go away and it always did. something pushed me over the edge this time, it think it was the constant ejac. for a couple of weeks (once a day). because as soon as I stopped this I felt much better. also, stress, its kinda funny how much better I initially felt with each new drug I took (i thought it was an answer, so my stress level dropped immediately. only to come back. and believe me, I was freaking out) even reading dr wise book and this website have relieved a lot of stress and made me feel better. I have been avoiding lifting weights and doing really any lifting at work, but yesterday I moved about 15 2x12 and I paid for it that night, I felt really sore in my anus and groin. so I obviously have a lot of healing to do. I might also have been sore due to the 2 dre and trigger pt being found 3 days before. I dont know.....but I am convinced this is a muscle thing. I feel like a zombie, but a zombie who has less pain. ironically, being a type a, I caused this and I'm having a hard time be patient. I want to get back to working like normal (still stretching and relaxing of course). just today I bought some Quercetin. I would appreciate any feedback to let me know how my protocol sounds. dr in Knoxville thinks I discovered the whole muscle relation early and that I might be in good shape in a couple of months, but need to lay low and heal that muscle for now. thanks for this forum and for you guys. God Bless Brian

[Sleeper Service]

The bad news is that you'll probably need to lay off the weights for a bit. The good news is that it sounds like you've got the right treatment early.

Do as your PT suggests and relax, stretch and do your TP work and you should be OK.

[carld]

Welcome Drpest, Hi sleeper...What sleeperservice said is right on the money. Follow that, you are way ahead of the game. It's interesting that when you look back at the small signs that were telling us trouble ahead. I wonder how many of us were frequent masturbaters, because if you think about it, at least for me, I would tense my muscles up as I would do it and even during sex as well. It's a trip how much better sex feels when you just let the orgasm happen and not try and hit the grand slam if you know what I mean

It still so amazing to me how most Urologist but not all just throw out the infection card and put us on AB to treat this. I mean it's at least worth a try to see if it helps for no more then 4-5 weeks in case there is a hidden infection and the anti-inflammatory effect of antibiotics. Still the ignorance of the medical community that tense muscles and stress can lead to this type of problem. I'm not a doctor

[Drpest]

i agree about the ignorance. although I dont think its all ignorance. I think there is a lot of money involved. if only 5 % of prostatitis cases are bacterial, just think how much less money the makers of antibiotics would make off of urologists and how many less perks the docs would get. I seem to go about 4-5 days with little to no symptoms and then have a minor flare, but any lifting or stress seems to set it off which results in me feeling, for lack of a better word, fragile. my daily regimen is something like this

1) stretch twice daily for about 40 minutes each time, using all the stretches in headache in pelvis book

2) hot bath morning and night

3) no heavy lifting

4) take metamucil and no straining for bowel movement. if its not ready, I dont go. I can't believe in retrospect how impatient I was. I didn't even like waiting to go. I just use push as hard as possible to get on with it. I think this was part of my whole muscle breakdown, because when I first started focusing on trying to relax my pelvic muscles I would sometimes over do it and push a little too hard and it felt like I was pushing on a raw nerve. I dont have that feeling any longer

5) ejaculate about every 5-6 days (works for me) my urethra is no longer tender to the touch on the bottom side of penis.

6) try to sit in squat position if possible as opposed to sitting on couch.

7) will start on . Any accredited quercetin product this week (can't hurt)

8) hard to find the time, but I try to meditate for at least 20 min. a day

9) sleep on stomach. I seem to sleep better and no pressure on butt.

10) try to notice pelvic tension throughout the day. seems like this would be the easy one, but its not. I have sucked my gut in for my entire life, and now, letting it out just feels wrong and will take a lot of adjustment.

my main symptoms on good days:
no pain or pain in butt cheeks , although this is not that bad;

bad days: pain in groin , not unbearable but not good; shooting pains in urethra; minor burning when just starting to pee (this seems diminished if I drink a lot of water)

to me, this whole thing is like paddling down a narrow river, not knowing that you are going the wrong way until you go over the falls (pain threshold) at that point you either get out and walk back upstream (if you know whats happening i.e. the muscle theory) or you continue paddling further downstream (unknowingly of course,) due to the stress and anxiety you go faster and faster, all with the help of your friendly uro and antibiotics. Eventually you figure out whats happening, be it 3 months or 20 years later. and start walking back upstream. the further and the longer you have paddled, the longer it will take to walk back. But, you will make it.

[Clay]

Nice analogy, Drpest, and welcome to the board.

[rider fan]

Good work, drpest. Stay vigilant!

[GP2]

Very apt anology made above. Most men on this site would agree with the point you have articulated regarding reversing the damage once acceptance and knowlede are aquired. In the majority of cases men who begin tackling their condition before the pain & dysfunction have become incapacitating become symptom free more quickly.

You are a new member to this forum and you have already found a positive attitude which is the beginnig of the process in beating CPPS. You have also started on your own sensible & intelligent protocol which is to be commended. I predict that you wil be posting in a year or so's time of much improved symptoms for these reasons!

[carld]

Looks like a good start!

[bellowbellow]

Drpest.... I wish I had made the discoveries you seem to have made so early on in my battle with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome instead of going the antibiotic route for years... it really seems like you've taken the most important first steps, which are to take control of your treatment, to use this condition to make positive changes in your life and to keep in mind that you are not alone; these pages are filled with posts similar to your first one by men who are now healthy and symptom-free.....