My Story of pain and some success

[Zach1970]

This is the story of my experience with Prostatitis. It is a bit long, but I hope it will help some people with hope an optimism. Also, I'd love to hear any feedback you guys might have.

Since about the summer of 2007 I started feeling a burning sensation whenever my girlfriend touched the tip of my penis. Up until that time, I always left a couple of urine drops on my underwear, after finishing urination (dribbling). It was not too bad so I kept ignoring it. Starting in about October 2007, my urination frequency has started to increase. With it, urination urgency appeared. I noticed that I had extreme difficulty in holding urine. Whenever a need came, I had to run to the bathroom.

(At about the same time, starting in October, I had several occurrences of Jock itch Lots of red rash on the inner thighs, which I treated with Lotrimin. I wonder whether there is any relation. I doubt it, but who knows?)

It should also be noted that October 2007- December 2007 was an extremely stressful time in my life. Stress levels peaked and I always had a feeling that the stress is a large contributor to what ensued.

The urgency and frequency increased and reached unbearable levels in November-December of 2007. Along with that increase came other symptoms that included feeling of non-emptiness shortly after urination, burning and twinging in the urethra, pain in the left testicle radiating sometimes to the left leg, pain in left lower back, and left pelvic area, twinging in prostate (I never knew how to locate the prostate, but I guess now I know), pain after ejaculation (sometimes), decrease in libido . Urination frequency became almost hourly and included one regular nightly visit. The psychological symptoms also appeared. Managable anxiety and constant occupation with my urine.

On January 2, 2008 I saw my doctor. She diagnosed me with prostatitis and began a 14-day regimen of antibiotics (fluxocin). She also sent my urine for culture and recommended I visit a urologist. There was a slight improvement in symptoms, but nothing worth writing home about. On January 4, I saw the urologist who thought this was a UTI. He never mentioned prostatitis. I guess in his book prostatitis and UTI are equivalent. The symptoms kept going strong, even after the end of the antibiotics. The urologist, upon receipt of the negative urine culture, recommended I'd undergo a cystoscopy, which was scheduled for Feb 1.

During January, my pains persisted and my urination frequency has plateaued at a high level (8-13 times daily, including 1 nightly visit). One symptom that went away is the urgency. On January 15 I stopped drinking my daily cup of coffee and stopped drinking my casual wine. This certainly helped with my prostate aggravation (I have not had any coffee or wine since then). However, since my pains did not stop, my doctor recommended I'd start another regimen of AB, this time Bactrim for 28 days. I started that on Jan 28. Slowly, the symptoms have started dissipating. After 14 days I could notice that the pain was minimal and frequency has reached normal levels. Even dribbling decreased.

The cystoscopy did not reveal anything. The urologist prescribed Flomax and avodart, but I am reluctant to take them, because my symptoms are getting better. I took Flomax earlier and it caused some side effects that I did not like much (retrograde ejaculation).

After 16 days of Bactrim, I had a strong recurrence of symptoms on Feb 13. The pain in the left lower ab and left lower back has returned in full force. I started feeling the twinges in the rectum again. and the urine frequency had increased to very high level. This flare up lasted for about 2 days. That is when I read about the pelvic muscle theory in this forum.

I immediately contacted my PT. I have been seeing her for 5 years on and off for my back pain. She is familiar with and very good at TP release. I went to her once and ALL the symptoms went away! After three treatments the severity of the symptoms subsided..

The PT performed "the marching test" (or the Gillet test) from which she assesses the degree to which my pelvic muscles are tight, and as a result, could contribute to my symptoms. I failed the test, so her work certainly achieved something. After 3 treatments, my marching test is 90% good. Also, she gave me some stretching exercises to do at home. The glutes stretch (similar to the first pic here), the butterfly stretch, and the hip twist.

It has been almost a month since the Feb 13 flare-up. Things look OK. There is no doubt that the physical therapy and the stretches have been helpful. My urinary symptoms are essentially gone. The only things that persists is decreased Libido and some dribbling. I hope I will not experience any more flare-ups and that my libido will be back up.

Any feedback will be appreciated.

Zach

[graeme]

Great news and an all too familiar story