Reiters Syndrome

[VBBronco]

I have suffered from prostatitis since I was 24. I am 28 now. I got my prostate problem fairly well controlled but two years after it started I developed arthritis in my wrists and fingers. I am HLA-B27 negative but my prostate problem started after a flu-like illness which could have been an inciting event for Reiter's syndrome. I am wondering if Reiter's Syndrome can take so long as two years to develop. I don't have eye involvement or skin problems but I do have aortic valve regurgitation which is a complication of Reiter's. I think this is Reiter's syndrome. Anyone have an idea or two. Thanks.

[webslave]

Reitier's usually features severe inflammation in a major joint, as far as I know. So that does not fit you.

There are countless clinical symptoms, but the clinical picture is dominated by polyarthritis. There is pain, swelling, redness, and heat in the joints. MRI's are effective for diagnosis.

Unless you have had severe joint problems, enough to make you seek medical help on their own, and occurring BEFORE your pelvic pain, it's unlikely that you have Reiter's.

Do you have Balanitis circinata (20-40% of men with Reiter's get this):



Does this fit you:

Commonly remembered with the mnemonic "Can't See, Can't Pee, Can't Climb a Tree". Alternatively, the final letters of Jack KeroUAC's name (a "Reiter") are an acronym for urethritis, arthritis and conjunctivitis.

I would say that it is extremely unlikely that you have RS. No eye, no initiating joint/s. Forget it.

Now in my case, I had a painfully swollen, red knee right early on, I'm HLA-B27 positive, I had bouts of blurred vision and an episode of sterile but suppurative conjunctivitis a few years later ... but still, I do not have Reiter's, according to the specialists I saw back then.

[Hacksquat]

Webslave, from what I have read, Reiter's (reactive arthritis) does not always has to be as severe. Apparently, it often only involves one or a few joints, e. g. a toe, achilles tendon.

I remember wondering two years ago if this was what I had, and now with my new flare-up, it occurred to me once again. My first bout of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (main symptom urethral burning, but not always present) arrived just after a cold (flu-like, with high fever) in Dec 2006.

This time, my flare-up arrived a couple of weeks after I had some heavy diarrhoea which lasted for > 1week. Still don't know what caused the diarrhoea, but I got it just after a holiday in Thailand. Faeces sample didn't show any signs of salmonella, shigella, campylobacter etc.

I also do have some pain in one toe-joint on my right foot, not very bad though, and only pain upon touching it/using it, hardly any pain when toe is resting. It was just yesterday I realised the toe-pain appeared around the same time my flare-up started.

Anyway, be it Reactive arthritis or not (probably not), the treatment seem to be NSAID's, which is already part of CPPS-treatment, so it doesn't matter what the cause.

I do wonder though, how to distinguish the urethritis following Reiter's syndrome, from the typical CPPS-urethral pain?

Urethritis caused by primary inflammation (reactive arthritis, Reiter's) should be detectable by microscopic evaluation of the urethra (or sample from)?
But, if the urethral burning is referred by trigger points, there should be no signs of actual inflammation in the urethra?

[webslave]

My first bout of chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome arrived just after a cold ... This time, my flare-up arrived a couple of weeks after I had some heavy diarrhoea

In 1997 I had a plantar wart infection on my foot that flared my symptoms too. Many men have noted that illness and infections can make symptoms worse, probably because of the generalized immune system reaction.

I also do have some pain in one toe-joint on my right foot, not very bad though, and only pain upon touching it/using it, hardly any pain when toe is resting. It was just yesterday I realised the toe-pain appeared around the same time my flare-up started.

Have you considered gout?

I do wonder though, how to distinguish the urethritis following Reiter's syndrome, from the typical CPPS-urethral pain?

I stick by what I said in the posts above.

Urethritis caused by primary inflammation (reactive arthritis, Reiter's) should be detectable by microscopic evaluation of the urethra (or sample from)?

No.

But, if the urethral burning is referred by trigger points, there should be no signs of actual inflammation in the urethra?

You have not fully understood this page:
https://ucpps.men/chronic-prostatitis-is-a-psychoneuromuscular-condition

[Hacksquat]

No, I don't think it is Gout, there is no visible swelling and the pain really isn't bad at all. This rules out Reiters as well. I read in another post where Jay described Reiters as "cannot pee, cannot see, cannot climb a tree". This is definitely not my case .

What I took interest in, was the possibility of differentiating the inflammation from a primary inflammatory disease from an inflammation secondary to something else, in our case pelvic myoneuropathy.

Thanks for the answers!