Opinions

[frozentundra24]

I was a lurker on this board close to 7 years ago when I had my first episode...It started in September of 2003 and resolved in June of 2004 to the best of my knowledge...I really wish I could pinpoint what made it go away, but I cannot. It resolved while I was on a 2 week cruise in Europe...I had another episode 3 years ago that started in September and was completely resolved by November....I know this board is of the belief that it is not infectious in nature, but in the case of the quick resolve, I had a month and a half worth of leftover sulfa antibiotics that I took a few days after onset, whereas in the first case and my present case their was a considerable amount of time before antibiotics were started.

My most recent episode began in June and is still ongoing...I am posting on the board because I just got back from a 10 day vacation in Hawaii really hoping it would spontaneously go away like it did 7 years ago...It didn't...There were several days where it was not as bad and almost didn't notice it but had several days that were really bad...I did however indulge in alcohol moderately and sugary foods in Hawaii, both of which I have not had for months and months...however 7 years ago I did not really adjust my diet and also consumed alcohol for the first time in months while on the cruise.

I apologize for the long-winded nature of this post, but I am having the feelings like I will live with this forever whereas before I at least had some optimism that it would resolve since it has before.

Mine differs from a lot of others experience on the board and I sometimes wonder if it is even really prostatitis at all...Each time the precursor has been an overindulgence in beer, followed my massive amounts of acidic burning diarrhoea, quickly followed by testicular pain and severe pain with ejaculation...In past incidences I did have burning with urination briefly, but in the most recent episode I did not..Ejaculatory pain resolved after a couple months and is not a concern right now at all...I don't have burning urination and I dont feel like I am sitting on a golf ball. I was initially put on several different high powered anti inflammatories and then after a month and a half was put on 6 weeks of 250 mg Cipro..It helped some but did not completely resolve it...To try and shorten the post. I have seen a urologist as well...who did find white cells in prostatic secretions..have been on a few weeks of doxy (quit because it made it much worse)...5 weeks of sulfa with no improvement and 5 weeks of levaquin with mild improvement...At present I am taking nothing...My chief symptom is a burning pain that seems to radiate from my rectum to my scrotum and testicles..It is much worse upon sitting..I also feel a generalized sense of tightness or inability to relax my rectum.I dont have burning with urination, but anywhere from a couple minutes to 15 minutes after urination the testicle pain often gets quite severe and then gradually lessens but never completely going away..I generally wake up with very minimal pain but after the first bowel movement the cycle begins...I dont wake up in the middle of the nite to urinate and have to the best of my knowledge a pretty strong stream..I do have some dribbling and some urgency issues but I am drinking a lot of water.

The biggest catalyst though for worsening of symptoms seems to be bowel movements in particular diarrhoea related ones...I can no longer seem to tolerate and fruit or fruit juices as they come out burning. I have went in weight from about 217 to 180 in weight over the last 9 months and because of that and the diarrhoea my GP has set me up for a colonoscopy despite my age of 38. I had some diarrhoea this week and the pain and burning feeling are worse than it has been in quite some time.

I do like many of you lead a high stress life, I have a 16 year old severely handicapped boy, that requires constant care and I work a sales job that I hate that has me either sitting at my desk or sitting in my car driving to sit in someone's office or home. That being said, I feel more level headed, than I have in a long time..I have for the most part approached this with the attitude that it will eventually go away and have functioned fine in my job and family life, whereas 7 years ago I was a basket case for quite a while.

I tried taking any accredited quercetin product and it made the testicular pain so much worse, my blood work was all great but did show a vitamin d deficiency but when I take vitamin d supplements the testicular pain worsens. It seems at this point that any type of supplement I take seems to make things worse..I was given valium as I am not sleeping well, it helped for a while but not so much anymore, and vicodin literally has no impact whatsoever on the pain...

I know this was a lot to digest and I probably have left some key details out, but I am curious as to others thoughts or opinions? Thanks for your time

[webslave]

Food intolerances, atopy, IBS, stress + anxiety + frustration + depression, multiple episodes gradually becoming chronic, tight pelvic muscles .... am I leaving anything out?

[frozentundra24]

I never heard the word atopy before...The first episode 7 years ago was 9 months so I wouldn't say it was gradually becoming chronic...Has anyone else had the testicle pain minutes after urination but no issues at all in the urethra?....What about the pain worsening when taking any accredited quercetin product or quercetin or saw palmetto?....I really don't feel anxious or depressed right now, just frustrated and trying to determine if I have to learn to just live with it and maybe it will go away or that there is something I am not doing that could help...Hawaii was about as stress free as it gets..Like I said 7 years ago I was a basket case..I am approaching this pretty methodically and rationally...although I have taken a shotgun approach with supplements rather than sticking with one long term to see if it works.

[webslave]

You clearly are anxious about your condition. And your life situation, with a handicapped child and unfulfilling job, would tend to depress anyone. Depression can be subtle and people who are depressed often do not know they are depressed. There are little telltale signs to look for, like crying. Men don't talk about crying, but they do it, all the same, when alone, and if it happens often it's a sign of depression. I say this for other readers here, not only for you.

Quercetin disagrees with some men, probably because of the cernilton/bee pollen constituents. If you are one of those men, don't use it again. Try a generic brand instead, like Twinlabs.

The condition is becoming chronic in that it keeps reappearing in your life.

Note that your first bout disappeared when you took a holiday. That's not uncommon.

The testicle pain is probably referred from the pelvis and has nothing to do with the testes themselves. Urination provokes the pain, which again, is not unusual.

I think you should read the forum more thoroughly. There are many approaches you have not tried yet.

[lugnut]

Hey Frozentundra, a lot of what you're describing is very similar to what I've experienced. This is more in the way of a "you're not alone" note than a "try this" note. I, like many others here, find bowel movements to be a major pain triggering event. It's pretty much as you describe: when I wake up, I'm not to bad, as the need to defecate builds (usually around 7:30 am), I feel less comfortable and after a bowel movement I am in pain for hours, primarily with burning in the perineum. It's certainly one thing that makes sense immediately - if you have irritation to the prostate for any reason and your rectum is first filling up and then using all of those heavy-duty muscles to push things out, it's not surprising that pain is the result! When you are experiencing diarrhoea that's just reworking those same muscles and same irritated areas over and over, so clearly you need to find a way to reduce that. Just for comparison:
Pain on ejaculation: sometimes, particularly if it's been a while.
Pain after ejaculation - YES, particularly groin/testicle pain (actually it's more groin with referral to the testicles)
Pain on urination - generally not
Frequency - Like you, only when I've had a lot of fluids particularly coffee (yes, I know, I shouldn't even be drinking coffee)
Waking to urinate - Never
Pain exacerbated by sitting - Absolutely, but you'd be hard pressed to find anyone here who doesn't feel that way!

There is so much here on the site about PT, internal work and relaxation that it would be silly for me to recap it. A couple of things to think about: Many here, including me, find that applying heat to the perineum can be very helpful when dealing with pain there. If you search you will find some posts on creating some ingenious "socks" filled with various materials like rice, that can be heated in a microwave and then used to apply to the right place. As far as the inability to tolerate things like fruit juices, I wonder if the various antibiotics you've taken over time have taken a toll on your intestinal "good bacteria." Buying some liquid acidophilus, the kind you keep in the refrigerator, couldn't hurt. But again, your highly stressful life could be bringing that on as well. Meditation would sound like a very good idea! Good luck!

[frozentundra24]

Thanks lugnut, I have been exploring the "good bacteria" route actually and am having mild progress....I actually felt pretty good a few days ago and thought I could then have some caffeine, and a few glasses of wine and now some cold weather has set in and boom the cycle has begun again. The most troubling thing for me to wrap my brain around is the pain in the testicles after urination...I can't find anyone who has experienced that or a logical cause...I'm hoping once spring hits and I can get out in the sun and do some exercise that I will heal once again...They did find I am low in vitamin d and, like the fruit and the quercetin, if I take the vitamin d supplement the pain increases dramatically...it seems that any vitamin or supplement I take exacerbates the pain?