Trichomoniasis and Prostatitis

[sfo14tools]

There seems to be more and more evidence pointing to the fact that Trichomoniasis (Trich) could be the cause of chronic prostate problems. Trich is not a bacteria or a virus, it is a parasite. Here is a very interesting June 2011 study that really caught my eye:

http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21660495

All the anti-bacterial meds that doctors have prescribed to us would do nothing to kill Trich. For men, it is very hard to discover if we even have Trich. Although Trich is by far the most common STD. Something like 20-25% of men will get Trich at some point during their lives. And most will not even know it. Once Trich reaches the prostate it has been shown to reduce zinc levels in the prostate and leave calcium deposits. And of course it leads to inflammation.

Any thoughts on Trich?

[webslave]

Men with Trichomonas vaginalis (TV) almost always have a constant urethral discharge; our group does not.

Metronidazole is curative of TV, whereas men with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome are not helped by metronidazole.

The patient was diagnosed with TV infection and treated with 500 mg metronidazole twice daily for seven days. He returned to the clinic for a follow-up three weeks after his first visit. The urethral discharge disappeared by day 3 of treatment and he acknowledged that his dysuria, perineal and ejaculatory pain had all completely resolved. (source)

In a study that compared TV infection via prostate biopsy cultures from chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome patients versus controls, controls had more TV.

A quality 2002 study that looked at 135 patients with chronic prostatitis, only 2 had positive specific PCR assays for TV.

[sfo14tools]

Here is a study which found 85 / 835 chronic prostatitis patients had TV:

http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17508488

There is so much contradictory information out there, it is hard to determine a course of action.
One study seems to contradict another one.

But, one clear trend I do see is that TV is becoming more and more of a possible risk factor in doctors minds.

10-20 years ago nobody made the connection between TV and prostate issues. Now it seems to be picking up steam and some of the studies make good points.

[guy97]

I was treated for trich during my typical antibiotics/antifungals/antiwhatevers run. It did nothing to help, I fear.

[sfo14tools]

From what I have read, Metronidazole does kill Trich, even deep inside the prostate.

But, I think that Trich can damage the prostate as it lives for months or years. Unfortunately, there is no reliable test for Trich for men, so millions of men right now could be living with this parasite in the prostate. There was a long time when many doctors claimed Trich could not live in the prostate, that it was a surface dwelling organism. But, there is now proof that Trich thrives in the prostate.

So even when Trich dies off, the damage it does causes pain for months and years. I do not think that this is the cause of all chronic prostatitis, but a certain percentage perhaps. I have read enough blogs to know that a lot of chronic prostatitis starts with a STD, and even after the infection dies off the pain never seems to go away.

[webslave]

Here is a study which found 85 / 835 chronic prostatitis patients had TV:
http://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17508488

That is a study from a very obscure source, an Infectious Diseases hospital in Croatia. This was a war zone recently and a communist backwater before that. Doctors trained in communist countries are generally assessed as having the same level of training as nurses in the West. This particular mob has been publishing stuff about chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome being an infection for many years, and mainstream medicine has ignored it.

It's very important to filter out unreliable studies published in obscure journals like this one, from the Zagreb School Of Biological Anthropology. It's hard to get more obscure than that! DO NOT go to Medline/Pubmed and give all abstracts equal weight in your mind. This is a newbie error.

There is so much contradictory information out there, it is hard to determine a course of action.
One study seems to contradict another one.

That's why I discourage people with no medical training and no knowledge of how the system works from trawling through the literature. It does more harm than good.

But, one clear trend I do see is that TV is becoming more and more of a possible risk factor in doctors minds.

In that you would be wrong, which proves my case.

But, I think that Trich can damage the prostate as it lives for months or years.

Please re-read the forum rules. This is not a forum for you to publish your private medical hypotheses about infection.

I have read enough blogs to know that a lot of chronic prostatitis starts with a STD, and even after the infection dies off the pain never seems to go away.

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7471

[sfo14tools]

I read the article abstract you posted:

"Uropathogenic Escherichia coli Induces Chronic Pelvic Pain."

So what do you make of this finding? What percentage of CPP started with an infection of some sort? Perhaps all, perhaps very small.

Has anybody found a way to undo the damage caused by an infection of the prostate? Maybe it just takes time.

[webslave]

So what do you make of this finding? What percentage of CPP started with an infection of some sort? Perhaps all, perhaps very small.

How is this speculation going to help you get better?

Has anybody found a way to undo the damage caused by an infection of the prostate? Maybe it just takes time.

The prostate is not damaged. It's fine. The CNS has over-reacted to the discomfort and pain of the initial infection, if there was one, and now your job is to find ways of helping it to recover.

[sfo14tools]

Have you ever found research that suggests that prior infections such as trich/gonorrhea/chlamydia do not cause chronic prostatitis? I mean of course that the infection has definitely gone away, but somehow there was damage that can not be fixed. It seems logical to me that a really bad infection that lasts for years could do permanent damage.

[webslave]

a really bad infection that lasts for years could do permanent damage

Is this what you have or had, or are you simply obsessing about infection? Chronic pelvic pain syndrome is simply not a condition that results from long infections. Men get STD/STIs all the time without developing CP/CPPS.

[guy97]

Although others of us develop chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome (or something much like it) from a simple urinary tract infection.

Our systems are confusing things, aren't they.