There are few things in life that are more frustrating and painful than prostatitis. If you’ve ever suffered from it, you know what I mean. In this article, I will tell you what I went through and how I overcame this affliction.
If you’ve been doing any research, you know that there are multiple types of prostatitis. Some are caused by bacteria and can be remedied with a round of antibiotics. Sometimes, it takes several rounds of multiple antibiotics in order to penetrate the prostate effectively and resolve the issue. The other type of prostatitis is nonbacterial and can be chronic. That is the type of prostatitis this article focuses on, nonbacterial chronic prostatitis. The cause is unknown, and there isn’t a cure, only treatment.
My battle with prostatitis began in December of 2007. I initially felt like I had a stomach ache that would not go away. This went on for a few days until I began feeling pain just above my public bone. It felt like inflammation and I assumed I had a bladder infection. A trip to my regular physician and a urine test yielded no results. Yet, the pain persisted. I was prescribed Cipro because we assumed I had some sort of stomach illness like food poisoning. When the Cipro did not help, I went back. At this time, I no longer had the pain in my bladder area, I was now feeling pain in my right groin. This was a dull pain that didn’t seem to have an area of origin. I couldn’t pinpoint the source of the pain but it lasted all day. It generally started about 20 minutes after getting out of bed and would only feel better after I had been asleep for a while.
My regular physician performed a digital prostate exam and said my prostate felt normal. So, he referred me to a urologist. While waiting for my appointment with the urologist, the pain was becoming increasingly bad. I was, at this point, taking up to 20 tylenol tablets per day just to be able to function normally. Within 10 minutes of explaining my symptoms, the urlogist had diagnosed me with prostatitis. This agreed with the research I had done online. I was tested and no bacteria was found. I was dealing with nonbacterial chronic prostatitis. I was prescribed Doxycycline and told to come back in 6 weeks. Unfortunately, the Doxycycline had no impact. My urologist then prescribed me some prescription-strength pain killers to deal with the pain and suggested warm baths to relieve the pain.
After another few months of dealing with this, I went back. This time my urologist basically told me there isn’t much else we can do other than treat the pain, as there isn’t a cure for this type of prostatitis. As a last resort, he prescribed Flomax. While Flomax is generally to help men with enlarged prostates and trouble urinating, it also relaxes the prostate muscles. I was willing to try anything. Within about a week of being on Flomax, I noticed a marked improvement. I wasn’t in nearly as much pain. I continued to take it daily for about a month and then decided to take it every few days. Eventually I was taking it once a week. Now, its been six months since I’ve taken a pill, and the pain is minimal at best. Most days there is no pain at all. I’d say I’m about 90% back to normal. For those who have suffered from this, I can tell you that I am feeling better than I have in almost 2 years.
