Chronic Prostatitis affects everybody in slightly different ways and every case is unique. Symptoms depend on the bacteria that has entered the prostate and its resistance level. Symptoms also depend on your overall age and physical health, diet and a whole range of other factors. Symptoms usually start out mild and build up in intensity over time.
Common symptoms include.
– Pain, which may be severe, in or around your penis, testicles, anus, lower abdomen or lower back. Pooing can be painful.
– Pain when peeing, needing to pee frequently (including at night), problems starting or ‘stop-start’ peeing, sometimes an urgent need to pee and sometimes blood in your urine. A constant urge to urinate and often a burning sensation when urinating.
– Not being able to pee which leads to a buildup of urine in the bladder. Feeling as if the bladder has not fully emptied.
– Generally feeling unwell, with lethargy, aches, pains and possibly a high temperature.
– An enlarged or tender prostate.
– Headaches and migraines. Some patients complain that they are not able to work or read detailed papers without an excruciating headache.
– Sexual problems such as erectile dysfunction, sub-fertile sperm, pain when or after ejaculating, or pelvic pain after sex.
– Many male sufferers aged 20-35 years old will show irritative symptoms such as pelvic pain, burning sensation on urination and a sense of weight in the testicles.
– A large proportion of males aged 35-55 years old show more obstructive symptoms including varying degrees of dysuria (painful urination) and often an enlarged prostate gland.
– Some sufferers also experience fever and chills.
The symptoms of Chronic Prostatitis can have a significant impact on your quality of life.
Recent studies have indicated 65-70% of the male population suffer chronic inflammation of the prostate. Prostatitis accounts for about two million visits to health care providers in the United States each year.[1]
Cases of Chronic Prostatitis generally depend on many factors including the time the bacteria have been present. Key cases are as follows;
Urgent Cases
The sufferer experiences various intense and persistent symptoms of the Chronic Prostatitis inflammation. They typically attempt to seek immediate medical treatment, often looking desperately for a radical solution because of the degree to which the condition has impacted on their quality of life.
Moderate Cases
The sufferer experiences moderate symptoms annoying enough to eventually warrant a visit to a urologist. Inadequate and often incorrect assessments however lead to ineffective treatment. Persuaded that no satisfactory cure exists the sufferer accepts that somehow the condition is the new normal. Maybe ‘it’s just because I’m getting older’ is a typical sufferer response. As their condition deteriorates, they begin to look for solutions to their problem.
Self-denial
This group does not recognise or do not want to pay special attention to various small or moderate symptoms which begin to occur progressively. Many will undergo surgery sooner or later, either for hyper plasma (the enlargement of an organ or tissue caused by the increase in the reproduction rate of cells, often as an initial stage in the development of cancer) or prostate cancer, because the condition was not treated properly and in good time.
[1] Barry MJ, Collins MM. Benign prostatic hyperplasia and prostatitis. In: Goldman L, Schafer AI, eds. Goldman’s Cecil Medicine. 24th ed. Philadelphia: Saunders; 2011: 805–810.
