I’m aware that seeking medical advice is somewhat frowned upon but I am currently being treated with an antibiotic and have a scheduled appointment with my GP for possible referral to a Urologist.
That being said I recently came down with the symptoms of a UTI, I went to the ER, and they said there was a little trace of bacteria in my urine, but they really emphasized how small the amount was but gave me a one time dose of some antibiotic in the form of two big horse pills and an injection of Rocephin. Things seemed to get better in the next three or 4 days and then all my symptoms came back with a vengeance.
I went back to the ER and this time my urine sample had no bacteria and the doctor said there was no way I had a UTI, which is pretty damn rare in men. We ruled out an std or some bacteria exposure from sex since I had not engaged in coitus since my symptoms started originally. They did an ultrasound of my bladder and I was voiding fine, but I still had these symptoms of frequent urge to urinate, feeling of my bladder not being empty, occasional burning sensation in my urethra, and a general painful sensation in my general groin area. The doctor said it could be prostatitis but it kind of made me mad because even though I didn’t want a finger in my butt, I would have rather he just did it to verify if I had some issue with my prostate. Instead he gave me a course of antibiotics this time, giving me Uraquil (Hope, my Achilles Tendon doesn’t snap).
Anyway I only just turned 30 pretty recently and he seemed to indicate that if I did have Prostatitis it would either be from bacteria, which might not show up in my urine, or drug induced prostatitis. I seem to be feeling better now so maybe it was my prostate. The drugs I have taken are almost daily Ibuprofen for years because of a chronic pain issue but than particular NSAID doesn’t seem to be correlated with this condition, although Naproxen seems to somewhat be. I also took Tramadol but haven’t taken it in months. I’ve since stopped taking the Ibuprofen to see if that makes any difference. So obviously at my age this would be abnormal, is this going to be a lifelong issue now, or is it possible this was just some fluke that I won’t have to worry about again till I’m older. What can I expect to happen if I see the Urologist?
Edit: I had a physical 4 months ago and my PSA levels were normal.
That was true many years ago, but not now. All we ask now is that you put it in IMHO to make it clear that any answers you get are just the opinions of some folks on the internet and this shouldn’t be considered the equivalent to professional medical advice.
And with that, off to IMHO.
Moving thread from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion.
If you see a Urologist he will go through your health history and review the symptoms and treatments you have had recently to address the issue. If appropriate he may order additional testing.
If things are improving it may just clear up and never bother you again, however stubborn infections have been know to reoccur so you need to let the Urologist determine what he thinks is happening.
Hopefully it’s a one time occurrence, and you shouldn’t assume otherwise unless there’s a good reason.
I had Prostatitis when I was thirty-two. It felt like the appendicitis I had when I was fourteen. The doctor gave me drugs that knocked me for a bit of a loop and antibiotics, and that seemed to take care of it.
And ten months later, my son was born, so obviously there were no long term (or short term) complications. About the only lasting effect is that I have to get my prostate checked at every physical, which is uncomfortable for everyone involved.
While very few men enjoy getting a prostate exam, just be thankful you aren’t a woman. The intimate exams they routinely go through, not to mention what happens during childbirth, make a prostate exam seem, by comparison, like a walk in the park.
What is Uraquil? (I googled it and didn’t find anything useful.) And why would it make your Achilles Tendon snap?
That is an adverse effect I’ve read about, that can be caused by drugs of the fluoroquinolone class, a group of dangerous industrial-strength antibiotics. Is Uraquil one of those?(*) There is a whole genre of Internet horror stories (and at least one full-length book by an investigative journalist whose wife was badly and irreversibly brain-damaged by one pill of this class). These drugs can cause serious and permanent neurological damage.
(*) ETA: To find out if a drug is a fluoroquinolone, look at its generic name. Most of them end in -floxacin or similar. Examples: Ciprofloxacin, Levofloxacin, Moxifloxacin, many others.
Regarding prostate exams: I don’t mind them, as I like cancer even less. It’s just they require the doctor put her finger where neither she nor I generally want it.
Sorry I don’t know where I came up with that name, it was levofloxacin otherwise known as Levaquin. Yes its that same class of Quinolones. That’s why I was mad the doctor in the ER didn’t do the finger in the butt to check my prostate. Because its a powerful antibiotic I didn’t want to take it, if it wasn’t necessary.
Well I think maybe its not prostatitis either as the Levofloxacin had no effect. The more I read I think I just have somehow damaged my urethra or gotten a urethral stricture as I don’t have any signs of infections in my urine or semen, or signs of other STD’s. This sucks, every day is like torture, my appointment is not for two weeks and that is only with my GP, I guess for a referral to the Urologist, which who knows how much longer it will take to get that appointment.
I have already gone to the ER twice and I even asked the Dr. if he could give me some alpha blockers because I read that would help relax things down there and I need something for immediate relief, I’ll just have to trust he has a good reason for not prescribing it (maybe cause it lowers blood pressure?), but he didn’t give me anything to actually relieve my immediate pain and discomfort and its unbearable.
I guess I’ll try Uristat and see if that helps but I don’t think you can use it for any longer than 2 days, I guess that and calling to see if I can get in to see the Urologist sooner are my only real options.
Just find a urologist and tell them it’s an emergency. There’s no reason for you to be suffering. If you need a referral for insurance call your PCP non-stop until he gives you one.
I got hit with this last year. Similar symptoms, infection was ruled out, urologist diagnosed an “inflamed prostate” by the expedient of a Digital Rectal Exam.
The more I suffered from this, the more dubious I was of the diagnosis. The urologist will throw some antibiotics and NSAIDs at you to try to make this go away. They will also give you a “Flomax” type of product. They don’t know what causes it and they don’t know what cures it so they just throw drugs at it.
Assuming infection and a truly enlarged prostate are ruled out, you likely have a muscle disorder. What happens is your hip flexors get tight (too much sitting from modern life) and they squeeze your bladder and prostate and cause these delightful “urinary symptoms”.
Look at the books “A headache in the Pelvis” and “Healing Pelvic Pain”. They recommend a physical therapy based approach to stretch these constricted muscles.
Ok so by accident, I discovered I’ve been unknowingly exposing myself to fecal matter through a toilet I commonly use, and I suspect E. coli may have caused this problem. You see this is probably TMI but I was going number two on this toilet and discovered afterward I had fecal matter on the head so to speak right next to my uretha. There was like a giant turd stuck inside the toilet bowl. I promptly cleaned the area and tried to avoid getting anything in my urethra. If I just finished a twice daily, 5 day course of doxycycline antibiotics yesterday. Do you think I could have already reinfected myself or do you think I’ll be ok?
Ok so I’m posting an update to this thread not that it was so popular.
I need advice about what tests to ask my Urologist. I had an appt with him 6 weeks ago and he checked my prostate and indeed he told me my prostate was inflamed, and he gave me another course of antibiotics this time for an entire month. Just like before my symptoms seemed to go away, idk if it is placebo or what but after a week or two of finishing the course the symptoms seem to have come creeping back. When I saw the doctor the only thing besides a physical examination he did was to check my urine which he stated looked good. I mentioned that occasionally I have some flank pain so I was kind of worried maybe something was going on with my kidney but the pain is not severe or constant and honestly it might be from exertion and physical exercise, I’m not really sure. He felt around this area but didn’t really mention anything. Thinking back I know I said I had an unfortunate incident where I got some feces near my urethra from a toilet in my house but I think that was just coincidence and not related as I did the monthlong course of antibiotics after that incident and the doctor did say that my prostate was inflamed, that particular examination was painful and made my symptoms worse and the way I jumped when he did it, he said was like the cardinal indication.
I have a followup with the Urologist in a week, do you think there are any other tests I should ask for, blood, some kind of scans? The urge to urinate also seems to co-occur a lot with having to go number 2 and I told the Doctor that as well. I haven’t had any major changes in diet, or increased my caffeine intake, I take a good bit of ibuprofen, but not beyond the recommended daily dose and the doctor told me they usually tell people to take that for prostate inflammation and pain.
since my symptoms started originally. They did an ultrasound of my bladder and I was voiding fine, but I still had these symptoms of frequent urge to urinate, feeling of my bladder not being empty, occasional burning sensation in my urethra, and a general painful sensation in my general groin area. The doctor said it could be prostatitis but it kind of made me mad because even though I didn’t want a finger in my butt, I would have rather he just did it to verify if I had some issue with my prostate. Instead he gave me a course of antibiotics this time, giving me Uraquil (Hope, my Achilles Tendon doesn’t snap).