My Partner is the Cause!
Do our wives or girlfriends give us chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS)?
Question: I am kind of new to the whole prostatitis scene.
Last year I developed a small bout with it that lasted about a month.
The only symptoms I had was slight pain while urinating. I almost
completely recovered except for a small amount of seepage after
urinating.. Which I can live with, unlike the pain I am in now.
Last Sunday me and my fiancée (dating 6 years) went on vacation.
For the first time, since my last slight infection cleared up, we
had unprotected sex. We have both been tested for STD's (My last
doc had to rule out STD's before he could comfortably begin thinking
about prostate stuff). So, I was in no worry.. Almost 24 hours
after this sexual encounter, I began to have signs of the worst
flare up ever. My penis aches really bad, slight burn while urinating,
and my prostate I can't begin to explain what it feels like. It
feels like there is a lot of pressure on it, but not much pain.
Just extremely uncomfortable. I can barely sit without twitching
around uncontrollably. Anyway, I saw my Doc yesterday. He isn't
a urologist, but it's quicker to get into his office. He put me
on 4 weeks of doxycycline, and 2 weeks of some new antibiotic called
Tequin. I am on my second day of antibiotics with no improvement.
:-( Should I just give it some time?? I am willing to wait a few
more days, but if the pain gets any worse it's off to the ER I go
:-) If unprotected sex is what caused my problem, it would make
me think that this is bacteria related.. And the antibiotics should
take care of it eventually? What do you guys think?? I really would
like to see some improvements before I make an appointment with
my Uro which could take weeks. (Unless I cry over the phone. It
wouldn't be hard at this point). Anyway, please someone. Tell me
this flare up will subside, and not that my whole life is going
to be like this flare-up. I can't take this much longer...
Answer from a top urologist:
Interestingly, the case you report is kind of "classic". First, of course, your symptoms will subside. Next, a prostatitis expert - Prof. Krieger from Seattle, WA - states that "most things (incl.prostatitis) tend to get better, not worse with time".
I have had several patients who report appearance of symptoms following sexual intercourse. In one of the cases the patient was convinced it was chlamydia and had been taking doxycycline for 6 months with no significant improvement. Finally, after seeing me, I managed to convince him to perform an experiment on himself - he had unprotected intercourse again with the same woman and his symptoms reappeared but I did not give him any antibiotics. On the third day after the incident, his symptoms disappeared and he was convinced that his symptoms were trauma-related.
I have a colleague who is a pathologist in a secluded village where people (for religious reasons) practise mainly anal sex and occasionally vaginal sex for procreation (homosexuality is prohibited by religion). None of those men have either symptoms or histologic evidence (based on prostatic autopsy examination following death) of prostatitis although they are "bathed" in enterobacteria.
Webmaster's Comment
I believe that flares after unprotected sex, often reported by men, can be ascribed to the more intense neural stimulation experienced during condomless intercourse. As a neuromuscular condition, pelvic myoneuropathy (chronic prostatitis /CPPS) is susceptible to exacerbation by intense nerve activity. In the same manner, men who consciously relax during masturbatory orgasm experience far less post-ejaculatory pain.