Prostatitis Symptoms - A brief Overview

25 Apr

Posted by Admin as Male Health

Prostatitis is inflammation or swelling of the prostate gland. When prostatitis symptoms start gradually and linger for more than a couple of weeks, the condition is called chronic prostatitis. Doctors previously believed that all chronic prostatitis was caused by infection of the prostate by bacteria. However, it is now clear that symptoms of chronic prostatitis can be caused by several different conditions, and that infection plays a role in only some of these.

What are the types of prostatitis?

Two types of prostatitis are caused by bacteria.

• Acute bacterial prostatitis is a rare but serious infection that requires emergency treatment. It strikes suddenly and causes fever and chills in addition to the common symptoms.

• Chronic bacterial prostatitis comes on more slowly and doesn’t usually cause fever and chills. This type may come and go over time.

The urethra runs through the prostate gland. This means that inflammation of the prostate can cause problems with urination. Common symptoms of prostatitis include:

The symptoms are similar for all forms of prostatitis, with the exception of acute prostatitis and asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis.

Symptoms of the chronic forms of prostatitis, including chronic prostatitis/pelvic pain syndrome, inflammatory and noninflammatory, may include:

• A frequent urge to urinate, although you may pass only small amounts of urine.
• A burning sensation when urinating (dysuria).

Prostatitis symptoms include: fever, chills, urinary frequency, frequent urination at night, difficulty urinating, burning or painful urination, perineal (inflammation in the area between the scrotum and the anus) and low-back pain, joint or muscle pain, tender or swollen prostate, blood in the urine, and painful ejaculation.

Chronic prostatitis symptoms are have a continual and tenacious evolution, they frequently recur. Chronic prostatitis is the true cause in many cases of cystitis and urethritis. It can lead to sterility, through lesions of the ejaculatory ducts, vesiculitis and epididymitis. It can also evolve, year after year, without symptoms or with limited symptoms. It never cures spontaneously and very rarely with classical treatment (antibiotics). Chronic prostatitis maintains a state of infection in the urinary apparatus which can cause -every now and then- accesses of pielitis, pielonefritis, recurrent epididymitis etc. Through the local irritation it maintains, chronic prostatitis triggers a sclerosis of the bladder peak, with late mechanical reaction on the superior urinary apparatus.

Other prostatitis symptoms include pain at the base of the back, fever, chills, and generalized malaise.

Diagnosis of prostate symptoms

If prostatitis is suspected, urinalysis may show white blood cells, red blood cells, nitrite positivity and microorganisms. This is mainly so in acute prostatitis and asymptomatic inflammatory prostatitis (see below). In the other types, urinalysis may be unhelpful.

Treatment consists of a lenfthy course of antibiotics that aren’t always highly effective. There are also alternatives such as heat, acupuncture and certain food supplements (pollen, quercetine)which are worth trying.

In a few cases the problem is so severe as to literally ruin the life of a sufferer and some even decide that it’s better to have the prostate removed, in spite of the associated problems.

Please share your comments below-