Hello everyone. This is my first post and I don't even know of this is the right section, so please be patient with me.
I am a 38 year old man, married with 3 girls in the UK. I am normally healthy but have had some worrying symptoms for the last 4 weeks.
I have been to my GP and he thinks I have prostatitis. I have been referred to a urologist who I see in mid March. He checked my prostate and it made me have an urge to urinate but didn't really state if he thought it was inflamed or not.
It started at the end of January after going to the pub with a colleague at lunchtime for a pint. From about an hour or two after, I could not stop urinating and I had an uncomfortable feeling in my bladder, as if I needed to go again straight after going. This continued overnight and I went to see a nurse practitioner the next day as my GP surgery was shut. She tested my urine and found leukocytes (white blood cells) and treated as it as urine infection and prescribed trimethoprim for a week.
It continued for a few days, then pain started in my groin, rectum and testicles, like a dull ache, but always in a different place. I went back to my GP and he checked my prostate as I mentioned above and made me do another urine test. I got ,the results 3 days later and he said that there was no sign of a urine infection but decided to keep me on trimethoprim for another 3 weeks, which comes to an end on Friday.
I have no idea if they are working tbh. My pain stopped after going to the Gp but I was left with urinary frequency and needing to go far too much than I needed to. I work in an office and its quite uncomfortable.
Over the last 2 weeks, the urinary frequency has got a bit better in that I'm going less during the day, but getting up once or twice in the night. I can sleep ok generally. I do have some pain from it again now though. Its always better in a morning and seems to get worse throughout the day. The pain can be a dull ache somewhere in my pelvic region, or a sharp shooting pain across my bladder or in my back passage. There are also times when it feels like my prostate is burning and this can last for a couple of hours. I can also get random, intermittent pain in my buttocks or legs.
There is no burning when I urinate and no pain. It is very unpredictable and very frustrating because I don't know what awaits me on any given day. It has caused a great deal of stress and anxiety for me and I wake up most days a nervous wreck. This worry possibly makes it worse but I am a natural worrier. I suffered some awful emotional stress at work about 6 months ago which took an awful toll and I feel like I am still suffering the effects now.
Because of our busy life, my diet is not great but i do my best to eat as much fruit and veg as i can. I have cut out alcohol and caffeine completely and only drink water, juice or decaf tea.
Could this be stress related? I am wanting to try acupuncture but i don't know enough about it and don't want to make things worse. I'm thinking about looking into it before I go to the urologist. Could anyone offer any advice? I just want to get back to my normal life, I love sport and want to get back to being involved and back to being a healthy, energetic dad.
Thanks
Hi Rich,
Firstly, only medically qualified persons are legally allowed to offer any diagnosis, so any advice given here would be just that, advice from other people that should not be taken as fact, just opinion.
From what you've described, it would seem that the stress you've experienced could certainly be a causal factor. Have you told your GP about this? (GP's are good at not listening or looking for non-physical underlying causes so sometimes you have to go back and stress it to them 😉 )
It's good that you've cut out the alcohol and caffeine as these could certainly cause more discomfort when you're experiencing urinary issues. When you say you're drinking Juice, what sort of juice it is? You have to be wary of those that have added sugar in as that refined sugar can sometimes be more of a problem than the juice is a help. Also, drinking too much juice can be somewhat acidic which can irritate. I'm assuming in this respect we're talking about fresh fruit juices and not concentrated squashes? The problem with a lot of squashes is that they either have added sugars or they have nasty sweeteners added.
Acupuncture can be great for a lot of things. Finding a properly qualified acupuncturist on the other hand is another matter. Ensure they are properly qualified by a recognised national body, and not just some quack street acupuncturist.
You may also consider some other complementary therapies, such as hynotherapy (NLP and Hypnotherapy together are very good) or EFT, or even CBT (you can sometimes get CBT through your GP if (s)he feels it would help you) etc. as these can be very helpful in dealing with the emotional side of your issues e.g. the stress you are experiencing. EFT is a good one as you can benefit from seeing a practitioner who can guide you, but also they will show you how you can use it for yourself when you need it.
You haven't said whereabouts you are, but you can either find people via the web or take a look at the directory here on Healthypages (the "Cognitive" and "Energy" sections include those I've mentioned above)
Feel free to ask here for advice if you want people with some know-how to check out any practitioners you find. e.g. to tell you if they appear qualified or not.
I'm sure things will improve for you. 🙂
Hi Rich,
Firstly, only medically qualified persons are legally allowed to offer any diagnosis, so any advice given here would be just that, advice from other people that should not be taken as fact, just opinion.
From what you've described, it would seem that the stress you've experienced could certainly be a causal factor. Have you told your GP about this? (GP's are good at not listening or looking for non-physical underlying causes so sometimes you have to go back and stress it to them 😉 )
It's good that you've cut out the alcohol and caffeine as these could certainly cause more discomfort when you're experiencing urinary issues. When you say you're drinking Juice, what sort of juice it is? You have to be wary of those that have added sugar in as that refined sugar can sometimes be more of a problem than the juice is a help. Also, drinking too much juice can be somewhat acidic which can irritate. I'm assuming in this respect we're talking about fresh fruit juices and not concentrated squashes? The problem with a lot of squashes is that they either have added sugars or they have nasty sweeteners added.
Acupuncture can be great for a lot of things. Finding a properly qualified acupuncturist on the other hand is another matter. Ensure they are properly qualified by a recognised national body, and not just some quack street acupuncturist.
You may also consider some other complementary therapies, such as hynotherapy (NLP and Hypnotherapy together are very good) or EFT, or even CBT (you can sometimes get CBT through your GP if (s)he feels it would help you) etc. as these can be very helpful in dealing with the emotional side of your issues e.g. the stress you are experiencing. EFT is a good one as you can benefit from seeing a practitioner who can guide you, but also they will show you how you can use it for yourself when you need it.
You haven't said whereabouts you are, but you can either find people via the web or take a look at the directory here on Healthypages (the "Cognitive" and "Energy" sections include those I've mentioned above)
Feel free to ask here for advice if you want people with some know-how to check out any practitioners you find. e.g. to tell you if they appear qualified or not.
I'm sure things will improve for you. 🙂
Hello and many thanks for your reply.
I am in the north of England in a small town. There is a qualified acupuncturist here who is Siobhan Palmer and I think she is registered with the British acupuncture council. My fear is that acupuncture will make my symptoms worse, as I have never had it done and don't know much about it.
What are EFT and NLP please? I'm a complete novice at this sort of thing.
I was drinking squash and lemon barley water but realise that they may not helping. I drink decaf tea and water other than that. What about milk and yogurt? Can they irritate the bladder or prostate? Sorry forthe questions, I just want to feel better and try and help myself as much as I can. I'm trying to be as positive as I can but have no idea what each day holds.
Thanks again.
Well, at a glance she looks like a trustworthy therapist.
It's not likely that acupuncture will make your condition worse. If any therapy makes a condition seem worse it's often just for a short period of time and the therapist will have explained that possibility before the treatment. A qualified (and honest) therapist will also not treat something that either a) they're not comfortable treating or b) they feel is not suited to the therapy they are offering. Your best bet is to get in touch with her and speak to her about your condition. I'm sure she'll be more than happy to speak to you about what she can offer and what's possible. I've had acupuncture myself in the past, and though I'm not keen on needles, it was very relaxing and I did notice some benefit for my condition at the time.
EFT stands for Emotional Freedom Techniques - It's sometimes affectionately known as 'acupuncture without the needles' and works by a technique that is often referred to simply as 'tapping'. The principle is that, like with acupuncture, our issues (physical, emotional etc.) relate to the energy meridians of the body. Whilst acupuncture uses needles inserted at points on the meridians, EFT treats them more as acupressure points, and they are tapped on with fingers. The technique is very simple and you can learn to do it yourself, but it's best to learn it from a practitioner as, under their guidance, they can ensure you are doing it correctly and can also help you get to the root causes of your issues. It works really well with both emotional issues (phobias, anger, hatred, nervousness etc.) as well as physical issues. To get an idea you can find people demonstrating it on youtube, and yes I'll agree it does look odd at first, but I know for a fact that it works as I've used it on myself, and on others to great effect.
NLP stands for Neuro Linguistic Programming and is, as a therapy, a method of reframing our thoughts when they arise (NLP has other aspects such as being used by Sales People in business or for confidence building workshops etc. as it helps us understand how to pick up body language and interact with people too). When NLP is used with other techniques such as Hypnotherapy or CBT (Congitive Behavioural Therapy) is enahances those techniques and together they become really powerful tools for dealing with emotional and even physical issues.
I'm not a nutritional expert myself, so can't really say about milk and yoghurt (Not sure if @[USER=28489]CarolineN[/USER] is about as she's a qualified Nutritionalist, or @[USER=36275]Tashanie[/USER] who is a qualified Pharmacist), or how they would effect such a condition. I can only go on my own personal knowledge, and know that I would only aim for natural yoghurts with the 'good bacteria'.
Most doctors are happy for people to seek to help themselves by using complementary therapies such as Acupuncture, Hypnotherapy etc. so don't be afraid to talk to your doctor about it too, as some treatments can be got through the NHS if needed.