Prostatitis: the most important thing about disease, symptoms and prevention

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

It is inconvenient to talk about delicate diseases like prostatitis, but it is necessary. If you are a man, then you are at risk, and no one knows exactly why.

What is prostatitis

Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate gland.

The prostate gland, or prostate, is only found in men. One small organ performs several functions: partly responsible for ejaculation, partly for urination, partly for protecting against infections. Therefore, when the prostate gets sick, it is not limited to pain, for example. Problems begin in the entire genitourinary system.

Prostatitis is, contrary to popular belief, not an age-related disease.

Prostate enlargement and prostate cancer are indeed more common in older men, and prostatitis can be contracted at any age.

What is it like

Like most inflammatory diseases, prostatitis is acute and chronic.

1. Acute is one that started suddenly and then either passed or became chronic. As a rule, infections are to blame for this development of events.
2. Chronic is one that sometimes manifests itself with unpleasant symptoms, then subsides. This condition can last for years. Unfortunately, it is the second option that is widespread, and the reasons for it are not only infectious.

What are the symptoms of prostatitis

The symptoms of prostatitis vary slightly depending on the type of disease. These details are of little help to patients, but the doctor needs to make a diagnosis. Therefore, be sure to tell the details at the reception: when the symptoms appear, when they subside, what, in your opinion, caused the disease.

So, the main symptoms of prostatitis:

1. Pain. The prostate is located below the bladder, between the urinary tract and the rectum. Therefore, due to inflammation, it can hurt in several places at once: in the penis, around it, in the scrotum, around the anus, or generally in the lower abdomen or back. Pain can appear during ejaculation or after sex.
2. Difficulty urinating. Pain and burning appear, you have to run to the toilet often, get up at night. It can be difficult to start and end the process, and there may even be blood in the urine.
3. Discharge from the urethra. A thick liquid that you may not have noticed before.
4. Potency problems.

If any of the symptoms lasts more than three months, it is already chronic prostatitis. And if in acute prostatitis all these signs are noticeable and cannot be missed, then chronic prostatitis can manifest itself only as erectile dysfunction.

When to see a doctor

As soon as you notice the listed symptoms of prostatitis. You will need to pass tests and conduct research in order to correctly diagnose and prescribe treatment. Some examinations are unpleasant, but certainly not worse than prostatitis.

You cannot even postpone a visit to the doctor for a minute if you have dysuria - the inability to go to the toilet. This is a dangerous condition in which fluid continues to build up in the bladder. You need to either urgently move to the hospital, or call an ambulance.

Where does prostatitis come from?

If the prostatitis is infectious, then its cause is microorganisms that have penetrated the urethra and ascended to the prostate or managed to get there from other foci of infection. Often the infection clings after unprotected sex, so you need to think about the prevention of sexually transmitted diseases.

In all other cases, it is impossible to say for sure why the prostate becomes inflamed. One can only assume some stagnation due to sedentary work and lack of sports and the influence of bad habits.

If you have a prostate, you can get sick.

But there are risk factors that warn that health is in danger:

1. Age from 30 to 50 years old.
2. Any infections in the pelvic organs and abdominal cavity (in the intestines, for example).
3. Acute prostatitis in the past.
4. Any operations and interventions in the genitourinary system.
5. Pelvic injury.

How to treat prostatitis

It all depends on the reason why it appeared. If bacteria are to blame, antibiotics kill them. This is usually the end of it. Complications rarely occur that require surgery and surgical debridement of the prostate.

If it's not germs, they try to relieve symptoms with pain relievers and special drugs that relax smooth muscles and help resolve urinary problems. They use physical therapy, warm baths, physical education - everything that works and makes it easier.

How not to get prostatitis

Unfortunately, there is no 100% reliable prevention of prostatitis, especially when it comes to a chronic disease that is not caused by infections. There is no reliable data that a dietary supplement, a folk remedy or a breakthrough technique will protect you. All we can do is avoid eating irritating foods, drinking enough water to urinate normally, and protecting ourselves from infections:

1. Observe hygiene.
2. Use condoms to prevent STIs.
3. Treat to the end any infectious diseases, especially of the urinary tract.
4. When unpleasant symptoms appear, immediately visit a doctor in order to start treatment as early as possible and not to start the disease.