In the modern world, prostatitis occurs in almost 50% of the male population. The disease brings not only pain and discomfort, but can also have very unpleasant consequences, up to infertility. Therefore, every man should know how prostatitis manifests itself. Men's health and ability to procreate largely depend on this.
Knowledge of the signs of prostatitis and regular examinations by a doctor guarantee timely detection and successful treatment of the disease.
disease etiology
Prostatitis is a urological disease of inflammatory aetiology. The disease can be caused by many factors.
The classification of prostatitis depends on what caused the disease of the prostate gland, how common the process is, and what character the lesion has.
The following classification criteria are distinguished:
- The appearance factor is congestive and infectious. In the first case, the problem does not develop due to infection, but because the blood or venous secretion has stagnated in the pelvic organs. The second involves the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the prostate gland. There is also prostatitis of mixed type of origin.
- Damage area. With prostatitis, the gland can become inflamed in different ways. It can be a chronic or acute form of the disease, which, in turn, is divided into parenchymal, catarrhal and follicular types of inflammation. The lesion may be sclerotic in nature or manifest as an abscess. This category also includes atypical chronic prostatitis, with symptoms that do not correspond to the classic picture of the disease.
The symptoms of the disease also depend on the cause that provoked it. The infectious form occurs due to the penetration of pathogenic microorganisms into the prostate through the genital tract or develops against the background of chronic infection.
Noninfectious prostatitis can be triggered by a weakened immune system, hypothermia, a sedentary lifestyle, abstinence from sexual intercourse, or, conversely, excessive sexual activity. Each case requires a different treatment.
Prolonged absence of sexual intercourse causes stagnation of prostatic secretion and the development of congestive prostatitis.
Depending on how it is diagnosed, the signs and symptoms of prostatitis can vary from one another. Self-treatment is strictly prohibited, since an ignorant person can confuse the manifestation of one disease with another, for example, inflammation of the prostate with spermitis, vesiculitis, urethritis, or benign hyperplasia. Improper treatment can have extremely sad consequences.
general symptoms
How does prostatitis manifest? If you do not take into account a specific type, the disease can manifest itself with the following characteristic symptoms:
- severe pain, which is first localized in the genitourinary tract, and then spreads to the entire inguinal and abdominal region;
- pain is constantly present in the scrotum and perineum, especially during urination and erection;
- during an erection, the sexual organ cannot reach the size it had previously reached;
- sexual intercourse becomes shorter.
The symptoms can appear all together or separately. If we talk about pain, then its intensity largely depends on the form and degree of the disease. Unfortunately, many patients in the early stages do not pay attention to such manifestations, due to which the disease progresses and can turn into chronic prostatitis, which is dangerous for the appearance of infertility.
If a man began to observe such symptoms in himself, then the risk of prostatitis is high, and he should immediately seek qualified help.
Even minor manifestations of prostatitis should be the reason for a visit to the doctor.
Symptoms of acute bacterial prostatitis
Bacterial prostatitis is a form of the disease caused by an infection. It easily turns into chronic prostatitis, so seek help immediately.
Often, acute bacterial prostatitis is a secondary manifestation accompanying any disease of the pelvic organs and has similar symptoms.
Acute bacterial prostatitis can present with the following symptoms:
- increased body temperature;
- feeling of chills, which is accompanied by tremors in the muscles;
- pain in the prostate area;
- frequency and stranguria;
- spread of pain to the lumbar region and the entire perineum;
- trouble urinating
If the patient passes the tests, the disease can be suspected in the following cases:
- increase in the number of leukocytes in the blood;
- bacterial cells are present in the secretion of the prostate;
- whitish cloudy urine with a pH greater than 7. 0.
In the urinalysis with prostatitis, there will be characteristic changes.
These are the main signs of acute bacterial prostatitis. If you do not pay attention to them and do not start treatment, the acute form will soon turn into chronic, the signs of which should also be known to every man.
Symptoms of chronic bacterial prostatitis
Chronic prostatitis occurs as a result of negligence in the treatment of the acute form of the disease and is characterized by periods of exacerbation and remission.
For a man, it can be a discovery that he once had acute prostatitis, was supposedly treated and recovered, but after a while the symptoms of the disease (albeit in a muffled version) resumed. In this case, it is worth thinking about the chronic course of the disease.
The absence of pronounced symptoms is dangerous for late accidental detection of chronic prostatitis in an already advanced form.
Chronic prostatitis has no clear manifestations, which often leads to serious complications.
However, in such a situation, there is something to pay attention to:
- burning and cutting (sometimes bordering on excruciating pain) during a trip to the bathroom and sexual arousal;
- a constant desire to urinate, at least once an hour, at the end of the process, a feeling of complete emptying does not occur;
- in the urinary canal there is a burning sensation during and after going to the toilet;
- the jet has a weaker pressure than before; there may even be a break in the flow;
- at night you constantly want to go to the bathroom;
- after the end of sexual intercourse, an unpleasant burning sensation remains in the genitals;
- ejaculation occurs quickly enough;
- insomnia and causeless anxiety may be observed.
All these main symptoms of chronic prostatitis are easily confused with sexual disorders. The problem is that few men can admit it. Therefore, they begin to self-medicate, which will be aimed at restoring sexual strength, which only leads to a complication of the situation.
The insidious thing about chronic bacterial prostatitis is that it requires constant monitoring, otherwise it can result in infertility, the diagnosis of which can only be made after the patient has undergone a complete diagnosis.
A complete examination for prostatitis necessarily includes an ultrasound examination.
Symptoms of the disease can manifest themselves in different ways, and this applies not only to chronic, but also to acute bacterial prostatitis.
It is about the amount of bacteria in the body and in the individual body of each patient. As soon as the pathogenic organisms begin to activate and multiply, the man will begin to exacerbate. If the patient, in addition to this, leads an unhealthy lifestyle (smokes, moves little, consumes alcohol and harmful products), then he should not be surprised that the disease progresses all the time.
Nonbacterial prostatitis and forms of its manifestation
Abacterial prostatitis is also quite common. It would be useful to know what symptoms may be in this case. A feature of the pathology is the regular occurrence of pain, and not only during sexual intercourse or when going to the toilet.
Abacterial prostatitis is characterized by the frequent need to go to the bathroom at night and the predominance of urine excreted during the night over the daytime volume.
In addition, the following manifestations are associated with non-infectious prostatitis:
- pain in the genitals;
- pain and discomfort in the groin area;
- nocturia and testicular pain;
- decrease in the amount of urine excreted;
- difficulty starting the urination process;
- pain from the inguinal and perineal region gradually moves to the lumbar region;
- pain in the groin, coccyx and pubis;
- discomfort after defecation.
Psychological discomfort joins physical suffering during illness.
Signs of the disease may be accompanied by psychological disorders. The patient becomes irritable, as he is constantly tormented by pain and discomfort.
If measures are not taken in time, a man may even fall into a state of depression, and then he will have to seek help not only from a urologist, but also from a psychologist.
It should be noted that atypical prostatitis in its clinical picture may be similar to a number of other diseases, and asymptomatic prostatic disease may not have pronounced manifestations at all. Therefore, it is very important to go to a qualified doctor who will prescribe a series of diagnostic measures and tests: urine, blood, seminal fluid analysis, ultrasound, if necessary, a biopsy, etc. Only after that, the doctor makes the correct diagnosis. and prescribes appropriate treatment.
Most often, a biopsy is performed to exclude a malignant process.
Knowing the symptoms of prostatitis is important for each representative of the strong half of humanity to suggest what kind of ailment bothers him, because the functionality of the entire genitourinary system depends on it. And the sooner a man asks for help, the sooner relief will come for him.