The most common urological disease in men is prostatitis, inflammation of the prostate. The gland is located next to the urinary tract and the disease often occurs due to infection: bacteria, viruses or protozoa. Prostatitis is usually bacterial and, like any inflammation, is accompanied by acute pain. This is the first and main symptom of the disease. Treatment prescribed by a doctor will help relieve pain due to prostatitis, but while waiting for the doctor, you can use methods that do not require medical intervention.
Appearance and location of pain.
Pain sensations vary depending on how active the inflammatory process is.
- In acute prostatitis or in the exacerbation of a chronic disease, pain usually appears within a few hours. Most often it is located in the perineum and can radiate to the head of the penis, the suprapubic region, the anus or the lower back. An acute process is the cause of severe pain, which becomes more intense after urinating or ejaculating. Urination can also be painful.
- With chronic prostatitis, pain often occurs, which intensifies especially in the morning or due to prolonged sitting.
- The patient experiences the most intense sensations with a prostate abscess or with advanced acute prostatitis. The pain is very intense, throbbing or stabbing, sometimes accompanied by fever and fever. This condition requires an immediate visit to the doctor.
What to do if there is pain?
You shouldn't sit and wait just for the sensations to subside. Acute prostatitis requires qualified treatment from a doctor: the disease does not go away on its own and in the absence of therapy can become chronic. Chronic prostatitis is more difficult to treat and sometimes comes back. Its exacerbations resemble the symptoms of acute prostatitis and are relieved by medications prescribed by a urologist. You should not delay your visit to the doctor: the sooner you start treatment, the faster you can get rid of the disease. But while you wait to see a urologist, you can relieve some of the unpleasant symptoms at home. This will not eliminate the cause of the disease, it will only improve the condition.
How to relieve pain with prostatitis.
If the pain is caused by an acute process, it will not be possible to get rid of it quickly and permanently until the cause of the disease is eliminated. But you can weaken it. The recommendations are given by the doctor, but in general they are reduced to a healthy lifestyle, absence of hypothermia and bad habits.
Walk if your condition allows it.. Chronic prostatitis, including chronic pelvic pain syndrome, according to some data, develops against the background of stagnation. If a man sits for a long time, pressure on the prostate increases and congestion forms in the pelvic area, contributing to pain and worsening of the condition. Pain after prolonged sitting disappears if a person walks, so patients without exacerbations are recommended to maintain moderate physical activity and avoid stagnation. That is why patients are recommended to undergo physiotherapy and prostate massage: they improve microcirculation and prevent stagnation. If we talk about an acute process, physical activity is contraindicated, especially with temperature and fever. In such cases, it is recommended, on the contrary, to stay in bed, and if there are signs of sepsis such as high fever and body pain, seek emergency help.
Drink more water. Prostatitis is usually accompanied by damage to the urinary tract: pathogens accumulate in the urethra and urethra. Urethritis develops, which only intensifies the symptoms: the man finds it painful to go to the toilet, he feels pain and burning, frequent urges, sometimes false or too intense. This condition also requires medication, but it can be relieved by drinking plenty of fluids and going to the bathroom frequently. During illness, the body needs more water, and frequent urination helps flush bacteria from the urethra and reduce inflammation. During prostatitis, defecation can also be painful: drinking plenty of water will help soften the stool and relieve pain. For the same reason, doctors sometimes include laxatives in the treatment regimen, but they should not be used without specialist advice.
Take analgesics. Painkillers should not be used before carrying out tests or visiting the doctor: they can cloud the clinical picture. But the doctor can prescribe painkillers to make the patient feel better. Try not to use medications without serious reasons. In the treatment of chronic pelvic pain syndrome, urologists sometimes prescribe anxiolytics, medications that help relieve anxiety and depression that occur during a long-term illness. You should not take such medications without a doctor's prescription.
Get tested. The urologist makes a diagnosis based on examinations, and if you have the opportunity and do not want to wait, do the test yourself. To diagnose prostatitis, urine and seminal fluid tests are needed, not only microscopic, but also bacteriological. It is better to carry out a bacteriological study to determine the sensitivity of the pathogen to an expanded range of drugs; This will help the doctor prescribe more precise treatment. Give the results to your urologist at your appointment. He will decipher them and prescribe drug therapy according to the analysis results.
What not to do during an acute process
Severe pain is usually associated with acute prostatitis or exacerbation of chronic prostatitis. In this condition, the prostate is especially vulnerable: even doctors recommend handling patients with caution. The patient himself must observe certain restrictions. We will tell you what you should never do, so as not to worsen your condition without realizing it.
Self-administer antibiotics. Don't take serious medications without a prescription! For acute and chronic bacterial prostatitis, a urologist prescribes a treatment regimen. As a rule, it consists of antibiotics to which the pathogen is sensitive, most often fluoroquinolones, which penetrate the prostate tissue better than others. But prostatitis is a disease that requires a thoughtful medical approach. The doctor determines both the duration of treatment and the dose needed to kill the bacteria. It is difficult to determine these details on your own, without medical training. Therefore, self-medication often leads to the fact that bacteria do not disappear from the prostate, but become resistant to antibiotics. These forms of prostatitis are more difficult to treat and often cause more concern.
Warm or cool the prostate. It may seem that heat and cold can relieve pain, but in conditions of bacterial inflammation they are, on the contrary, harmful. Heating an inflamed prostate increases blood circulation and helps bacteria multiply, so it only makes the condition worse. Cooling weakens local immunity and fights the pathogen worse. In the treatment of chronic prostatitis, it is recommended to avoid hypothermia and overheating above body temperature. This applies even to the periods between exacerbations, and during an acute process it is especially important to follow the rule.
Use physical therapy. Physiotherapeutic methods such as finger massage are used in the treatment of chronic prostatitis and chronic pelvic pain syndrome to prevent stagnation, but their use during an exacerbation is harmful and even dangerous. Acute pain is a contraindication to any intervention: they can only intensify it and worsen the patient's condition. And if an abscess is suspected, physical therapy can cause its progression, seriously aggravating the problems. It is best to resort to massage and other therapeutic methods under the supervision of a doctor after the condition has stabilized.
Drinking alcohol. A man may think that alcohol will help him relieve pain at home. But alcohol in acute inflammation is strictly contraindicated. Patients, on the contrary, are recommended to exclude from the diet all foods that irritate the urinary tract: spicy, fatty and salty. Following a diet is much more effective at relieving pain, but alcohol will only do more harm.
Prevention of pain with prostatitis
Even if you have chronic prostatitis, you can minimize the number of exacerbations. In remission, the disease hardly bothers the patient, pain is usually associated with an exacerbation or a subacute process. For long-term remission, a number of recommendations should be followed.
Don't be too cold. Doctors recommend dressing warmly in cold weather, not staying exposed to the cold for too long, and not sitting in the cold. Hypothermia leads to a decrease in local immunity, which can lead to an exacerbation.
Be physically active. A risk factor for the onset and exacerbation of prostatitis is congestion. People who lead an active lifestyle are less susceptible to stagnation. Chronic prostatitis is characterized by a weakening of muscle tone; Physical activity will help prevent this outcome.
Receive physical therapy and massages.. Not all sources confirm the effectiveness of physiotherapy, but in some cases it can alleviate patients' condition. Massage, like physical activity, is necessary to prevent stagnation. As a rule, a classic digital rectal massage is prescribed, but if the patient cannot constantly go to the doctor, he can use self-massage devices.
follow a diet. Drinking plenty of fluids and avoiding spicy and salty foods in the diet is the doctor's recommendation to alleviate the condition. It is recommended to get rid of bad habits.
Maintain sexual hygiene. Intimate hygiene, especially after sexual intercourse, prevents bacteria from entering the urethra and going up to the prostate. To prevent infections, do not neglect it and use barrier protection during sexual intercourse.
Bottom line
Don't worry. Prostatitis pain is a very unpleasant phenomenon, but treatable. Remember that ways to reduce it at home will not eliminate the cause of the disease: be sure to consult a doctor, get tested and start treatment. Only qualified treatment will help you cope with the problem and return to a full life.