In the modern world, prostatitis occurs in almost 50% of the male population. The disease not only brings pain and discomfort, but can also lead to very unpleasant consequences, up to infertility. Therefore, every man should know how prostatitis manifests itself. Men's health and their ability to procreate largely depend on it.
Knowledge of the signs of prostatitis and periodic examinations by a doctor guarantee timely detection and successful treatment of the disease.
Disease etiology
Prostatitis is a urological disease of inflammatory etiology. The disease can be caused by many factors.
The classification of prostatitis depends on what caused the prostate disease, the frequency of the process and the character of the lesion.
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 venous blood or secretion has stagnated in the pelvic organs. The second involves the introduction of pathogenic microorganisms into the prostate. There is also prostatitis of mixed 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.
Symptoms of the disease also depend on the cause that caused 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.
Non-infectious prostatitis can be triggered by a weakened immune system, hypothermia, a sedentary life, sexual abstinence or, conversely, excessive sexual activity. Each case requires different treatment.
Prolonged absence of sexual intercourse provokes stagnation of prostate secretion and the development of congestive prostatitis.
Depending on the diagnosed form, the signs and symptoms of prostatitis can vary from each other. 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 spermatistitis, 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, localized first in the genitourinary tract, then spreading 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;
- intercourse becomes shorter.
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 initial stages do not pay attention to such manifestations, due to which the disease progresses and can develop into chronic prostatitis, which is dangerous for the onset of infertility.
If a man begins to observe such symptoms in himself, the risk of prostatitis is high, and you 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 you need to seek help quickly.
Often, acute bacterial prostatitis is a secondary manifestation that accompanies 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;
- pollakiuria and stranguria;
- spread of pain to the lumbar region and the entire perineum;
- urination problems.
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;
- cloudy whitish urine with a pH above 7. 0.
In the analysis of urine with prostatitis, characteristic changes will be present.
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 a chronic form, the signs of which should also be known to every man.
Symptoms of Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis
Chronic prostatitis occurs as a result of neglect of treatment of the acute form of the disease and is characterized by periods of exacerbation and remission.
For a man, it can be a finding that he once had acute prostatitis, supposedly treated and recovered, but after a while the symptoms of the disease (albeit in a muffled version) returned. In this case, it is worth thinking about the chronic course of the disease.
The absence of pronounced symptoms is dangerous by 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:
- burns and cuts (sometimes bordering on unbearable pain) from bathroom trips 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 tract there is a burning sensation during and after going to the toilet;
- the jet has a lower pressure than before - there may even be an interruption in flow;
- at night you constantly want to go to the toilet;
- after the end of intercourse, an unpleasant burning sensation persists in the genitals;
- ejaculation occurs quite quickly;
- causeless insomnia and anxiety may be observed.
All of these main symptoms of chronic prostatitis are easily confused with sexual disorders. The problem is that few men can admit it. Therefore, they begin self-medication, which will be aimed at restoring sexual strength, which only aggravates the situation.
The insidiousness of chronic bacterial prostatitis is that it requires constant monitoring, otherwise infertility may result, the diagnosis of which can be made only after the patient has undergone a full diagnosis.
A complete examination to detect prostatitis necessarily includes an ultrasound examination.
Symptoms of the disease can manifest themselves in different ways, and this applies not only to chronic bacterial prostatitis, but also to acute bacterial prostatitis.
It all depends on the number 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 it should not be surprising 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 can be in this case. A feature of the pathology is the regular appearance of pain, and not only during sex or going to the toilet.
Abacterial prostatitis is characterized by frequent nocturnal urges to go to the toilet and the predominance of urine excreted at night over the diurnal 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 in 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 can even fall into a state of depression, 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 can be similar to a number of other diseases, and asymptomatic prostate disease may not have any pronounced manifestations. Therefore, it is so important to consult a qualified doctor who will prescribe a number of diagnostic measures and examinations - urine, blood, seminal fluid tests, ultrasound, if necessary, a biopsy, etc. Only after this the doctor establishes the correct diagnosis and prescribes adequate 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 in order to suggest what kind of disease bothers him, since the functionality of the entire genitourinary system depends on it. And the sooner a man asks for help, the sooner relief will come to him.