What is Prostatitis

Prostate is an organ that is located right under the urinary bladder and the urinary canal passes through it. Prostatitis is an inflammation of the prostate. The prostatitis disorder has many different types. All types have different treatments. For this reason, one should initially determine the type of it. Wrong treatment is applied if the type if this determination is wrong. This makes treating the disease even more difficult. In many cases, the symptoms of prostatitis are confused with disorders such as stricture in the urinary canal, prostate enlargement, kidney inflammation, sensitive bladder and genital nerve entrapment. For this reason, examination by an experienced doctor bears importance. It is an important disease as in men, it causes problems such as burning sensation while urinating, frequent urination, premature ejaculation and erectile dysfunction.  

Types of Prostatitis 

• Acute Bacterial Prostatitis (Feverish Prostatitis)
• Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis (Feverless Prostatitis)
• Bacterial Prostatitis Without Symptoms 
• Virus Caused Prostatitis (Prostate Flu)

90% of patients diagnosed with prostatitis are unnecessarily treated with antibiotics. Applying antibiotic treatment without determining the cause of the disease inflicts more harm to the patient.  

Diseases Confused with Prostatitis

• Stricture in the Urinary Canal or the Bladder Outlet
• Prostate Enlargement
• Sensitive Bladder
• Pudendal Nerve Entrapment (nerve entrapment in the perineum)
• Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS)

Diagnosis of Prostatitis 

• Feverish Bacterial prostatitis is easily diagnosed by finger examination. PSA values are also high in feverish prostatitis. It may be mistakenly diagnosed as prostate cancer for this reason. A good query is important. 
• In chronic bacterial prostatitis, the prostate is massaged and the prostate liquid arriving to the penis glans is sampled. It is evaluated under microscope. Or, diagnosis can also made by sperm culture. 
• On the other hand, the patient has no complaints in bacterial prostatitis, which shows no symptoms. It is accidentally discovered by the analyses made. 
• For virus associated prostatitis however, it should be examined thoroughly by blood analyses. Analyses should especially be made for sexually transmitted diseases. In this prostatitis type, especially the excessive use of antibiotics exacerbates the disease. Correct diagnosis is important. 

Prostatitis Treatment

Antibiotics in Prostatitis

Whereas Chronic and Acute Prostatitis, which require antibiotics treatment, only represent 5% of the patients and 90% of patients that undergo treatment for prostatitis are unnecessarily prescribed antibiotics. In this type of patients, antibiotics don’t treat the patient by render the treatment of the disease difficult by killing the beneficial bacteria. 

Feverish Prostatitis

During feverish prostatitis, the inflammation occurring in the urinary canal manifests itself by entering the canals inside the prostate gland. Sexually transmitted diseases play a major rule in feverish bacterial prostatitis. In men at advanced ages, it develops due to continuous catheter applications.  

It may occur when the body’s immune system is disrupted due to excessive use of antibiotics, diabetes, intense alcohol & tobacco use, etcetera. 

It manifests itself with symptoms such as fever, shaking, pains in joints and muscles, pain in the perineum, urination disorders, frequent urination, burning sensation while urination, backache and discharge from the urinary canal. 

The patient is treated by antibiotics treatment that is prepared by an experienced physician at correct dosage and with correct timing. 

Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis (Feverless Prostatitis)

Chronic Bacterial prostate manifests itself without fever. It is more common than feverish prostatitis. Bacteria settle in the canals within the prostate gland. 

Antibiotics treatment is applied for some time if necessary. But in chronic bacterial Prostatitis, not every antibiotics can permeate and operate inside the prostate gland. For this reason, the correct antibiotics should be applied at correct dosage. Depending on the situation, treatment can be supplemented by hot application, simple painkillers and some myorelaxants for the bladder and the perineum. 

The disease can heal faster if the patient refrains from alcohol, gaseous beverages and spicy food.

Chronic Prostatitis can also lead to urination problems by causing strictures at the bladder outlet over time. 

 Virus Causes Prostatitis (Prostate Flu)

This prostatitis is caused by virus. It may owe to sexually transmitted diseases. The cause should be identified by a thorough research. There is no need to use antibiotics. Excessive use will only exacerbate the disease. After identifying the cause, the disease is treated by cause-oriented treatment. 

Diseases Confused with Prostatitis 

Prostatitis can be confused with strictures in the urinary canal or the bladder outlet, prostate enlargement, sensitive bladder, pedundal nerve entrapment (nerve entrapment in the perineum) and chronic pain syndrome (CPPS) as it causes the same symptoms. At this point, it is important that an experienced physician makes  correct diagnosis. The majority of patients applying to us have been wrongly diagnosed with prostatitis. In America, more than 2 million patients apply for prostatitis each year but 90% of them don’t have real inflammatory prostatitis. It is very important to research into the real cause. 

Strictures in the bladder urinary canal or the bladder neck can lead to prostatitis. At this point, it isn’t possible to treat prostatitis without eliminating this stricture. Measures such as the unnecessary use of antibiotics only exacerbate the disease.  

Pudendal Nerve Entrapment is seen in the perineum. As the nerve is entrapped during passage through a canal, it causes serious pain. This is especially seen persons sitting continuously/for long times, those riding bicycle or motorcycle, or those previously operated from the perineum. The symptoms of this disease can also be confused with prostatitis. The location of nerve entrapment is identified by imaging methods and treated by surgery.