The prevalence of prostatitis in men is quite high, which is associated with a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet and a variety of dangers in the life of a modern person. According to doctors, treatment of the disease should be started as early as possible. To do this, each representative of the stronger sex should know what are the first signs of prostatitis in men. What symptoms accompany various forms of the disease, what an exacerbation looks like, an acute and chronic process and a little about treatment will be discussed in the article.
general information
The signs and symptoms of prostatitis, as well as its treatment, are very diverse, which is associated with the presence of several types of the disease. First of all, prostatitis in men is:
- Spicy. Often has a purulent character. Both general and specific signs of inflammation in men are expressed to the maximum, and the causative agent is a pathogenic (pathogenic) flora. Therefore, in most situations, treatment for men consists in prescribing antibiotics.
- Chronic. It can be the consequence of an acute process, if a man's treatment was carried out incorrectly or not on time. The bright symptoms accompanying the purulent process disappear, the symptoms are much less pronounced. In remission, the characteristic signs of the process can completely disappear. With exacerbation of chronic prostatitis, symptoms increase, but more often with less intensity than with acute inflammation.
Chronic prostatitis in men can initially develop without prior signs of acute inflammation. In this case, prostatitis often has a stagnant character, that is, it arises from a sedentary lifestyle of a man, the presence of chronic diseases that affect the rate of blood flow in the pelvic organs.
Knowing and understanding the first signs and symptoms of prostatitis is very important, as this will affect the future treatment of the disease. If in the case of bacterial prostatitis, which is more likely to be indicated by general toxic symptoms, then treatment must necessarily include antibiotic therapy (it does not matter whether it is tablets or injections of antibacterial drugs), then in the case of a stagnant process, in the first placeThe priority is the treatment of stagnant phenomena, i. e. lifestyle modification and treatment of comorbidities.
Photo enlarged with prostatitis of the prostate:
- Violation of the function of the urinary system. In another way, this group of symptoms is called "dysuric disorders". This should also include symptoms that indicate the development of an inflammatory process in the prostate.
- Sexual disorders specific to prostatitis.
- Changes in the nervous system due to the main process. feature of the disease.
More details on each group of signs of prostatitis are discussed below.
specific expression
The leading and often the first sign of inflammation of the prostate is pain. Pain can be of different nature. The type of pain can be very different. There are lancinating, aching, cutting pains with characteristic localization. If this is an acute process, they can significantly affect the life of men, causing sleep and performance disorders. With chronic prostatitis during the remission phase, symptoms are mild if not entirely absent.
A typical pain location in prostatitis is the pelvic area. A man may feel pain in the perineum, lower abdomen, and lower back. Often they give the penis, scrotum, testicles. Pain can accompany urination and defecation and can also increase during erection and ejaculation. A characteristic first sign of calculous prostatitis can be pain, the intensity and timing of which depends on the movement. They appear or intensify when a man walks quickly, jumps, bends down. A similar symptom is due to mechanical irritation of the canal walls with stones.
No less common signs of prostatitis are various violations of urination. Dysuria is manifested by frequent urination, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder and false urges to urinate. The manner of urination can also change: a man complains of a sluggish or intermittent stream of urine and the need to strain to urinate normally. A terrible, although not the first sign of prostatitis is acute urinary retention. The symptom develops with acute inflammation, accompanied by severe swelling of the prostate.
Urinary retention occurs when prostatitis is combined with an adenoma. In case of exacerbation of chronic prostatitis in a man, an acute condition can also occur, but urinary retention is less intense, and the condition is less common. More often, a man simply cannot hold a large amount of urine, and there is a need to go to the toilet frequently.
Dysuria and pain are the most common early signs of any form of prostatitis. They are most often the first and predominate in the clinic with acute or exacerbation of chronic prostatitis.
Discomfortable for most men, although rarely the first sign of prostatitis is sexual dysfunction. Disorders of the intimate area are more often a manifestation of a chronic inflammatory process and of a different nature, so the approach to treatment is also different. First of all, there are problems with erection. She may become lethargic or the man may not be able to fully complete intercourse. Ejaculation is disturbed: Earlier is more common. Over time, the usual sharpness of sensations is erased. The purely physiological problem becomes psychological. Sexual desire disorders (libido disorders) develop, orgasm problems appear. These signs negatively affect the general state of the nervous system, leading to a deterioration in mood, depression and sleep disorders. A man ceases to feel his own usefulness.
Being under constant stress and overwhelmed by one's condition can make some men aggressive, irritable, and prone to conflict. In such a clinical situation, sometimes the treatment of prostatitis alone does not lead to the normalization of the mental sphere. A representative of the stronger sex may need an experienced psychologist, and even pills from the group of antidepressants, which should be taken even after the treatment of the underlying disease is completed.
Along with disorders of the sexual sphere, there is a change in sperm. For example, purulent prostatitis is accompanied by a change in the color and smell of seminal fluid. Depending on the pathogen that caused the process, the biological fluid can turn yellow, green, yellow-green. Sometimes there is a discharge from the opening of the urethra and outside of intercourse. They also vary in color, odor, and other characteristics, although slimy, transparent discharge that occurs in the morning is more common. A man himself can detect pathological impurities in the urine after urination. We are talking about the appearance of threads of mucus, including more often in the morning portion of urine. Various pathological impurities in a number of situations remain the first and only manifestation of the inflammatory process.
The only sign of chronic sluggish prostatitis may be infertility. Often, already during the examination of a man, a representative of the stronger sex points to the inability to conceive a child, an ancient inflammatory process that led to disruption of the process of normal sperm formation. The examination reveals a decrease in full-fledged sperm in men, as well as a decrease in the motility of male germ cells.
Impurities in semen can be bloody in nature, which is a sign of calculous prostatitis. The condition is called erythrospermia. There is a symptom due to trauma to the walls from rocks and it is transient. Therefore, since the first signs of prostatitis are rare, if there is blood in the semen, all other diseases that cause a similar symptom should always be excluded.
General manifestations
The general signs of prostatitis often mean general inflammatory reactions, which indicate the development of an acute inflammatory process in the body. Of course, with chronic prostatitis, these manifestations are not expressed, only if it is not a question of a pronounced exacerbation. Signs of an active inflammatory process are:
- Elevated body temperature. The degree of increase correlates with inflammatory activity. With acute bacterial prostatitis, especially accompanied by the formation of an abscess, the temperature can reach 39-40 degrees. This condition is accompanied by other pronounced symptoms of the disease. Temperature can also be the first sign of viral prostatitis.
- General weakness, headache.
- Chills. Chills are characteristic of bacterial prostatitis.
- Muscle aches.
General signs of inflammation are rarely the only signs of prostatitis, but there are exceptions. A chronic sluggish form of the disease with low severity of specific symptoms sometimes leads to a long search for the cause of the subfebrile condition (temperature rise to 37. 2-37. 3 degrees), which is actually prostatitis. The diagnosis of the disease in such a situation is made after examination and additional studies, including sowing the prostatic secretion for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in it.
The dependence of the clinic on the stage and type of disease
About the dependence of the clinical picture on the type of prostatitis and the stage of the course of the disease has already been said above. Let's dwell on each of them in more detail.
The first stage of the process is characterized by the predominance of general inflammatory symptoms over changes in the sexual sphere. The main signs of the disease are pain, intoxication, dysuric disorders (mainly spasms, painful urination). In some representatives of the stronger sex, there are changes in semen and urine, as well as discharge from the penis. If at this stage the man does not receive adequate treatment, the signs will fade, and prostatitis will pass to the next stage.
The inflammatory process without proper treatment rarely ends with a full recovery of the organ. Basically, the result of the disease is the formation of fibrous or connective tissue that replaces the normal tissue of the prostate gland. With a visible improvement in the general condition, a man may not notice the aggravation of dysuric disorders. A person has to go to the toilet "in a small way" more often, sexual changes gradually increase, but the symptoms are not pronounced.
In the absence of due attention to the manifestations and signs of the inflammatory process that is still present, prostatitis passes to the next stage. In fact, this is a chronic process, the clinic of which is characterized by alternating processes of remission and exacerbation. The first signs of chronification may be absent, since the disease does not always have an active course. However, progression leads to the formation of gross fibrous scars in the tissues of the prostate, causing the main symptoms of the disease.
In the first place among the symptoms are dysuric symptoms, which manifest themselves in the form of a sluggish stream of urine, frequent urge to urinate, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder. The disruption of the sexual sphere follows: problems with erection, premature ejaculation, the impossibility of full-fledged sexual intercourse.
Certain forms of prostatitis also have their own course. It has already been said about the acute and chronic stages of the bacterial process. What are the signs of congestive prostatitis are listed below:
- Prolonged pain syndrome (up to 3-6 months) of low intensity. Pain is limited.
- Inflammatory changes in the secretion of the prostate and in the urine are absent.
- When questioning a man, it may turn out that he has predisposing factors for the development of stagnation of blood in the small pelvis.
- In the clinical picture, the first symptoms of the disease are violations of the sexual sphere and dysuric phenomena.
Asymptomatic prostatitis also has features. Of course, the process has no clinical picture. The disease is suspected after detecting changes in the general analysis of urine. After the examination, it becomes possible to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
Regardless of the form of prostatitis in a man, the process at any stage can lead to the development of formidable complications. They can be inflammatory processes of any organ of the urinary system (kidneys, bladder), which, in turn, lead to the occurrence of urolithiasis or even the development of chronic renal failure. Therefore, in order to avoid tremendous complications, it is necessary to treat prostatitis in a timely manner, and of course, for timely treatment, you must be able to recognize the first signs of the disease and contact a specialist in time.