The prevalence of prostatitis among men is quite high, which is associated with a sedentary lifestyle, an unhealthy diet, a large number of dangers present in the life of a modern person. According to doctors, treatment of the disease should be started as soon as possible. To do this, each representative of the stronger sex needs to know what the first signs of prostatitis in men are. What symptoms accompany different 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 quite diverse, which is associated with the presence of several types of the disease. First of all, prostatitis in men is:
- Spicy. Often it has a purulent character. Signs of inflammation in men, both general and specific, are maximally expressed, and the causative agent is pathogenic (pathogenic) flora. Therefore, the treatment for men in most situations is to prescribe antibiotics.
- Chronic. It can be the result of an acute process if a man's treatment was performed incorrectly or untimely. The bright symptoms accompanying the purulent process disappear, the symptoms are much less pronounced. In remission, the characteristic signs of the process may completely disappear. With an exacerbation of chronic prostatitis, the symptoms increase, but more often with less intensity than with acute inflammation.
Chronic prostatitis in men can initially form without previous signs of acute inflammation. In this case, prostatitis often has a stagnant character, that is, due to a man's sedentary lifestyle, the presence of chronic diseases that affect the rate of blood circulation in the pelvic organs.
It is very important to know and be able to understand the early signs and symptoms of prostatitis, because this will affect what treatment of the disease will be required in the future. If in the case of bacterial prostatitis, which will be more indicated by general toxic symptoms, treatment must necessarily include antibiotic therapy (it does not matter whether it will be tablets or injections of antibacterial drugs), then in the case of a stagnant process, it is first the treatment of stagnation phenomena, that is, the modification of lifestyle and the treatment of comorbidities.
Enlarged photo with prostatitis of the prostate:
- Violation of the function of the urinary apparatus. Otherwise, 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. characteristic of the disease.
More details about each group of signs of prostatitis will be discussed below.
specific expression
The main and often the first sign of inflammation of the prostate is pain. The pain can be of a different nature. The nature of the pain can vary significantly. There are stabbing, aching and cutting pains of characteristic localization. If this is an acute process, then they can significantly affect the lives of men and lead to disruption of sleep and performance. In chronic prostatitis during the remission period, the symptoms are mild, if not completely absent.
A typical location of pain in prostatitis is the pelvic area. A man may feel pain in the perineum, lower abdomen, lower back. They often give the penis, scrotum, testicles. The pain can accompany urination and defecation, and also increase during erection and ejaculation. A first characteristic sign of calculous prostatitis can be pain, whose intensity and time of appearance depend on movement. They appear or intensify if a man walks fast, jumps, bends. A similar symptom is due to mechanical irritation of the walls of the ducts with stones.
No less frequent signs of prostatitis are various violations of the urination process. Dysuria is manifested by the need to urinate frequently, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder, a false need to urinate. The very nature of urination can also change: a man complains of a slow or intermittent stream of urine, the need to strain to urinate normally. A terrible sign, although not the first, of prostatitis is acute urinary retention. The symptom develops with acute inflammation, accompanied by severe inflammation of the prostate gland.
Urinary retention occurs when prostatitis is combined with adenoma. In the case of an exacerbation of chronic prostatitis in a man, an acute condition can also occur, but urinary retention is less severe and the condition is less common. More often, a man simply cannot hold a large amount of urine, and there is a need for frequent visits to the bathroom.
Dysuria and pain are the most common early signs of any form of prostatitis. Most often, they are the first and prevail in the clinic for acute or chronic exacerbated prostatitis.
Unpleasant for most men, although sexual dysfunction is rarely the first sign of prostatitis. Disorders of the intimate sphere are more often a manifestation of a chronic inflammatory process and are different in nature, therefore the approach to treatment is also different. First of all, there are problems with the erection. She may become lethargic, or the man may not be able to fully complete intercourse. Ejaculation is impaired: premature is more common. Over time, the usual sharpness of sensations is erased. The problem of purely physiological becomes psychological. Disorders of sexual desire (libido disorders) develop, problems with orgasm arise. These signs negatively affect the general state of the nervous system, causing a decrease in mood, depression and sleep disorders. A man ceases to feel his own usefulness.
Being constantly under stress and feeling overwhelmed by one's condition can lead to aggressive behavior, irritability, and a tendency to conflict in many men. 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 must be taken even after the treatment of the underlying disease ends.
Along with disorders of the sexual sphere, there is a change in sperm. For example, purulent prostatitis will be accompanied by a change in color, smell of seminal fluid. Depending on the pathogen that provoked the process, the biological fluid can turn yellow, green, greenish-yellow. Sometimes there is a discharge from the opening of the urethra and outside of sexual intercourse. They also differ in color, odor, and other characteristics, although clear mucous secretions appearing in the morning are more common. A man himself can detect pathological impurities in urine after urinating. We are talking about the appearance of mucous threads, also more often in the morning portion of urine. Various pathological impurities in various situations remain the first and only manifestation of the inflammatory process.
The only sign of chronic slow prostatitis may be infertility. Often, already during the examination of a man for the inability to conceive a child, a representative of the stronger sex reveals an ancient inflammatory process that caused a disruption in the process of normal sperm formation. During the examination, a decrease in the complete spermatozoa in men is found, as well as a decrease in the mobility of the 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 the traumatization of the walls by stones and it is transitory. As the first sign of prostatitis is rare, therefore, when an admixture of blood appears in the semen, all other diseases that cause a similar symptom should always be excluded.
General manifestations
General signs of prostatitis often mean general inflammatory reactions, indicating the development of an acute inflammatory process in the body. Naturally, in chronic prostatitis, these manifestations are not expressed, only if we are not talking about a pronounced exacerbation. Signs of an active inflammatory process are:
- Increased body temperature. The degree of increase correlates with the activity of inflammation. In 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.
- Shaking chills. Chills are characteristic of bacterial prostatitis.
- Muscle pain.
General signs of inflammation are rarely the only sign of prostatitis, but there are exceptions. A chronic slow form of the disease with a 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 the prostatitis. The diagnosis of the disease in such a situation is established after examination and additional studies, including seeding of prostate secretion for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in it.
The dependence of the clinic on the stage and type of disease.
It has already been said above about the dependence of the clinical picture on the type of prostatitis and the stage of the course of the disease. Let's touch on each of them in more detail.
The first stage of the process is characterized by the predominance of general symptoms of inflammation over changes in the sexual sphere. The main signs of the disease will be pain, intoxication, dysuric disorders (mainly cramps, painful urination). Some of the representatives of the stronger sex appear changes in sperm and urine, as well as discharge from the penis. If at this stage the man does not receive adequate treatment, the signs disappear and prostatitis passes to the next stage.
The inflammatory process without proper treatment rarely ends with a complete recovery of the organ. Basically, the result of the disease will be the formation of fibrous or connective tissue that replaces the normal tissues of the prostate gland. For a visible improvement in the general condition, a man may not notice the aggravation of dysuric disorders. A person has an urge to go to the toilet more often "in a small way", sexual changes gradually increase, but the symptoms are not pronounced.
In the absence of due attention to the manifestations and signs of the still present inflammatory process, prostatitis proceeds to the next stage. In fact, this is a chronic process, the clinic of which is characterized by alternating remission and exacerbation processes. The first signs of chronicity may be absent, since the disease does not always actively progress. However, progression leads to the formation of thick fibrous scars in the prostate tissues, which will cause the main signs of the condition.
First of all, among the symptoms are dysuric symptoms, manifested in the form of a slow flow of urine, frequent urination, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder. The disorder of the sexual sphere joins: problems with erection, premature ejaculation, the impossibility of full sexual intercourse.
Certain forms of prostatitis also have their own characteristics of the course. It has already been said about the acute and chronic stages of the bacterial process. What are the signs of congestive prostatitis, they will be listed below:
- Prolonged pain syndrome (up to 3-6 months) of low intensity. The pain is limited.
- Inflammatory changes in the secretion of the prostate and urine are absent.
- When interviewing a man, it may turn out that he has factors that predispose to the development of blood stasis in the small pelvis.
- In the clinical picture, as the first symptoms of the disease, violations of the sexual sphere and dysuric phenomena are revealed.
Asymptomatic prostatitis also has features. Naturally, the process does not have a clinical picture. The disease is suspected after the detection of changes in the urinalysis. After the examination, it is possible to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
Whatever form of prostatitis in a man is revealed, 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 will lead to the appearance of urolithiasis or even the development of chronic renal failure. Therefore, in order to prevent formidable complications, it is necessary to treat prostatitis in a timely manner, and, of course, for timely treatment, you need to be able to recognize the first signs of the disease and contact a specialist in time.