The prevalence of prostatitis among men is quite high, which is associated with a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, and a large number of dangers present in the life of a modern person. According to doctors, the treatment of the disease should be started as soon as possible. To do this, every representative of the stronger sex should know the first signs of prostatitis in men. The article will discuss what symptoms accompany different forms of the disease, what exacerbation looks like, acute and chronic processes, and a little about treatment.
General information
Signs and symptoms of prostatitis, as well as its treatment, are quite diverse, which is associated with the presence of several types of diseases. First of all, prostatitis in men is:
- Spicy. It often has a purulent character. Signs of inflammation in men, general and specific, are maximally expressed, and the causative agent is pathogenic (pathogenic) flora. Therefore, the treatment of men in most situations is the prescription of antibiotics.
- Chronic. It can be the result of an acute process if the man's treatment was carried out incorrectly or in an untimely manner. The bright symptoms accompanying the purulent process disappear, the symptoms are much less pronounced. In remission, characteristic signs of the process may disappear completely. With the exacerbation of chronic prostatitis, the symptoms intensify, but more often with lower intensity than with acute inflammation.
Chronic prostatitis in men can initially occur without previous signs of acute inflammation. In this case, prostatitis often has a stagnant character, that is, it results from a man's sedentary lifestyle, the presence of chronic diseases that affect the speed of blood circulation in the pelvic organs.
It is very important to know and be able to understand the first signs and symptoms of prostatitis, because this will affect what treatment of the disease will be needed in the future. If in the case of bacterial prostatitis, which will be more pronounced with general toxic symptoms, the 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, the treatment of stagnant phenomena is in the first place, i. e. lifestyle modification and treatment of comorbidities.
Photo enlarged with prostate prostatitis:
- Violation of the function of the urinary apparatus. Otherwise, this group of symptoms is called "dysuric disorders". It 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 leading and often the first sign of prostate inflammation is pain. Pain can be of different nature. The nature of the pain can vary significantly. There are stabbing, painful, cutting pains of characteristic localization. If this is an acute process, then they can significantly affect the life of men, lead to sleep and performance disorders. With chronic prostatitis in the period of remission, the symptoms are mild, if not completely absent.
The typical localization of pain in prostatitis is the pelvic area. A man can feel pain in the perineum, lower abdomen, lower back. They often affect the penis, scrotum, and testicles. Pain may accompany urination and defecation, and may increase during erection and ejaculation. The characteristic first sign of calculous prostatitis can be pain, the intensity and time of onset of which depend on movement. They appear or intensify if a man walks quickly, jumps, bends. A similar symptom is due to mechanical irritation of the canal walls by stones.
No less common signs of prostatitis are various violations of the urination process. Dysuria is manifested by the need for frequent urination, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder, false urge to urinate. The very nature of urination can also change: a man complains of a slow or intermittent stream of urine, the need to try to urinate normally. A terrible, although not the first, sign of prostatitis is acute retention of urine. The symptom develops with acute inflammation, followed by strong swelling of the prostate.
Urinary retention occurs when prostatitis is combined with an adenoma. In the case of exacerbation of chronic prostatitis in men, an acute condition may also occur, but urinary retention is less intense and the condition is less frequent. More often, a man simply cannot hold a large amount of urine, and there is a need for frequent trips to the toilet.
Dysuria and pain are the most common first signs of any form of prostatitis. They are usually the first and prevail in the clinic for acute or exacerbation of chronic prostatitis.
Uncomfortable for most men, although rarely the first sign of prostatitis is sexual dysfunction. Disorders of the intimate sphere are more often a manifestation of a chronic inflammatory process and are 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: premature ejaculation is more common. Over time, the usual sharpness of sensations is erased. The problem from purely physiological becomes psychological. Disorders of sexual desire develop (libido disorders), problems with orgasm occur. These signs negatively affect the general state of the nervous system, causing mood swings, depression and sleep disturbances. Man ceases to feel his own usefulness.
Being constantly under stress and being overwhelmed by one's own condition can cause aggressive behavior, irritability and tendency to conflicts in a large number of 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 tablets from the group of antidepressants, which should be taken even after the treatment of the underlying disease is over.
Along with disorders of the sexual sphere, there is also a change in sperm. For example, purulent prostatitis will be accompanied by a change in color, the smell of seminal fluid. Depending on the pathogen that caused the process, the biological fluid can become yellow, green, yellow-green. Sometimes there is discharge from the opening of the urethra and outside of intercourse. They also differ in color, smell, and other characteristics, although more common are slimy, transparent discharges that appear in the morning. A man himself can detect pathological impurities in the urine after urination. It is about the appearance of mucous threads, also more often in the morning portion of urine. Various pathological impurities in a series of situations remain the first and only manifestation of the inflammatory process.
The only sign of chronic sluggish prostatitis can be infertility. Often, already during the examination of a man about the impossibility of conceiving a child, a representative of the stronger sex discovers an old inflammatory process that led to a disturbance in the process of normal sperm production. During the examination, a decrease in the number of full-fledged spermatozoa was found in men, as well as a decrease in the mobility 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 the traumatization of the walls by stones and it is transient. As the first sign of prostatitis is rare, therefore, when there is an admixture of blood in the semen, all other diseases that cause a similar symptom should always be ruled out.
General manifestations
General signs of prostatitis often indicate general inflammatory reactions, which indicate the development of an acute inflammatory process in the body. Of course, in chronic prostatitis, these manifestations are not expressed, unless we are talking about a pronounced exacerbation. Signs of an active inflammatory process are:
- Increased body temperature. The degree of increase is correlated with the activity of inflammation. In acute bacterial prostatitis, especially accompanied by abscess formation, 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.
- The chills. Shivering is characteristic of bacterial prostatitis.
- Muscle pain.
General signs of inflammation are rarely the only sign of prostatitis, but there are exceptions. The chronic sluggish form of the disease with a weak expression of specific symptoms sometimes leads to a long-term search for the cause of the subfebrile state (temperature rise to 37. 2-37. 3 degrees), which is actually prostatitis. The diagnosis of the disease in such a situation is made after an examination and additional studies, including the screening of prostate secretions for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in it.
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 phase 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 spasms, pain during urination). Some of the representatives of the stronger sex show changes in sperm and urine, as well as discharge from the penis. If a man does not receive adequate treatment at this stage, the signs disappear, and prostatitis moves to the next stage.
The inflammatory process without proper treatment rarely ends with the complete recovery of the organ. Basically, the outcome of the disease will be the formation of fibrous or connective tissue that replaces normal prostate tissue. For a visible improvement in the general condition, a man may not notice the worsening of dysuric disorders. A person has the need 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 moves 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 chronicity may be absent, because the disease does not always run actively. However, progression leads to the formation of coarse fibrous scars in the prostate tissues, which will cause the main signs of the condition.
In the first place among the symptoms are dysuric symptoms, which are manifested in the form of delayed urination, frequent need to urinate, feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder. The disorder of the sexual sphere is joined: problems with erection, premature ejaculation, impossibility of full-fledged sexual intercourse.
Certain forms of prostatitis also have their own course characteristics. The acute and chronic phases of the bacterial process have already been discussed. What are the signs of congestive prostatitis, will be listed below:
- Syndrome of prolonged pain (up to 3-6 months) of low intensity. The pain is limited.
- Inflammatory changes in prostate secretion and urine are absent.
- When interviewing a man, it may turn out that he has factors that predispose to the occurrence of blood stasis in the small pelvis.
- In the clinical picture, as the first symptoms of the disease, disorders of the sexual sphere and dysuric phenomena are revealed.
Asymptomatic prostatitis also has characteristics. 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.
Whatever form of prostatitis in a man is detected, the process at any stage can lead to the development of terrible complications. These 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 to the development of chronic kidney failure. Therefore, in order to prevent terrible complications, it is necessary to treat prostatitis in a timely manner, and for timely treatment, of course, you must be able to recognize the first signs of the disease and turn to a specialist in time.