The prevalence of prostatitis among men is quite high, which is associated with a sedentary lifestyle, an unhealthy diet, a large number of risks that are 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, each representative of the stronger sex should know what are the first signs of prostatitis in men. In the article, what symptoms accompany the different forms of the disease, what an exacerbation looks like, an acute and chronic process and a little about treatment will be discussed.
General Information
The signs and symptoms of prostatitis, as well as its treatment, are quite diverse, which is associated with the presence of different types of the disease. First of all, prostatitis in men is:
- Spicy. It often has a purulent character. Signs of inflammation in men, both general and specific, are expressed to the maximum, and the causative agent is pathogenic (pathogenic) flora. Therefore, the treatment of 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 out of 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 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, resulting from a sedentary lifestyle of a man, from 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 the treatment of the disease that will be required in the future. If in the case of bacterial prostatitis, which will be more indicated by general toxic symptoms, treatment will necessarily have to include antibiotic therapy (it does not matter if it will be tablets or injections of antibacterial drugs), then in the case of a stagnant process, it comes first. all the treatment of stagnant phenomena, i. e. lifestyle modification and treatment of comorbidities.
Enlarged photo 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. characteristic of the disease.
More details on each group of prostatitis signs will be discussed below.
specific expression
The main and often the first sign of prostate inflammation is pain. Pain can be of a different nature. The nature of the pain can vary significantly. There are stabbing, aching, cutting pains of characteristic localization. If this is an acute process, they can significantly affect the life of men, lead to disruption of sleep and performance. In chronic prostatitis during the period of remission, symptoms are mild, if not completely absent.
A typical localization of pain in prostatitis is the pelvic area. A man may feel pain in the perineum, lower abdomen, lower back. Often damage to the penis, scrotum, testicles. Pain can accompany urination and defecation and also increase during erection and ejaculation. A first characteristic sign of calculous prostatitis may 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 walls of the ducts with stones.
No less frequent signs of prostatitis are various violations of the process of urination. Dysuria is manifested by the need for frequent urination, 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 flow of urine, the need to strain to urinate normally. A terrible, though not the first, sign of prostatitis is acute urinary retention. The symptom develops with acute inflammation, accompanied by severe swelling 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 may also occur, but urinary retention is less intense and the condition is less common. More often than not, a man simply cannot hold a large amount of urine, and frequent visits to the toilet are required.
Dysuria and pain are the most common early signs of any form of prostatitis. They are most often the first and prevail in the clinic for acute or exacerbation of chronic prostatitis.
Unpleasant for most men, although the first sign of prostatitis is rarely sexual dysfunction. Disorders of the intimate sphere are most 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 an erection. She may become lethargic or the man may not be able to fully complete intercourse. Ejaculation is disturbed: the premature is more common. Over time, the usual sharpness of sensations is erased. The problem goes from purely physiological to psychological. Disorders of sexual desire (libido disorders) develop, problems with orgasm arise. These signs adversely affect the general state of the nervous system, causing a decrease in mood, depression and sleep disturbances. A man ceases to feel his usefulness.
Being constantly under stress and being overwhelmed by your condition can lead to aggressive behavior, irritability and a tendency to conflict in a 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 pills from the group of antidepressants, which should be taken even after the treatment of the underlying disease has ended.
Along with disorders of the sexual sphere, there is a change in the sperm. For example, purulent prostatitis will be accompanied by a change in color, smell of seminal fluid. Depending on the pathogen that caused the process, the biological fluid can become yellow, green, yellow-green. Sometimes there is a discharge from the opening of the urethra and outside of sexual intercourse. They also differ in color, smell and other characteristics, although mucous and transparent discharges that appear in the morning are more common. A man himself can detect pathological impurities in the urine after urination. We are talking about the appearance of mucus strands, even 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 slow chronic prostatitis could be infertility. Often, already during the examination of a man about the inability to conceive a child, a representative of the stronger sex reveals an old inflammatory process that led to a disruption in the process of normal sperm formation. During the examination, a decrease in full-fledged spermatozoa is 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 the stones and it is transitory. Since 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. Of course, in chronic prostatitis, these manifestations are not expressed, only if we are not talking about a pronounced exacerbation. The signs of an active inflammatory process are:
- Increased body temperature. The degree of increase is related to 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.
- Chills. Shivering chills are characteristic of bacterial prostatitis.
- Muscular pain.
General signs of inflammation are rarely the only sign of prostatitis, but there are exceptions. A slow chronic form of the disease with a low severity of specific symptoms sometimes leads to a long search for the cause of the subfebrile condition (increase in temperature to 37. 2-37. 3 degrees), which is actually prostatitis. The diagnosis of the disease in such a situation is established after examination and further studies, including sowing the prostate secretion for the presence of pathogenic microorganisms in it.
The dependence of the clinic on the stage and type of the 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 the general symptoms of inflammation over changes in the sexual sphere. The main signs of the disease will be pain, intoxication, dysuric disorders (mainly cramps, pain when urinating). Some of the representatives of the stronger sex appear changes in semen and urine, as well as discharge from the penis. If the man does not receive adequate treatment at this stage, the signs disappear and the prostatitis moves on to the next stage.
The inflammatory process without proper treatment rarely ends with a complete recovery of the organ. Basically, the outcome 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 needs to go to the toilet more often "small", 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 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 chronicity may be absent, since the disease does not always actively proceed. However, progression leads to the formation of coarse fibrous scars in the prostate tissues, which will cause the main signs of the condition.
First among the symptoms are dysuric symptoms, manifested in the form of a slow urine stream, frequent urge to urinate, a feeling of incomplete emptying of the bladder. The disorder of the sexual sphere comes together: problems with erection, premature ejaculation, impossibility of a full-fledged sexual intercourse.
Some forms of prostatitis also have their own course characteristics. It has already been said about the acute and chronic phases 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. Of course, the process does not have a clinical picture. The disease is suspected after the detection of changes in the general urinalysis. After the examination, it becomes possible to make an accurate diagnosis and prescribe treatment.
Whatever 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 will lead to the appearance of urolithiasis or even to the development of chronic renal failure. Therefore, in order to prevent formidable complications, it is necessary to treat prostatitis in a timely manner, and for timely treatment, of course, it is necessary to be able to recognize the first signs of the disease and contact a specialist in time.