Johns Hopkins Health Alert
Will Prostatitis Affect My Quality of Life?
Chronic prostatitis can be a devastating ailment that seriously impairs a man's quality of life. In this excerpt from an in-depth report on chronic prostatitis from the Johns Hopkins Prostate Bulletin, Dr. Richard Alexander provides insights.
Prostatitis is a condition found in adult men, with no respect to age, race or nationality. It’s estimated that as many as 14 percent of adult American men will at some point go to their doctor complaining of one or more of the symptoms that doctors now believe constitute a diagnosis of prostatitis. In the United States, more than two million doctor visits are made each year because of prostatitis complaints.
Q. What’s the usual impact of prostatitis? Is it more of a nuisance, or does it tend to severely disrupt a man’s quality of life?
Dr. Alexander: Quality of life surveys indicate that the impact of chronic prostatitis on a man’s life is often equivalent to that of a heart attack or diabetes. The discomfort may be so severe that many men have to leave their jobs and go on extended disability leave.
On the other hand, the ailment is not life threatening -- it doesn’t kill anybody. Unfortunately, since there are no known cures for prostatitis, the disorder tends to be ignored or minimized by doctors, who may give a man with chronic prostatitis a prescription for an antibiotic just to get him out of the office. Sad to say, that’s how this disease is “managed” by many doctors in this country.
Q. Does chronic prostatitis have a negative effect on a man’s sex life?
Dr. Alexander: I conducted an Internet survey several years ago of men with chronic prostatitis, and it revealed that most men with the disorder were monogamous, sexually active and potent, but their frequency of sexual encounters seemed to decrease after they developed chronic prostatitis. Pain during or after ejaculation is the one symptom that’s most consistently associated with a negative effect on their sexual activity.
Posted in Enlarged Prostate on November 25, 2008
Reviewed June 2011
Medical Disclaimer: This information is not intended to substitute for the advice of a physician. Click here for additional information: Johns Hopkins Health Alerts Disclaimer
Notify Me
Would you like us to inform you when we post new Enlarged Prostate Health Alerts?
Comments
Health Alerts registered users may post comments and share experiences here at their own discretion. We regret that questions on individual health concerns to the Johns Hopkins editors cannot be answered in this space.
The views expressed here do not constitute medical advice, and do not represent the position of Johns Hopkins Medicine or Remedy Health Media, LLC, which has no responsibility for any comments posted on this site.
What can be done to prevent or at least minimize the chance of prostatitis from occurring? I have heard some positives about cranberry and apple juice, but is this for urinary and/or prostate, if effective at all?
Posted by: mjsklar | November 29, 2008 9:19 AM
I have suffered from chronic prostatitis for many years, originally brought on by a prescription medication for a condition entirely unrelated to the prostate. My internist gave me an antibiotic (sulfatrim DS) which soon eliminated the inflammation. Very occasional flare-ups could always be controlled by the antibiotic.
After another flare-up years later I was sent to a urologist who, seemingly like Dr. A in the foregoing Q and A, disparaged the use of the antibiotic on the theory that the cause was pelvic floor spasms and not an infection. He said that he would never prescribe an antibiotic without laboratory tests to confirm the very unlikely prospect (in his opinion) that a bacterium was responsible.
Now I find that pelvic floor spasms are indeed a complicating factor. This realization came about when I had to take another medication for an unrelated condition and, in order to tolerate the medication, I had to take both the antibiotic and cyclobenzaprine. With prudent use of these two medications when necessary I can avoid the inflammation. The side effects seem at present to be by far the lesser of evils.
Posted by: fredhep | December 24, 2008 10:41 PM
I was told that my prostrate is slightly enlarged, but have a "going" problem-can't wait when I have to "go". I was prescribed Vesilcare for this condition, and it seems to help, but still run into trouble if I try to hold it too long. Am I on the right track here? Should I be asking more questions, if so what. Tests so far seem to be OK. I am borderline diabetic and overweight-can't stick w/diets. Also have ED, but haven't talked to anyone about that yet. Just putting this info out there hopefully to maybe find some answers, or questions I should be asking my Specialist.
Thanks
Posted by: DT1919OK | June 6, 2010 10:51 PM
Post a Comment
Already a subscriber?
Login
New to Johns Hopkins Health Alerts?
Not only does prostatitis effect the quality of life but so do the medications frequently prescribed by the medical community for treatment. There are many side effects that receive little attention. For a summary of these, check out the Web MD blog reviews for specific medications. They are numerous and informative. I often think the treatment is worse than the prostatitis symptoms. Hurry up stem cell research before we old men die.
Posted by: david8888 | November 29, 2008 7:25 AM