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% 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.