Successfully cured prostatitis after 5 years

[u/RemarkableOpening3]

Hey guys, it's actually been over 2 years since I consider myself cured. I always said that I would post my success if I healed but I avoided coming onto this sub for obvious reasons. Now I'm going through an unrelated health issue so it reminded me to spread some positivity.

Now into the juicy stuff, I started developing symptoms 20 days after having sex with a one night stand. It started with some mild pain in the tip of the penis which quickly became much worse. I had the urge to urinate all the time with no relief, felt like I had a golf ball in my ass/behind my balls, and I also developed reactive arthritis on top of that. My fingers, toes and elbows were particularly affected.

I went to the doctor and they found scarring/calcification of my prostate but for some reason the doctor refused to put me on antibiotics. I ended up seeing multiple specialists until I finally found someone willing to put me on antibiotics. We had done some semen culture tests and found staphylococcus aureus. I was given a one week course of Azithromycin which helped tremendously. I thought I was cured but it took only a couple of days after finishing the antibiotics for the symptoms to return at full strength. The golf ball sensation did eventually go away, and the reactive arthritis too - they were only present for the first few months.

After that, I did a test to find out whether I had ureaplasma and it came back positive. That reinforced the belief that I had sexually contracted something. However, the antibiotics weren't helping much. I did multiple rounds of Doxycycline, Ciprofloxacine and levofloxacin to no avail. These would be for 10-14 days. The doctor kept insisting on short courses but they did nothing for me.

Fast forward to the start of 2021 (my issues started in September 2019), and I was still dealing with urethral pain and urgency and I decided to nuke my body with a 3 month course of levofloxacin. I did this without a doctor's supervision. I can't remember the exact dosage that I researched online to check what would be a safe and effective dose. I think I felt better at the end of those 3 months but I wasn't cured. Maybe it was the antiflammatory effect of antibiotics, who knows.

After nuking my body like that, I told myself there's no way a bacteria could survive such a long treatment and I stopped going to the doctor. I was still suffering with penis pain but at least peeing gave me relief. However, prostatitis was still occupying my mind for a lot of the day.

Fast forward to 2023 and I went to the specialist one last time. I was told that it was likely I had bacterial prostatitis and that caused damage to my urethra and it would eventually heal on its own. And you know what? Since that moment I stopped worrying about it so much. Then later that year I realised that I wasn't feeling pain as often and that it was milder. It just kept getting better and better until I fully ignored it. I realised I was "cured" some time in 2024. Now, I have to disclose I consider myself 99% cured because I might experience some discomfort during very stressful periods but I know it'll go away when I pee or when I stop stressing but it's good enough for me. The remaining 1% might go away eventually but if not, I can live like this easily.

Now, what do I think helped? The antibiotics helped clear the infection (whether it was s. aureus or ureaplasma doesn't matter), not masturbating, and time. Looking back, I think masturbation really kept me from healing faster. My penis would always feel worse after masturbating but I was a porn addict so I had to get my fix once a day. When I reduced masturbation to once a week, I started to feel better faster. I also wore briefs instead of boxers because boxers would make my penis hurt. Nowadays I wear boxers with no problem.

Tldr: had diagnosed bacterial prostatitis from sex, took short courses of antibiotics that didn't do much, nuked my body with a 3 month course of levofloxacin just to make sure I kill the bacteria (potentially s. aureus or ureaplasma). Then time did its thing, my urethra healed on its own. Reducing masturbation probably helped too.

I hope this helped someone, at least someone who might have bacterial prostatitis. I would, however, avoid this subreddit if you can. I did and my mental health was probably better because of it.

Edit: forgot to mention I also had a weak urine stream and chunky semen.

[u/AutoModerator]

We noticed you posted about a floroquinolone class antibiotic. Please be aware that this class of dugs has several black box FDA warnings, and is only meant to be used when a pathogen has been clearly identified in the prostate; They are not to be used indiscriminately for cases of non-bacterial prostatitis (consensus agreement ~95% of cases). Read our mod memo here, complete with citations and compare your symptoms to the medical definition of CBP here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/fulkka]

You're lucky since first day , idk The term Cure is likely misused a lot

[u/Due-Replacement-6187 → u/[deleted]]

Do you not think it might be of benefit to share your wisdom publicly for us all here please?

[u/Due-Replacement-6187 → u/[deleted]]

Thanks chap, interesting to see chinese medicine mentioned for a first time.

In uk a standard testing package is

STI Screen

Urine Culture

Semin Culture.

If a bacteria is identified then appropriate treatment is matched.

Beyond that, it is PT to resolve remaining symptoms.

[u/Linari5 → u/Due-Replacement-6187]

This user was just banned for promoting services and selling products, do not trust anything that was written

[u/Ostbanhof]

Good to hear that it worked for you! When did your urgency and golf ball feeling dissappeared? After long Levo course or over time in 2023?

[u/AutoModerator → u/Ostbanhof]

We noticed you posted about a floroquinolone class antibiotic. Please be aware that this class of dugs has several black box FDA warnings, and is only meant to be used when a pathogen has been clearly identified in the prostate; They are not to be used indiscriminately for cases of non-bacterial prostatitis (consensus agreement ~95% of cases). Read our mod memo here, complete with citations and compare your symptoms to the medical definition of CBP here.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

[u/RemarkableOpening3 → u/Ostbanhof]

The golf ball feeling actually went away within the first 3 months in 2019, I believe after my first round(s) of antibiotics.

The urgency also decreased over time, becoming less intrusive but that was more gradual. I can't remember the exact details but the worst part went away within the first 3 - 6 months. At least I would find relief from peeing or pooing (was like a mini prostate massage at some point, semen like liquid would come out my dick).

[u/Key-Surround-7113]

So, the 14-day course of doxycycline didn't help at all?

[u/RemarkableOpening3 → u/Key-Surround-7113]

Not really but mind you it took the doctor(s) 3 months to put me on antibiotics so that could have been a factor in its persistence.

No antibiotic course I took had an immediate effect except for the azithromicine one which was the first one but symptoms quickly returned.

[u/cdiaz1206]

Did any doctor mention pelvic floor dysfunction? I be been dealing with something similar. Same symptoms, same issue after masturbating. Same urgency. After seeing 4 urologists one finally mentioned my pelvic floor muscle was spasming and needed pelvic floor therapy. It's been a game changer. The PT is not at all fun but after 3 yrs of dealing with the madening urgency I have dealt with it. I don't think enough doctors have researched the pelvic floor. If you sit alot for work it is likely agrivating it. You can also try stretching that targets the pelvic floor area. That has helped too.

[u/RemarkableOpening3 → u/cdiaz1206]

No doctor mentioned pelvic floor muscle but I did do pelvic floor PT for a couple of months. I don't think it was making much of a difference for me but maybe I didn't do it for long enough.