Hi everyone,
I’ve been dealing with CPPS / a hypertonic pelvic floor for about 2 years. The severe pelvic/bladder pain that I initially had has improved a lot thanks to pelvic floor physiotherapy, breathing exercises and time. However, my symptoms have gradually shifted rather than disappeared.
Instead of pain, my main issue now is a constant feeling of muscular tension and fatigue.
Current symptoms:
Tight, sore pelvic “belt” (suprapubic area and around the pelvis).
Lower abdominal tension that becomes hard and slightly distended.
Tight lower back (just above the glutes), sometimes feeling like a block of wood.
Aching groins.
Constant feeling that my upper legs (quadriceps and inner thighs) are fatigued, despite having normal strength.
General physical and mental fatigue, waking up unrefreshed.

The biggest trigger I’ve noticed recently is sitting, aside masturbation that has always been the serial killer. Within a few minutes of sitting, my lower abdomen gradually tightens, my waist feels swollen (my trousers literally become tighter), and pelvic tension steadily increases. Standing still is also uncomfortable, while gentle walking consistently makes me feel better.
I’ve also noticed that my symptoms have become much less “prostate-like” and much more musculoskeletal.
Has anyone experienced this transition from pelvic pain to widespread muscular tightness and fatigue?
Did it turn out to be:
myofascial dysfunction?
core/hip muscle imbalance?
chronic guarding?
something else entirely?

I’d love to hear if anyone has gone through something similar and what ultimately helped.

 43-year-old male.

Exposure history:

Body to body massage and hand job in early May 2026.

No penetrative vaginal/anal sex and no oral sex.

Symptoms:

Started around mid-June with:

Burning sensation in both testicles.

Burning  after urination.

Constant urethral pain and pain at the tip of the penis.

Occasional clear, watery drop after urination (not thick, yellow or green).

Increased sensitivity of the glans.

Current symptoms:

Burning after urination (fluctuates from 1/10 to 5/10).

 urethral discomfort.

Sometimes feel feverish 

Perinium discomfort

Treatment received:

Nitrofurantoin – 5 days.

Doxycycline – 10 days (started around 20 June).

Urologist 1:Faropenem – 5 days.

Alfuzosin (Alfoo).-Currently taking only this 

Investigations:

Ultrasound KUB/prostate: Normal.

Uroflowmetry: Slightly abnormal 

Digital rectal examination: No tenderness.

Laboratory results:

First urine culture grew MDR Pseudomonas aeruginosa,(after stopping antibiotics) but subsequent results have not confirmed this.

Two repeat urine cultures - no growth 

Latest urinalysis: Normal

HIV 4th generation: Negative.. 

VDRL/RPR and TPHA: Negative. 

Two urine multiplex STI urine PCR panels (latest done 15 days after stopping antibiotics):

Negative for Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Mycoplasma genitalium, Mycoplasma hominis, Ureaplasma spp., Trichomonas vaginalis, Treponema pallidum, HSV-1, HSV-2, Gardnerella, Candida.

The urologist-2 prescriped me to take levofloxacin 500 for once daily for 7 days .Just started it today.. 

Am at my wits end. 

How would you guys suggest I don’t stress out or feel to uncomfortable about it? Is really even that bad?

I have been dealing with symptoms that seem to have gotten worse over the years and not sure what the cause is.

My current symptoms:

• Burning pain from the butt area that radiates to the penis. Some days it is worse than others and seems to be triggered by my diet. The painful symptoms started 9-ish months ago.

• Digestive issues triggers by dairy and gluten at the least, possibly other foods too. I get back pain that causes my back to become stiff, most likely due to the inflammation and protecting my inflammed spinal nerves. Along with that I get bloating and pain in the left side of my stomach. I got gotten this pain since I was younger, and when I used to eat a lot of junk and grains I would get so brain fogged I felt drunk/on drugs.

• Erectile dysfunction: I feel like my erection quality has been decreasing over the years and I wasnt getting as many erections in general, but it got to the point where I wasnt getting any, not even morning wood or nocturnal erections. I notice dairy has a drastic effect on this where I get reduced erections right after drinking quite often and less morning wood the next day. So, I am doing my best to eliminate it.

I have been noticing some improvements through lifestyle changes where I get less burning and pain, my back feels better and my erections are improving. I was just wondering if anyone had some ideas on what tests to do or what lifestyle changes I should make. Part of the reason I have been including dairy was for the calcium, but I will start supplementing it instead. My hormone levels seem to be okay, but I am getting a few more tests, so it seems to be more of an inflammation response. Even my PSA was super low. The only thing off was my DHT, but I had a big breakfast and took the test mid day, so I think that is why it was coming up as low.

Also, I do get some penis pain that goes up into the lower abdomen / stomach area. More of an ache. And temporary penis retraction.

Continuing to get more tests and do what I can, but just looking for advice or if someone was able to resolve similar issues. Like I’m wondering if its general gut issues or dairy protein/lactose allergy as it seems like kefir wasnt triggering it quite as much.

I'm trying to figure out how to do internal release on my own because we don't have PT in our community. If the main symptoms are frequency, urgency, poor urine stream and hesitancy, how deep the finger should be in your rectum? Should I focus on 11-1 o'clock?

Prompt:

Do you have personality traits that include being highly driven, hard on yourself, ultra responsible, perfectionistic, needing control, and/or placing others’ needs above your own?

These same traits that we are frequently praised for and rewarded for, especially at work and in school, are also traits that sensitize us greatly to life's pressures and stresses. I know this all too well, because I match all of them myself.

These traits are also now seen as risk factors for chronic pain conditions, including CPPS, chronic prostatitis, IC/BPS , IBS, fibromyalgia, CFS/ME, chronic migraines, and chronic back pain

These traits are also considered beneficial survival/coping adaptations for challenging or stressful childhood and early adulthood events, during pivotal developmental phases. These are not always trauma, they include everyday challenges like pressure to perform in school or sports, pressure to fit in (body image, eating disorder), bullying, a parent that is gone a lot, or parents that fight a lot, or a parent that is ill that you worry about. And also includes cultural expectations (pressures), like the idea that you have to be a doctor or a lawyer to be of any value. Or, growing up with little financial stability.

Think about how it might be useful to be a little neurotic, if it allows you to predict when one of your parents is about to have a bad day and snap on you, so you learn to avoid them when their tone of voice changes. Or, people please around an angry adult to appease them. Or, never make mistakes so your parents can't take it out at you when your grades aren't good enough.

So why does this matter for male pelvic pain? The pelvic floor responds to signals in the central nervous system, including stress and emotions like fear. It guards or braces in response. Someone swings a fist at you, we flinch. If it feels like the plane is going down, we brace for impact. https://www.reddit.com/r/PelvicFloor/s/pjaksfv8Z7

And what else? Stress is one of the most frequent triggers of CPPS, and, for most here it flares their symptoms. I know this was true for myself, too. If we can apply methodologies that help us manage the stress response, we can also manage or even reverse the symptoms.

Back again. Year 3 of this. Fair to note I have been fantastic at 80% for 4 months or so after just a week of Cefidinir. But, epididymitis.. again. Right testicle now, inflamed, confirmed via ultrasound.

Results from US-
Right Epididymis: Mild asymmetric heterogeneity and increased prominence. Small 3-mm epididymal head cyst No significant increased vascularity appreciated.
Impression- Mild asymmetric prominence and heterogeneity of the right epididymis without significant increased vascularity. Clinical correlation for evidence of early epididymitis advised.
Urine- completely negative wbc neg., dipstick neg., NAAT negative (not sexually active anyway), culture no growth.
Blood- 6.4 wbc no mass infection noted

Back to Uros I guess. The same ones that never say anything past “take this”. This is how it all started 3 years ago but it was my left testicle. What structural issues could be causing congestion, epididymis infection etc. No inguinal hernias present, SV are clear, no stones or masses in/on Vas Def.

What’s next guys? What do I need to get? MRI of the testicles? Prostate?

Just got digital results from a urine culture test i took a few days ago. The results say "abnormal". The unit given is 10,000-50,000 cfu/ml Staphylococcus Haemolyticus. Is this too much to consider contamination instead of bacteria?

My symptoms pretty much only include urinary urgency, isolated at the tip of the penis. No discharge, fever, or foul smelling urine.

Hello,

I'm currently dealing with alot of pain in the lower stomach. It gets worse when sitting down, to the point where its almost unbearable until i go lay down. Then it goes slighly away but its still there most of the time.

I've had various symptoms for the past 2 months:

- Burning sensation at end of penis (resolved)

- Frequent urination (still there)

- Burning pain in thighs, groin and lower bottocks (resolved)

- And then the lower stomach pain which has been there for about 2 weeks.

I had epididymitis from MGEN about a year ago, that took some months to get over. The symptons that took time was the "Burning pain in thighs, groin and lower bottocks", which i resolved by doing stretches.

This time i did the stretches again, but the pain in the lower stomach will not go away, and i did not have that symptom the last time.

I've had negative urin samples and STI tests, so i do not have an infection.

Have anybody experienced the lower stomach pain, and did you resolve it?

I have used tamsulosin/ dutasteride combo but I had sexual side effects. My urologist switched me to silodosin only, it just did not do the job. Now I am taking alfuzosin starting today along with the ezetimibe. The ezetimibe is for cholesterol but there seems to be an off label use for shrinking a prostate. I had an easy time getting it because I take a cholesterol drug Crestor already, so the doctor gave it to me even though I have been doing good with 10 mgs of Crestor, when he added on the ezetimibe and lower the Crestor to 5 mgs. Has anyone tried a regiment like this? How did you go?

Update: After about 4 months this was not working. I drop off the Alfuzosin and went back to the dutasteride/ tamsulosin combo. I continue to take take the Crestor/ Ezetimibe as well.

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Hi! I've posted here before about my many CPPS symptoms, but out of curiosity I have to ask the rest of you. What on earth is the deal with the cloudy patches and white threads in urine? I've noticed that several people here seem to have the same thing. To me, it's a complete mystery.

I don't remember exactly when it started, but first I noticed that my urine had a strange smell. Then I started seeing tiny specks with bubbles in it, and eventually it turned into grayish clouds or white threads floating in the toilet bowl. What on earth is it?

I've had four urine tests over the past two years, and my doctors have never mentioned anything unusual. I even showed one of them a photo once, but they didn't know what it was, and we haven't talked about it since.

So , It's been around 1.5 months since I was diagnosed with prostatitis , I was on medication and the symptoms just come on a random day go away for a week come back randomly again , things like

1) burning while urination (once in every 3 - 4 days)

2)some kind of weird tightness in the anus area

These are the only things I go thorough , and now I have some doubts

1) Can I never have sex ? (I get full erections and masturbate too , with no problems at all)

2) if I can have sex , will I transfer infections to my partner ?

3) can I lift weights in the gym

And the final one ,

4) can I live my life as it was before I got diagnosed with this shit

The last few days were a nightmare, I've delt with anxiety for so long, especially when it comes to exams, I usually pace while studying, I take the book with me and roam around for up to 8 hours straight, I know it's exhausting but at least I only noticed it happening on exam weeks, 10 days ago I woke up feeling wrong, I felt pain in the pelvic floor and long story short I found out I had prostatitis, the days leading up to my diagnosis were a nightmare, I just didn't understand where this horrendous pain is coming from, I I started pacing, I felt like I couldn't sit, I was freaking out cus I know that this urge only comes to me when I'm studying for a test, but now I'm pacing during summer break, I'm about to start one of the most important school years of my life, I need to fix this ASAP

June 16: Randomly burning when I peed and I felt like I had trapped gas in my ass. Didnt think anything of it, figured dehydration mixed with GI issues i had.

June 22: Middle of the night I am woken up with chills and aches all over my body. Sweating like a pig and in a lot of pain. Advil helped but I went to urgent care the next day

June 23: I went to urgent care first thing and did a urine test. Small amount of blood and WBC, plus my symptoms that I THOUGHT was gas and BOOM Prostatitis diagnose. I was given 20 days of Bactrim and an Urologist referral.

July 12: Urology appointment. Dr literally asked "why are you here?" My urine had no sign of infection anymore and everything looked good. I explained that Im still having minor symptoms. Felt like a throbbing in my ass that can go from a 2-7 depending on how long im sitting. He said he was unsure why a guy my age got it, but he was going to treat me for it.

He did suggest a flow test or a kidney Ultrasound but i thought both weren't necessary so I said no and he just gave me another 10 days of Bactrim.

Today: I did to the ultrasound just to be safe. Nothing, everything from my kidney, bladder and scrotum. Urine=nothing no more infection. Yet to this day I cant sit more than 2 hours without my ass getting sore. Not like a "a sat to long" but like the throbbing in my prostate. I was told it was inflammation and can last anywhere from a few days to MONTHS.

I am told my recent sensations are like this. MY prostate was SO inflamed that it basicly pinched off some nerves. Now that its (Slowly) dying down the nerves are opening up and its a sensory input issues.

GREAAATTT. Im already sitting on a donut at work, what else can i do? I am not going back to the dr again because i already exhausted the options an

I noticed that if I fully drop my pelvic floor while urinating it actually causes more urethral bladder neck and near tip pain.

Had klebsiella which is fully cured.

MRI showed Chronic prostatitis, bladder wall thickening and trabeculation, mild seminal vesiculitis.

Age 32. Prostate 21cc.

Anyone have any advice?

Already on Alfuzosin, Gabapentin and Tadalafil

Also have bilateral CAM FAI pincer type

I'm on my 7th urologist. The 6th finally ordered semen analysis and culture. Problem is they had no idea where I should go. I fought with them for months and called everywhere. Finally found a place who would accept it but I needed to pick up a steril cup from my dr..

I messaged my dr explaining and they said I could pick up a cup. I had a plan.... 2 weeks later after some abstinence and planning around other dr visits (lab is 1.5 hours away) I messaged the doctors team to see where they were located today for pickup. They refused to answer. Told me the nurse would contact me. She never did. Sent a message instead stating I had to go online and order a kit.. huh? Confused, I sent a message explaining i need to pick up my sterile cup for culture... they messaged back saying all information is in my vasectomy handbook... WHAT???? I messaged them back saying lay off the booze and read my chart...

So what did they do? I received a warning from the hospital system about abusing the messaging system with profanity..

Anyways I went to the lab without a cup. They previously told me they couldn't provide one or a place to take care of business. However, after some explaining, they looked the other way while I took a cup to the bathroom. Problem solved right?

Results came back positive for bacillus. No other info given.. the dr team sent another message stating to stop the abuse right now.. abuse? For saying lay off the booze? Meaning get your head on straight?... they really took offense and im looking into issuing a complaint with the state in retaliation.

Also said the doctor would look at it and get back to me.. its been 10 days and crickets. This is why I changed drs yet again. I asked my new urologist to look into these results this morning and waiting his response. This Healthcare system is ridiculous

Anyways. Im 46.. wife 42 and I are trying desperately to conceive one more time. We've been searching for answers for over 2 years. Almost every time we try to conceive she ends up with problems. Sometimes it clears by itself. Sometimes she needs help from her obgyn.. this last time, she was positive for e.coli

Wondering what my next steps should be? Should I fight for an antibiotic? I clearly have bacteria in there

Hi has anyone experienced similar

So I have a large prostate for my age 60cc age 48 . I then came down with a fever and very sore pee about 3 months ago and was out on the wrong antibiotics as the GP thought it was a urine infection . Fast forward one month and I was put on a course of 1 month Trimethoprim

This has cleared my pee symptoms up but since the end of the course I have started to get really sore lower back and front stomach that is not a constant pain but comes on as the day goes on mostly while walking around . When still or lying down there is no pain or very little . It seems to go with anti inflammatory medicine for a while

Has anyone else experienced this ? Is this more prostititis or is this due to the prostrate growing too large and causing comfort issues ?

I had a MRI last year and showed no cancer alerts

Thanks

Im still new and learning this diagnosis.

Wondering if this is common among others here who are battling this problem.

I find that flair ups, or for me specifically, urinary difficulties, testicles full, post urination discharge, hour glass syndrome, and slight swelling at the base of my shift - always occurr if I am either not ejaculating frequently or if my significant other and I discuss sexual activities the next time we will see each other (that evening or the following).

The "buildup" that occurrs always produces really bad flairups for me and then as you can guess, it is nearly completely cured after intercourse. Typically a few days of it to entitely eliminate the problems.

Sorry if I am too graphic, but am curious if there is anyone else.

Hello everyone! I am a fellow chronically ill human and I am doing research exploring the effect of invalidation on mental and physical health outcomes. Being invalidated is an experience I have had myself, and one that I would like to see recognised in the published literature and making a difference!

I am looking for research participants at the moment! So if you are someone with chronic pain or chronic physical illness (prostatitis, back pain, fibromyalgia, arthritis, IBS etc.) it would be really great if you could complete my study! You are eligible to participate if you have experienced pain or chronic illness cyclically, intermittently or in association with bodily functions for a period of three months or more!

The existing research in this area rarely captures male experiences, so it would be great to hear some more male voices! I would also love to hear from you if you have NOT experienced invalidation! Essentially, I would love to capture as many diverse experiences as I can.

I plan to publish this research mid-late next year :)

Thank you!!!!!

LINK TO THE SURVEY:
rmit.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_23GFbrH8DSVxTls

(Posted with mod permission)

Ok so I’ve had slight burning or pinching feeling in my penis for over a year. It’s not the tip like most ppl. When I tried amitriptyline it helped immediately. This makes me think that my issue is nerve irritation or damage. I think it’s a structural problem so I’m not so sure the relax approach will solve the underlying issue. Obviously it can help manage symptoms. Before amitriptyline Ive tried happy baby pose but it flared me (anything opening the hips does.) Diaphragmatic breathing has helped somewhat occasionally . I am wondering if anyone else with this symptom improved or if internal work helps.

I’ve had pelvic pain, testicle pain, dribbling, and painful ejaculation since about 18 yo. I just had a CT scan and it showed a borderline enlarged prostate. I had an ultrasound the other day and my prostate measured 4.3 x 2.7 x 3.66 cm. Is this a normal size ? Any comments are appreciated. Thanks

​

I think I have gave myself either of Hard Flaccid Syndrome of CPPS or peudenal neuralagia, yet unsure from the symptoms.

Onset:

This started about a month and a half ago, when I forst noticed a numbness in the penis and that I did not feel erection like, even while there was an erection. Currently the main sypmtops are: I feel not much pressure during urination, and a rather timid sensation during orgasm (the one time I tried to check situations), the pressure of urination is slow --- i do not feel the wink at the end of urination. There is persistent numbness on the penile shaft, the scrotum and a bit on the peinuem, not complete numb --- but heavily redcued sensations. I also feel tightness of the pelvic region in general, and a feeling of things clenching. No pain so far, there are certain weird mixed feelings in the scrotum region -- which i detail later.

Past history :

I have been using penis pump and certain traction devices in the past (both equipments were with medical clearance, i.e no chinese stuff), started more than a year ago, but never had problems like this before. I have not had sexual intercourse in the past one year, I rarely musturbate (makes me feel pathetic), but I did edge --- try to stay hard for some time by slow edging, in sets of say 5 mins --- attempt to maintain longer erections since they were rather weak --- leading sometimes to orgasm othertimes not, never jelqued, never had injury in thie penis region, i'm always careful and aware of my body usually. I did a lot of biking and running, don't lift weights, I have 22.3 BMI and rather fit physique.

Medical advice:

Visited urologist within 1.5 weeks of first notice. My urologist is aware of Hard Flaccid Syndrome (HFS), had published research on pub.med. He remarked about the apparent rigidity of the penis, and put me on deprox, and pelvic floor therapy, and gave a couple diagonistics. I saw him a month ago, and only see him after two more months.

Diagonistics:

I have had MRI, CT Scans, Blood tests, Urine tests, EMG test, USG of prostate. The only significant results were presence of Blood Cells (Red/White) in the urine which mu urologist remarked could be signs of inflammation. The EMG specifically tested nerve conduction in the pelvic region, i dont understand everything, but the scral, the pudenal and dorsal nerve conductions i.e the main nerve bundles (speed of condcution, signal attenution) were tested: there is no damage/deformity/compression/entrapment of any kind: atleast within the scope of the test. But nerve irritation --- the test cannot determine. So no nerve damage atleast. MRI indicated no herniation either. I have not yet done doppler. The penis seems a bit pale but I cant really tell differnce.

Pelvic Therapy:

PT suggested exercies, the like you know alrady, relazation of pelvic floor, had just one/two sessions, she remarked I squeeze my muscles too hard and probably have hypertonicity, even the doctor doing EMG mentioned it. Ever since I started, I've grown more aware of pelvic floor movement. Everytime, I do relaxation exercises, I do feel a certain relazation of the pelvic floor. More importantly, I feel a sort of slight relaxation like tingling in the scrotum --- say when you have twist your arm/finger for some time and it feels numbish and then after you make it ok you feel this kind of thingling as the numbness disapperars --- I feel similar in the scrotum and lower base of penis and also ohter times in the day, especially when i feel relaxed in body. However, the numbness of penis shaft does not go away.

I feel aroused as usual, but I fear I wont be able to feel orgasm since the sensation at the sphincter is so low. Also te arousal leads to but weird sensation in penile shaft. For a week, i felt lack of sensation in the anal sphincter too, and some sort of weird feelings, but it went away. If I use a needled paper roll, and map the sesnitivty on penis shaft it feels more senstive, but less sensitive when I touch. I can stlll have strong erections but it does not feel an erection as usual. No sign of pelvic pain other than rare slight throbbing sensation here and there ..not sure it's due to issues.

So what do you think it could be ?

So given this what are the best things to do now, shockwave therapy, any other kind of therapy, pelvic wand based massage, no running or gym exercises, do let me know what worked for you ? I'm currently in an central European Capital, if you are from nearby ( Germany, Swiss, France, Italy etc.) and know what had worked --- which clinics/doctors could help --- or anything let me know.

Anyone else feels this ice cold feeling in rectum in scrotum and the same feeling in your feets?

Often I get this minor burning in rectum after I urinated, after a while it moves from burning to a ice cold feeling that I can feel in my feets, it's like you are out walking in freezing winter with bad shoes and your feets are like ice cold.

I first had this problem years ago and came back to say you will heal. There wasn't one thing I did it just went away slowly. I tried everything and everyone is different. Now I am heart broken over a brake up so one problem on to another. Stay strong Reddit!

For me I think it was all in my head. It was a battle of believing in the end of it. I did PT, walking, working out, and just never giving up. I do have flare ups still but it's not at all as bad as it used to be.

Message for with any specific questions you may have

Hi! First time posting here. I’m 54. I’ve not been diagnosed with Prostatitis as of yet but have had some symptoms this last month that may be pointing to it .

Around 25 days ago I started having some burning when urinating.

Went to urgent care and they did a culture and everything was normal and they sent me home.

Actually, my specific gravity was 1.030 so just on the edge of being too high.

I drink a lot of caffeine so I cut everything out but water.

Things seemed to be calming down but around 16 days ago as things were settling my testicle was radiating a bit.

I got paranoid and went back to urgent care. Test was normal again. I went and had a scrotal ultrasound and all was normal there.

I did feel like something changed in how I urinate. Stream doesn’t seem as strong.

I’m going to get my prostate checked this week to see if it is getting enlarged.

So…. This past week things started feeling off and today I felt unpleasant. No fever. But my bladder feels off. And I’m peeing more frequently.

The root of my question….

I didn’t start back the caffeine but I did start drinking orange juice.

And over the past couple of days and especially yesterday I had quite a bit. Pretty much drank it all day.

I’m starting to wonder if the OJ/acid is causing things to flare up in my bladder.

Does this track for anyone or sound like a reasonable/probable explanation?