It's an inflammation of the prostate and it's cause can be either bacterial or unknown. If it's bacterial, you're lucky, because it can be treated with anti-biotics. therefore it's very important to have it diagnosed. If you are not lucky , it will go on gor ages and every time you think you got rid of it, it will come back.
If it were me, I'd do a course of prostate-specific antibiotic no matter what. The uro doesn't know whether it's an infection or not. He can guess...and maybe he'll be right most of the time - but what percentage accuracy can he claim? Does anybody even know what the average doc's percentages are? They'd have to record the guess and then biopsy the patient - and do that on a few hundred patients for each doctor and do it over for some statistically significant number of doctors..... I don't think so.
Your doc can easily check for bacterial infections of the prostate. There's a fairly unpleasant technique for getting a sample that involves no needles (biopsy is only necessary if prostate cancer is being ruled out) but does involve "the position" and a rubber glove...
If it were me, I'd do a course of prostate-specific antibiotic no matter what.
That's dumb, since this is the way to create resistent bacteria in the future. There's no need to take them if they're no pathogenic bacteria present.
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The uro doesn't know whether it's an infection or not. He can guess...and maybe he'll be right most of the time - but what percentage accuracy can he claim?
Of course he does and this is the ways he knows it: (and this is no fun either) the urologists massages your prostate with a finger to get some fluid out, which is then examined in the lab for presence of bacteria.
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As I (who has no medical training/experience whatsoever) understand it, part of the problem with prostate infections is that the longer they go on, the more of that spongy glandular tissue gets bacteria in it.
Your doc can easily check for bacterial infections of the prostate. There's a fairly unpleasant technique for getting a sample that involves no needles (biopsy is only necessary if prostate cancer is being ruled out) but does involve "the position" and a rubber glove...
yep. But it can be worse: I was told by the urologist that they sometimes would use the following technique, that most men refuse: a (big) echo device is inserted and then they can see an image of the prostate on a monitor. They seem to do this mostly to examine enlarged prostates, but for 100% certainty they also like do this for examining prostatitis. I also said "no thanks" to this btw.
Prostatitis is a very nasty thing that takes ages to cure if the cause isn't bacterial. Since you have nothing to lose as a patient, I would take my bike, ride to the market and stuff loads of broccoli in the bike-bags :-)
To th eoriginal poster: it could of course be a coincidence that prostate pain begins after riding a new saddle. It looks like there's a relationship when 2 things coincide, but it doesnt have to be that way.
Your doc can easily check for bacterial infections of the prostate. There's a fairly unpleasant technique for getting a sample that involves no needles (biopsy is only necessary if prostate cancer is being ruled out) but does involve "the position" and a rubber glove...
Been there, done that. Better than a guess, but if it's negative it still doesn't mean there is no infection - my conclusion, at least from repeated situations where it was negative but a course of antibiotic stopped the pain. It's happened too often to be a placebo effect. -- PeteCresswell
In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...
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I normally ride a TREK carbon fiber bike with Koobi saddle with cutout, and have never had problems with numbness. Lately, I have been riding a Litespeed (more stiff), and have had slight pain, and I have been messing around with different saddles and position. On Sunday, I took out my hybrid, more upright position and a squishy seat, and rode it 2 hrs like a road bke. Now I think I have hurt the prostate. It's not numbness, it's a low level burning sensation down there, and it's been there for 48 hrs. Urologists call it referal pain. I am going to the urologist Monday, but I'm afraid he will tell me to quit riding. I'm 52 yrs old, and ride about 150 miles a week on the road bike. I don't think it's as simple as a perinial artery problem. Any ideas? Anybody else struggle with this? Any good saddles that don't pressure the prostate?
That you have had no problems riding your Trek means that you are having some fit issues with the other bikes. Best bet is to get the same saddle on all your bikes and adjust the to have the same height and tilt. --------------- Alex
