Strange Symptoms

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

A chronic prostatitis patient recently informed me that he had right groin, chest, and armpit pain when his prostatitis flared up. After having his prostae removed, he reports that all of these pains are gone. Why would the prostate affect the armpit? Nobody knows, yet prostatitis pain is often manifested in many kinds of pains. Many of these are not captured by the CPSI.

Which kind of strange symptoms have you had that you think are due to prostatitis?
Which kind of strange symptoms have you heard of others having that are due to prostatitis?

[Mark]

When I get a flare up, I feel the pain going through my legs when I'm sitting or laying down. Sometimes I feel like parts of my feet are going numb. Very unpleasant sensations...

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

Yep. The first patient who reported leg pains was Merlin. I hear that one a lot.

[Christof]

So strange though how the Medical Community (including in my case, a Urologist) attribute any type of leg pain, or even lumbar/sacral pain, to back problems, i.e., sciatica... First Uro I went and saw looked at my Medical History questionnaire, and within 5 minutes of examining me stated "you need to go see a Neurologist, I think it is your back"..
Another symptom I have aside from the usual testicle/pelvic pain, is a sharp pain that travels down my left inguinal canal.. This was cause for 2 other physicians to try to send me to a Neurologist...
I get the feeling that the Medical Community by and large has no idea how innervated the Prostate is, and in my thoughts, it must be pretty complex, not "just a simple little gland" as I was taught in my medical training..

[jeffos]

Talking about strange symptoms, I have noticed something very weird....my pain in the prostate slowly increases from morning to lunch time...after lunch the pain strongly decreases...and it is like that almost every-day.

[Nik]

I have an unpleasant tingling in my left foot which is connected to flare ups, especially when lying on my back. Interestingly since taking Lyrica this sensation has been suppressed. I guess the fact that Lyrica is a neuropathic pain killer has something to do with it.
My pain is always worse in the morning, and by evening is quite minor discomfort. Might be that all pain control wears off during the night, and builds up again during day.

[Dave]

Hmm. My discomfort starts lower intensity and builds during the day. Evening is by far the worst time for me. I assume this is due to the spine compressing during the day putting increased pressure on something, but who knows. I have had some numbness down the right leg upon occasion (all my discomfort is right sided anyway) but nothing too bizarre.

Its funny, I was seeing a physiotherapist yesterday and she said they had a guy in not long ago with mostly testicular pain but also pain issues after sex. One of the physios spotted a problem with one of his thigh muscles and after alot of work on the muscle all his pain disappeared.

Similarly, a colleague's father once had 2 years of intense testicular pain with no success in treatment. Not sure when this was - but the doctors decided removal of the testicles was the only option, and he had an op date booked. Several weeks before it was due another doctor looked at the wider picture and the fact he was also having epileptic fits. It turned out he had broken a bone in his neck at some point which was pressing into his spinal cord causing the remote nerve pain.

Another thing that is odd is how I can have 10 years of almost purely pain with next to no urinary symptoms, and now I have urinary symptoms with next to no pain. I'm not sure which I prefer....

Complex things these bodies...

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

No question they are complex. I am still trying to understand why my patient reported that his groin and armpit pain disappeared after his prostate was removed. I don't believe the neurologists have identified the nervous arc that could mediate that one.

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

So yesterday I did an LRP for a man with a six-year history of prostatitis, which included foot pains.

Today he reports that all his symptoms are gone, including his foot pains. If you have an explanation, please let's hear it. For I am at a total loss.

[Dave]

Its always possible that it is a muscular tension side-effect to the pain.... maybe on feeling pain those patients are unconsciously tensing muscles that have already suffered with the long term issues.

Coming back to your original armpit question, I've been seeing a physio to rule out any general muscular/skeletal contributor to my issues. Anyway, they said my left side is well screwed up from a muscular point of view - the muscles are too taught from my left shoulder down to my leg...I'm guessing this is a result of compensating for my 10 years of right sided pelvic pain issues, not the cause of them. Anyway, one of the key things the physio demonstrated to me was that my left arm pit is quite uncomfortable when pressed in the right place, whereas my right one is not at all; this is apparently because some muscle group joins there and this is significantly over-tight. So maybe it is something similar in your patient.

Interestingly, they also said my pelvis was slightly wonky. They stuck acupuncture pins in me, and did something else that they said would level my pelvis, and the next day I had my pains back for the first day in 5 months (it had changed to urinary sensitivity a few months back). and it has now settled completely for a few weeks... though there are a number of other possible factors that may have changed it, so difficult to tell which made the difference.

[Arnon Krongrad, MD]

Could be, Dave, except that his armpit pain resolved when his prostate came out.

So one hypothesis is that the prostate is the primary problem, which causes a secondary remote symptom, which may be partly or wholly remedied by targeted treatments. If those treatments relieve the patient of his symptoms, then there is no need to remove the prostate, obviously.

The question is what to do with men whose symptoms do not respond to non-surgical approaches. We are seeing that men with all sorts of strange symptoms and who fail a range of uncomfortable and expensive non-surgical approaches get rid of all of their symptoms with laparoscopic prostatectomy. This supports the suggestion that in some case the prostate is the problem and its removal can bring generalized and durable relief.

[G8 GT]

Has anyone else experienced a clear-sticky discharge with their prostatitis? I believe it is "pre-ejaculate" but I have gotten it at random times throughout the day, and it seems to burn my urethra quite a bit. It appears to affected by bowel movements, or sitting in different positions. I have been tested numerous times for STD's, and given it is clear, I do not believe it to be infectious. It seems that others have mentioned a discharge, but more often it is a "milk-white" liquid rather than a clear-sticky discharge.

Thanks,

[G8 GT]

To follow-up to my question above; is it possible for the prostate to put pressure on the Cowphers gland(s), causing it to secrete fluid involuntarily?