Patty Stillman's Posts - Prostatitis Forum & Social Network2024-03-29T05:54:59ZPatty Stillmanhttps://prostatitis.ning.com/profile/PattyStillmanhttps://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/360568874?profile=RESIZE_48X48&width=48&height=48&crop=1%3A1https://prostatitis.ning.com/profiles/blog/feed?user=0sbd3ogo4j1mb&xn_auth=noJournalingtag:prostatitis.ning.com,2011-04-12:2201951:BlogPost:155322011-04-12T03:30:00.000ZPatty Stillmanhttps://prostatitis.ning.com/profile/PattyStillman
<p>I've decided to keep an online journal here of what's going on since I've really failed over the last year to keep track of everything. Today my husband called the urologist and asked if there was an appointment sooner than the 18th and there was. TODAY! They decided to fit him in this afternoon. We get to the office and a panic attack sets in. A very real and physical panic attack complete with fainting, chills, shaking, and tingling sensations throughout his limbs. The same thing happened…</p>
<p>I've decided to keep an online journal here of what's going on since I've really failed over the last year to keep track of everything. Today my husband called the urologist and asked if there was an appointment sooner than the 18th and there was. TODAY! They decided to fit him in this afternoon. We get to the office and a panic attack sets in. A very real and physical panic attack complete with fainting, chills, shaking, and tingling sensations throughout his limbs. The same thing happened to him last week when he went to his GP's. I wasn't with him for the GP appointment and wasn't sure how serious he was about his symptoms of it. His GP claimed it was just anxiety, but today's episode was beyond an anxiety attack. I witnessed it for myself today and it was not normal. It was so bad I had to insist they let him in a waiting room where he could lay down. It took two of us holding him up helping him walk to a room to lay down. This is not my husband. In the past, whenever I heard of someone having a panic attack I always figured it was mostly in their mind and they were just being "babies" or over-dramatic, but I know my husband too well and he has far too much pride to draw attention to himself in a public place by being an over-dramatic baby. In fact, he was trying so hard to hide the physical symptoms of his attack. No, he had a very real, physically debilitating, uncontrollable panic attack. After I got him home and in bed I looked up the symptoms he felt during this attack and learned about panic disorder. So, let's just go ahead and add that to the list of things a 37 year old, seemingly healthy man should not be experiencing, but is. </p>
<p>For my own self, I'm noting his current medications...<br/>PROSTATE MEDS:<br/>Doxazosin-He got these from his GP last week. He's been on them before, but I never documented it and lost track of how much and when. This new dose originally was supposed to be just 1 2mg tablet per day, but the urologist told me, today, to start giving him 4mg a day.<br/>Finasteride-One 5mg tablet per day. This is new. He just started taking this today. This is common treatment for BPH to shrink his prostate. Side-effects we read about online, the one my husband is furious about, is possible, irreversible impotence. He quit taking rapaflow last year because it did cause him to lose his libido and gave him erectile dysfunction. He's certain the Finasteride will do the same. He is reluctantly taking this medicine.</p>
<p>ANTI-BIOTIC:<br/>Cipro-Again. One 500mg tablet per day. He's been on this before. Offered no relief and did nothing to stop the symptoms. But he will take them again. He was given these by his GP on Wednesday the 6th. <br/>Doxycycline-He was given these also by the GP on Wednesday the 6th and today when the urologist saw that, he said he didn't need that AND the cipro, so today, the urologist told us to stop taking this.<br/>PAIN & DISCOMFORT:</p>
<p>Naproxen-500mg tablets to take as needed for pain. This is an anti-inflammatory that the GP gave him on Wednesday and the urologist agrees with this being an effective pain relief because he believes the pain is solely caused by the inflammation of his prostate. I'm not so sure because no matter how many Paul takes, he is still in pain.</p>
<p>Temazepam-30mg. He takes one of these at night to get some sleep. I put it in the pain & discomfort category because right now it is THE ONLY thing that gives him any sort of relief. The drowsy euphoria he feels just before falling asleep is the only time I can actually talk to him. He is able to smile and talk about our day when he's on this. It helps him forget the pain for a little bit. Until he wakes up.<br/><br/>The urologist also ordered a CT scan for abdominal and pelvic with and without IV contrast with delayed images. I tried to get him in to the radiologist next door to the urologists and almost got him but he said he couldn't take it anymore and needed to go home immediately. I'll be calling and setting an appointment for this as he will need it before his next urology appointment on May 9th.<br/>He also has to get a urine cytology as he had microscopic amounts of blood in his urine today. </p>
<p> </p>My husband's words on the issue:tag:prostatitis.ning.com,2011-04-07:2201951:BlogPost:151402011-04-07T16:34:17.000ZPatty Stillmanhttps://prostatitis.ning.com/profile/PattyStillman
Right now, this is the extent of what my husband can think of to say about his current pain and suffering:<br/><br/>"In this world, there are one of two things that can go seriously wrong with your health. It can either be chronic or terminal. One flat-out kills you, the other tortures you until you die. Right now, if I have to have one or the other, I wish it wasn't the chronic one."
Right now, this is the extent of what my husband can think of to say about his current pain and suffering:<br/><br/>"In this world, there are one of two things that can go seriously wrong with your health. It can either be chronic or terminal. One flat-out kills you, the other tortures you until you die. Right now, if I have to have one or the other, I wish it wasn't the chronic one."First entrytag:prostatitis.ning.com,2011-04-07:2201951:BlogPost:150362011-04-07T13:00:00.000ZPatty Stillmanhttps://prostatitis.ning.com/profile/PattyStillman
<p>I decided to join this site, if for anything else, to just be able to talk about this in a community that might understand. My husband, Paul, has been suffering from severe symptoms of Chronic Prostatitis since around the end of November, 2009. His old GP recognized the symptoms right away and referred him to a urologist who then officially diagnosed him with CP. He has only done medication treatments and one massage session. I know little to nothing about medical terminology and CP even…</p>
<p>I decided to join this site, if for anything else, to just be able to talk about this in a community that might understand. My husband, Paul, has been suffering from severe symptoms of Chronic Prostatitis since around the end of November, 2009. His old GP recognized the symptoms right away and referred him to a urologist who then officially diagnosed him with CP. He has only done medication treatments and one massage session. I know little to nothing about medical terminology and CP even after a year and a half of dealing with it. After reading up on this website it seems my husband is only beginning this awful and long journey. <br/><br/>His old GP was continuing his antibiotic, pain-med, and alpha-blocker treatments in accordance with the uro's approval. The urologist was more of a way to extract money from us and a formality than anything helpful. He also immediately rejected the idea of any kind of surgery. He went to schedule my husband for another expensive prostate massage and when my husband started to complain about how painful and costly it was, the uro shrugged, threw his hands up in the air and said "well, there's no cure for this, so the massage is the only thing I know to do other than refer you to pain management." We cancelled the massage appointment and haven't been back to the uro in about 2 months. We didn't try the pain management doctor he referred yet because the GP was giving Paul hydrocodone which was helping ease the pain a bit.<br/><br/>This month, without notice, his old GP retired from the family practice office we go to and the new GP tried to discontinue the minimal treatment Paul was receiving from them. The new GP decided my husband does not really have CP and that he should seek a 2nd opinion from another urologist. She based this assumption solely on the fact that he's "too young to have CP". Yesterday she examined him rectally because he also had large amounts of blood in his stool yesterday morning, (which I suspect is from deep hemorrhoids, a problem he's had since before the onset of CP, this can only be determined by a coloncoscopy and if you don't have insurance, good luck getting one done) and she even said to him during her exam "your prostate is swollen" to which he said "no shit!". She then had an attitude with him (which I guess is justified, he shouldn't have cussed) and has decided he is just a drug-seeker and told him, verbatim, "there are people in worse situations than you, just get over it". We now need to try and find a new GP. She refuses to write him any narcotics for pain, which is her prerogative, of course, but did write him prescriptions for a new round of cipro and some alpha-blockers. Which is inconsistent with her belief that he "doesn't really have CP." It's all so frustrating and confusing and we feel like there's no help for him out there and no one who can truly offer him some relief. Right now he is in severe pain and only on OTC aleve. He is bed-ridden.<br/><br/>For the last year and a half he has had to spend 99% of his day either in bed or in a chair. He can not walk around or stand for more than 10 or 15 minutes at a time or else he gets sharp, jolting pains that bring him to his knees. His general pain is constant, even when he's sitting; even when he's on hydrocodone, he is debilitated and in severe pain; even after a full dose of antibiotic treatments and alpha-blockers.</p>
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<p>He can not work and has been home this whole time, in charge of our 2 year old son. Even doing that is very difficult and as his condition worsens, so does his ability to take care of even himself, let alone a toddler. <br/><br/>I work 50+ hours a week and thankfully most of that I can do from home, but, this family needs Paul back. It's like he's not really even here. We are all feeling pretty hopeless. I try to remain positive which only seems to aggravate him. His anxiety depression worsen right along with the CP condition. <br/><br/>My husband and I have been good friends for over 23 years, lovers for over 20 years, and married for the last 17. I am 39, he is 37. We have three sons ages 16, 7, and 2.</p>