Prostatitis/CPPS

I'm 23 years old and before I got the "Prostatitis/CPPS" I had a really bad migraine that i've never had before in my life (lasted 6-7 days). I guess I was a little stressed out maybe the month before, but nothing crazy. I was so worried about the headache and I went to an ER one night because I noticed I was shaking as well which the ER doc just told me basically to take some motrin/advil (I now realize that I prob had a panic attack which caused the shaking). I was so worried about this headache which also caused some brain fog which made me worry even more. Went to my doctor and he was telling me to get an MRI since someone had came in recently and had a brain tumor that couldn't look up, but I could. MRI results came back normal and 2-3 days later the headache was gone. During this same time I noticed my bowel movements were weird, again making me anxious even more. Before all of this I was never anxious like this in my life. One night I ended up having blood in my stool (thought I had colon cancer as I was googling stuff non stop like crazy about this. I was googling symptoms about headaches when I had the headache as well which was stupid of me). I went to a Gastrointestinal doctor who told me I most likely don't have colon cancer and that we would do a colonoscopy to see what's going on. I got diagnosed with very minor ulcerative colitis in the rectum and that I wouldn't need to take meds for it which made me relieved knowing that it wasn't colon cancer. The GI doctor told me it was probably from when I was worried/stressed.

Now the night of my colonoscopy was done I noticed after I urinated my penis burned.. The next day it was gone and then a week later i've been dealing with these symptoms for the past 2 1/2 months: Dribbling after urination, pain in penis (sometimes, used to be at the tip but it's gone), burning after urination (sometimes), sitting is uncomfortable at times, and frequent need to urinate as well. I had a CT scan done which showed my prostate was normal, also had a prostate exam which was normal. Urologist gave me 2 weeks of antibiotics which didn't do anything. He also told me to take cipro for a month but I haven't. I'm going to do a semen test to rule out bacteria which is still hindering on me moving forward with TMS a little but I kinda doubt I have bacteria. I've been kinda depressed/anxiety has kicked in these past 2 months worried about the future and if i'm going to have this for the rest of my life. Does this sound like TMS to you guys?

 

Hi Messyz,

The pain and burning sensations in the penis aswell as the need to urinate can be the result of too much much tension in the pelvic floor muscles (muscles in the pelvic region). Reading your story it seems possible that you continuously tighten the muscles in this area without being aware of it. If this is the case then it is important that you learn how to relax the pelvic muscles, if you can't identify and relax these muscles yourself then there are physical therapists who are specialized in this area. Relaxing the pelvic floor muscles could greatly reduce or take away the pain around the penis/prostate.
If someone is constantly tightening the pelvic muscles without being aware of it, the cause is probably emotions/stress/TMS. So if this is true for you, then it's important that you write about things that add stress to your life, that you focus on painful emotions and feelings and think psychologically.
I hope this helps and that you recover soon, good luck!

 

Thanks, isn't the point of TMS to avoid physical therapy though? I feel like I was very worried about my health for 1-2 weeks prior to the "Prostatitis/CPPS" happening

 

Usually yes, and focusing on the physical aspect and symptoms can be a trap. But I think sometimes helping the symptoms can give you a boost, and in the case of tightening pelvic muscles, it helps people realize just how much tension is unconsciously generated.

 

i learned that the pelvis is very connected to the autonomic nervous system. As a result, it is very reactive to stress and emotions. My opinion on PT is that it can be a short term help, but pain will always come back if you dont address the mental part. I still go to PT, but i have reduced my sessions. I was obsessed and convinced i needed to go every week, and all it did was drain my wallet. I go less often now, but like i said, i think it's helpful short term, it just rarely cures pelvic pain.

 

I understand what both of you are saying. The thing is I don’t have pain that much if any and I’m not sure if it’s the low dose amitriptyline that’s possibly helping. But it’s mainly burning after urination (sometimes), dribbling urine after urinating (all the time) and feels uncomfortable to sit (kind of like sitting on something), weak flow. Also I never have both the burning and the uncomfortable sitting when I sit.. it’s one or the other.

Did the semen test and it came out with some type of skin bacteria that’s normal apparently on our skin. Freaked me out at first but I also asked Dr.Schubiner and he told me that it’s normal as well. Another thing on my mind has been to do a prostate fluid test now, well it kinda always has but the other urologist wouldn’t do it.

I talked to somebody else who had this same condition and he told me something that made so much sense... I told him my story and he told me exactly this:

“You will probably find something else to obsess about after the prostate fluid test”

As soon as he told me that I thought to myself wait a minute... my old urologist mentioned a cystoscopy but I declined it.. I haven’t done that Yet.. even though I’m 99.9% sure they won’t find anything on a cystoscopy..

He also told me:

“The TMS has latched on to you basically knowing that you won't go for it until the testing is done which means the testing has become part of your TMS”

“So your unconscious mind knows that you won't catch on until after the test so it uses the test as a distraction, which keeps it alive”

“You are in constant tension worrying about the test and what the outcome will be which keeps the tension in need for the symptom alive“

“Stress starts the symptoms, fear keeps it alive”

Again the above made so much sense as the doctors for the headache told me to get an MRI, once there was nothing wrong couple days later headache went away. Pooped a little blood and worried about it so much thinking that it was colon cancer. Got the colonoscopy done and got relieved knowing it was just minor inflammation in rectum, bowel movements back to normal.

This all is making so much more sense but deep down inside I feel like even getting the prostate fluid test is useless for the stupid bacteria that probably won’t even show up.. I do feel like it would make me relieved though and want to go ahead and do it and just to see what a second urologist would say. I definitely do not want to go through a cystoscopy though and don’t want to obsess about that either after this fluid test but deep down I know it will kind of bother like 1% maybe not getting that done either... any tips on this? Again, I doubt it’ll show anything, just might bother me..

 

Dear Mezzyz, first of all, you need to calm down. But you know that already. Probably it is TMS, the dribbling feeling, the pain when sitting, all this is very typical of stress related pelvic pain. You had some diagnostics, but may I ask: your urine had been tested? You had tests for STDs (also for ureaplasma and mycoplasma)? Ureoplasma and mycoplasma can make symptoms, but not necessarily. If all these tests had been done, you can be sure that there is nothing wrong. A cystoscopy is not really that bad, it’s in-office and doesn’t really hurt. It’s just uncomfortable. If you don’t have bladder pain it doesn’t seem necessary to me.
It is important that you get your mind free from thoughts and doubts about possible diseases. Therefore the first step is to rule out the possible physical causes. This done, the next step is to focus on the psychological side. Solely on that! Good luck!

 

Yeah I had clamydia and gonnorheah test, both negative. Urine culture also negative. Prostate exam also normal. Haven’t done the Ureaplasma and mycoplasma test but I will ask my urologist to get it out of the way even though I don’t think these are what’s causing it. Yeah I don’t have bladder pain just burning feeling after urinating sometimes like a couple minutes after and it lasts a good 20 seconds- 1 min or so just depends.

What’s making me think that it is TMS is the fact that a week or two before all this is when I was under some emotional stress/crying/worrying etc about my health

 

Well, I guess you just gave yourself the answer

 

i have been given a few different diagnosis. Interstitial Cystitis, a catch-all term for urinary pain, but inflammation is NOT necessary for bladder pain. It's in the nerves. Sometimes inflammation shows up as a secondary finding and there may be a link between nerve irritation causing inflammation, though it's pretty known that antiinflammatories rarely help long term bladder pain.
Pelvic floor dysfunction, which is basically abnormal tension throughout the pelvic floor, causing an array of symptoms, including that burning you speak of.
Pudendal Neuralgia. This can cause the sitting pain/sensations, and is usually felt in the rectum, perineum, and genitals.
i have ALL of this going on, but i have figured out it's TMS. It's so hard to get the idea of "its in my head" out of your head, but we have to remember that the brain is responsible for all pain. Even when you cut your finger, it's not the finger nerves feeling pain, it's the brain's interpretation of the cut, and sending a signal back to the finger. This is why you can have an injury with no pain, or pain with no injury. In the end, the brain decides.

 

Hi
I’ve had this symptoms for over 3 years. Just recently trying to recover via TMS. I have known about TMS for about 2 years, but have been scared from googling and prostatitis forums, so I was not ready before.
My ”prostatitis” started out after a very stressful event. Then I started to have the urinary urgency and then later the pain came. Started to search the internet and I got worse. Because there are so many out there that are convinced it is a hidden bacteria and I didn’t know what to believe. One advice: don’t google and go to these prostatitis forums. They are dark places. It’s good to go to the urologist and do the tests. You have done a semen test and that’s good. If you have checked the STDs mentioned also it’s good (they probably are not showing anything). Then try not to obsess about the bacteria trail like I did. Fear is our worst enemy!!!
It’s good that you have found the TMS wiki forum. This is your place to be! Do the SEP. Find your own evidence that this is TMS (I believe that most cases of ”prostatitis” is infact TMS)
The key is not to fear and go on with your life. Find something else to keep your mind occupied by. Do fun stuff. Like the old TLC song: Free your mind and the rest will follow (or; heal your mind and the rest is history)
But it can take time. Do this effortless! In time you will be healed!

 

joho123, so true!! what a great post! For me it was the IC forum that drove me nuts and made me very anxious. And yes, it takes some time. I first now (after 25 years) understand the whole dimension of this. Since I am actively doing the TMS approach (since one year) I am much better. So, yes, there is hope! In time we will be healed!

 

Thanks bro! Yes I know exactly what you mean... there’s a poster “carbonevo” that has posted on all those prostatitis forums mentioning positivite stuff and not all that other negative BS. That made me think about TMS, along with another guy named Kevin who wrote about his story with this condition and is cured. I am just doing one more test to rule out “bacteria” and put my mind at ease. I know it’s dumb to even think about having bacteria as a case but wanted to go see another urologist just to get a second opinion as well!

 

Do you have a link to Kevin's story?

 

Hi again. The good thing is that you came to tmswiki pretty early. A guy named
c90danwaiel on tmswiki inspired me. And there are a lot of others. Look at his success story. It has a healing effect to read other peoples success stories. Read one every day. Don’t bother to compare with other peoples symptoms. The cause is the same, TMS.
I realised that I have had TMS pain before in my life. It has always gone away when I stopped bothering. I realise I have had fears of deceases and that has created pain in my colon, my “kidneys” (or muscles), heartburn, blurry vision, dry throat/eyes etc. although I know the power of the mind can create this it’s hard to convince yourself every time this happens. Prostatitis has been the hardest so far. I think it takes time for me because I think I might have developed some sort of inflammation (not infection, I’ve checked that many many times ) because a long time of muscle contraction (my thoughts eventhough some say TMS doesn’t create inflammation, I think the muscles do)
But now I’m doing progress Today I have only peed twice the whole day
I try to concentrate on healing my mind, not my body.

Maybe you have had some other TMS symptoms before or not, it doesn’t matter. I don’t believe you should look at a special personality either. I think this could happen to anybody.
Keep going and don’t give up! I have had setbacks, but thats why you need to be 100% convinced of the TMS theory to succed, because the mind will set traps along your recovery journey.

 

This is his book: http://www.lulu.com/us/en/shop/kevin-robert-jarvis/personal-underworld-a-journey-through-tms-hard-cover/hardcover/product-3613978.html (PERSONAL UNDERWORLD - A Journey Through TMS - HARD COVER by Kevin Robert Jarvis (Hardcover) - Lulu)

 

i began having urinary urgency issues in august 2022 and went to the urologist who suspected Prostatitis. a TMS bell immediately went off in my head. i’ve been trying to deal with this using my arsenal of classic TMS recovery tools like
journaling, meditating, yoga and even psychoanalysis. it’s gotten a bit better but honestly it still quite dogs me. it’s lingering; and some days worse than others~ like a burning sour urgency at the tip of the penis and always feeling like i have to pee. it’s driving me a little crazy and i’m feeling a bit lost in trying to allow it to fade away. just had to throw out this rope
i’m case anyone had something inspiring to say~ thank you!

 

@Messyz

Hope you are well and I thought I would post a note for you to give you some hope. Two years ago I started having constant pressure in my rectum and urinary frequency. I was tested for a UTI and also went to my Urologist who also diagnosed me with prostatitis. I was given a month of Cipro and took it despite this feeling that I didn't really have an infection. After the Cipro was finished it didn't get any better. I was constantly focused on when I had to urinate and every little sensation in my rectum and pelvic floor. I was convinced I had some form of terrible cancer or something really wrong with me. This lasted almost a year and was a daily thing that I couldn't shake. I became incredibly depressed and pushed away from everything I love in life. I finally stumbled across a book called a Headache in the Pelvis. In a nutshell years and years of tension, stress, straining during bowel movements and anxiety can eventually cause oxygen deprivation in your pelvic floor which in turn kicks in a entire host of physical symptoms. They can get so bad that it's all you think about.

The good news I'm hear to tell you is that you can overcome. The first thing you have to do is get your anxiety and stress under control. That's step one. I cleaned up my diet (more fiber), continued to exercise daily, started daily meditation and yoga/stretching and about two years later that part of my TMS has essentially resolved. At this time last year I was going pee every hour or two due to anxiety and now I can go five to six hours with no worries at all. I would highly recommend getting the book above along with Dr. Sarno's work and start educating yourself. It's a journey for sure as at first I was convinced a pill would fix me in a day or two and that's not how TMS and pelvic floor dysfunction works. I'm battling through some other symptoms now but am confident I will be successful over the long haul. Hit me up if you have any questions.

 

i find this very helpful, just as a reminder~ to keep up the good work, relax, take care of myself, etc… it’s hard to remember all that when you’re suffering. the sense of urgency as a metaphor is something i’m working with; coming to terms with the need to achieve, to work harder, to get things done. those sentiments seem to somatize as urinary urgency. ugh~ it’s all annoying but it’s the work i must do.