A part of the Out in America Cities Network    Help    
Welcome to Out in America
Member Login:

Password:

Enable Auto-Login
Forgot your password?


Not a member?
JOIN NOW for Free!

Out in America > Home > Safe Sex Guide

SafeSexGuide
PROSTATITIS
PROSTATITIS

How Do You Get It (Exposure):

When bacteria from your urethra enter the prostate through a duct that connects the two, you can develop prostatitis. Putting unsterile toys or other objects into your urethra, or neglecting a urinary tract infection or urethritis (a sexually transmitted infection in your urethra) increases your chances of prostate infection.

Warning Signs (Symptoms):

Chronic prostatitis causes a dull pressure or pain in your rectum or pelvis, or a burning sensation when you urinate or cum. Acute prostatitis is much less subtle. What begins as a dull pressure quickly becomes severe pain, chills, high fever and an enlarged prostate that can block your urine from coming out. If you have these symptoms, see your doctor immediately.

Getting Checked Out (diagnosis) /Treatment:

Acute prostatitis is most often diagnosed from your symptoms and a rectal exam, which reveals your very tender and swollen prostate. Often doctors will identify the cause of your infection through culturing your urine to see which bacteria washes out. Chronic prostatitis is more difficult to diagnose. Many times, your prostate is not swollen and the tenderness is minimal, and urine cultures rarely help identify the offending bacteria. Most doctors treat you based on your history and symptoms.

If acute prostatitis is caught early enough, your doctor can prescribe up to a month-long regimen of common antibiotics to fight off the infection. If your infection has progressed too far, you may be admitted to a hospital and placed on intravenous antibiotics, which generally are stronger and work more effectively. If your prostatitis is extremely painful, talk to you doctor about painkillers to help you along until the antibiotics take effect.

Chronic prostatitis is treated with the same antibiotics used for the acute condition, only the treatment lasts much longer -- usually three months. Unfortunately, only 40 to 70 percent of men are cured, and perhaps not even permanently; the others relapse. To help with the pain, your doctor may give you a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication to take with your antibiotics.

If Left Untreated:

You can develop chronic prostatitis from an acute infection that was not completely cured, or from a mild infection that you probably never knew existed. This infection can become life-threatening in its acute form. And its chronic form can be, well, a pain in the butt to cure.

Prevention:

The best prevention for prostatitis –- chronic or acute -– is to keep bacteria from getting into your urethra and causing infection in the first place. Use a condom for oral and anal sex, don’t put unsterile objects, including sex toys, into your urethra, and if you have urethritis or a urinary tract infection, see your doctor for treatment before it develops into something worse.

Some doctors believe that fluids from your prostate can build-up and become an excellent place for bacteria to grow. Since these fluids are part of your semen, a good way to prevent this build-up is to ejaculate at least every other day.

Prevalence:

Several population-based cross-sectional surveys and series of clinical data from outpatient visits have shown that the prevalence of prostatitis symptoms is up to 25% (Moon 1997, Roberts et al. 1997, Pavone et al. 2000), whereas the prevalence based only on questionnaires and physicians’ diagnoses is reported to be between 4% and 11% (Moon et al. 1997, McNaughton-Collins et al. 1998b, Roberts et al. 1998, Nickel et al. 2001)


Safe Sex Articles
General Information
SEXUAL ACTS AND RISKS
SEXUAL ACTS AND RISKS Considered Completely Safe: Mutual masturbation Today, mutual masturbation is unquestionably the preferred sex act of the health conscious, or if you are unsure of yo...
CONDOMS
CONDOMS Why you should use one: When used correctly - and used every time you have sex - latex condoms provide some protection against sexually transmitted diseases, such as herpes, gonorrhea,...
DEPRESSION AND GUILT
DEPRESSION AND GUILT Unsafe Sex Among Gay Men Linked to Depression Homosexual men with long-term, low-grade depression are almost twice as likely to have had unsafe casual sex in the last six mo...
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
CHLAMYDIA

CHLAMYDIA Also known as: NGU, Nongonococcal Urethritis, UU, Ureaplasma urealyticum, Urethritis How you get it (Exposure): Unprotected sucking or fucking. It is often a sexually transmitte...

LYMPHOGRANULOMA VENEREUM

LYMPHOGRANULOMA VENEREUM (LGV) How You Get It (Exposure): LGV is transmitted in the same way as Chlamydia, through unprotected oral or anal sex or other sexual contact. Warning Signs (Symptom...

MOLLUSCUM

MOLLUSCUM How You Get It (Exposure): Molluscum spreads from one person to another during any close physical skin to skin contact. Though most often the transmition occurs during sex, the virus...

CRABS

CRABS Also known as: Pediculosis Pubis How You Get It (Exposure): Crabs are probably the easiest STD to catch. Usually they pass from one partner's pubic region to another's during close phys...

GENITAL WARTS

GENITAL WARTS Also known as: Condyloma, Venereal Warts, Anal Warts, Human Papilloma Virus, HPV How You Get It (Exposure): The human papillomavirus spreads between sexual partners during clo...

PROSTATITIS

PROSTATITIS How Do You Get It (Exposure): When bacteria from your urethra enter the prostate through a duct that connects the two, you can develop prostatitis. Putting unsterile toys or othe...

SCABIES

SCABIES Also known as: Sarcoptes scabiei How You Get It (Exposure): Although the infection can spread between partners during sex, any form of close contact is more than enough for the bug...

GONORRHEA

GONORRHEA Also known as: GC, "Clap", VD, "Drip", Urethritis, Pelvic Inflammatory Disease, PID How You Get It (Exposure): Gonorrhea is spread via sexual contact: specifically anal, oral or v...

SYPHILIS

SYPHILIS Also known as: VD, Louies disease How You Get It (Exposure): Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the corkscrew shaped bacteria (spirochete) Treponema pallidum. T...

HEPATITIS A

HEPATITIS A Also known as: Infectious Hepatitis How You Get It (Exposure): Hepatitis A passes between people via a "fecal/oral" route. Rimming an infected partner can give you the virus, ...

HEPATITIS B

HEPATITIS B How You Get It (Exposure): Hepatitis B virus can be found in an infected individual’s blood, semen and other bodily fluids. You are contagious before you know you are sick and for ...

HERPES

HERPES Also known as: Cold Sores, Herpes Simplex, Genital Herpes, Oral Herpes How You Get It (Exposure): Herpes is spread between partners during sex. There are rare cases described in med...

HIV/AIDS

HIV/AIDS How You Get It (Exposure): HIV is present in four major body fluids. They are: - VAGINAL - SEMEN - BLOOD - BREAST MILK HIV transmission is not possible without...