There are different stages of prostatitis. They differ from each other in terms of clinical signs and characteristics of the course. The most effective is the treatment of the initial stage of the development of inflammation of the prostate gland. At this stage, the disease does not have time to greatly affect the work of the genitourinary system. The later a man with prostatitis consults a doctor for help, the less chance there is of complete recovery.
What is prostatitis?
Prostatitis is an inflammatory process that occurs in the prostate gland. More than half of the elderly male population is personally familiar with this disease. Doctors distinguish several forms of the disease, each of which proceeds in its own way. When making a diagnosis, urologists determine the type of prostatitis found in the patient. Inflammation can be bacterial or non-bacterial. Both pathologies have a negative effect on the work of the gland and neighboring organs.
There are 2 types of pathological process:
- spicy;
- Chronic.
Initial symptoms of acute prostatitis appear from the first days of the disease. If a man does not try to cope with inflammation, their severity increases. The chronic course is characterized by the absence of obvious signs of the disorder. Therefore, this form of prostatitis is usually detected during a regular examination by a urologist.
Acute prostatitis gives bright symptoms even at the initial stage, while chronic prostatitis does not manifest itself for a long time.
Stages of chronic disease
Chronic prostatitis is divided into several stages, if the man does not try to fight the disease, they follow each other. It can be hidden for several years. In this case, the pathology periodically worsens. Remission and relapse of the disease gradually replace each other.
How long the disease will be treated, what stage it can reach and whether it will be fully recovered depends only on the actions of the patient.
1 stage
The initial stage of the prostate is considered the safest for health. Therefore, doctors recommend starting treatment at this stage. But the difficulty is that the disease does not cause much concern at the beginning. A person does not always know that he is sick. If, for a number of reasons, the patient cannot overcome the pathological process in the prostate gland, he will go to a more difficult stage. Thus, the infection will persist until the causative agent is stopped by therapy.
Grade 1 prostatitis is characterized by mild symptoms:
- Body temperature rises to 38 degrees. After a while, it can increase to the 40 degree mark;
- Severe pain is felt in the area of hip joints;
- There is discomfort during bowel movements;
- The member becomes slower;
- You may notice colorless mucus during urination;
- pain appears during urination;
- The urethra narrows more, so you have to strain to empty the bladder;
- Frequent calls to the toilet at night begin to bother;
- Sexual intercourse is shortened.
All these signs are a good reason to consult a specialist. They will bother the man for up to 3 years. It is during this period that the course of the first stage of the disease is usually observed.
Symptoms of inflammation of the prostate gland will come and go, because at this stage the disease manifests itself in waves. It will seem to a man that the disease recedes, but after a while he betrays himself again.
Very often, patients do not finish the initial stage of inflammation in the prostate gland. For this reason, the disease becomes chronic. It is very difficult to fight this form of pathology. Treatment will take a long time and require a large investment. At the same time, there is no guarantee that the disease will recede after the therapeutic course is completed.
If a urologist goes through a series of diagnostic procedures, he can detect the initial stage of prostatitis in a patient. The disease is detected through such studies:
- palpation of the rectum;
- Secretion and sperm collection;
- general analysis of urine and blood;
- Sperm analysis;
- Ultrasound of the prostate gland.
Analysis of research results will allow the specialist to determine the disease and its cause. If the prostatitis turns out to be infectious, the man will be offered antibiotics and other drugs that help restore the affected prostate tissue and normalize its function. The non-infectious form of inflammation also requires drug treatment. Such treatment will be based on immunomodulatory drugs, dietary supplements, and rectal suppositories with anti-inflammatory effects.
If the initial stage of the disease continues in an uncomplicated form, the patient is prescribed physiotherapy in addition to diet.
Prostate inflammation in the early stage responds well to treatment.
2 stages
Grade 2 prostatitis is accompanied by a temporary weakening of symptoms. Many men perceive this condition as healing. They postpone visits to the doctor or stop paying the necessary attention to therapy. However, with such a diagnosis, the reduction of the inflammatory process is a bad sign. During the first stage of the disease, an increase in the size of the prostate is observed due to the active division of its cells. As a result, scars form on the walls. The rupture of blood vessels causes a violation of the blood supply of the prostate gland.
The second stage of prostatitis is usually accompanied by the following symptoms:
- Violation of biological rhythms;
- nervousness;
- pain when urinating;
- Heart problem;
- Aggravation of sciatica;
- Absence of orgasm;
- Lack of sexual desire.
At this stage of prostatitis in men, it is difficult to correctly determine the specific localization of the pain syndrome. At first, the pain is felt in the prostate. After spreading to all areas of the pelvis.
Patients with the 2nd stage of prostatitis are recommended to take immunostimulating drugs and participate in physiotherapy procedures. In order not to further complicate the situation, it is necessary to avoid hypothermia, give up bad habits and normalize nutrition.
It is very important to have a healthy lifestyle
3 stages
The third stage of the development of inflammation in the prostate gland brings the most problems. At this time, the man is diagnosed with a chronic form of prostatitis. At this stage, a serious change occurs in the tissues of the prostate. They begin to die quickly. Scars formed in the previous stages strongly compress the bladder. This leads to the development of urinary retention, which is an extremely dangerous complication.
In the 3rd degree of development, prostatitis causes the appearance of pathological changes in the kidneys and bladder. The danger is that they are irreversible. At this stage, men often complain of sciatica.
In the final stage of the disease, there are the following symptoms:
- Frequent urge to urinate;
- severe pain during urination;
- poor urine flow;
- Cutting in the region of the kidneys;
- Absence of a feeling of complete emptying of the bladder after going to the toilet.
The last stage of chronic prostatitis is considered the most dangerous. At this stage, the dead cells are replaced by connective tissue. This change causes the prostate gland to shrink in size and the urethra to narrow. Due to the malfunction of the system, cystic formations develop in men. It also develops impotence.
In the last stages of the disease, the patient's life is very complicated, as its symptoms are very obvious. Constant pain haunts him day and night. Often, for the first time, men turn to a urologist for such obvious symptoms of prostatitis. However, doctors do not guarantee getting rid of the pathology, even if the patient fulfills all the requirements, since irreversible processes have occurred in the gland. It is difficult for them to predict how inflammation will behave at a certain stage of development.
If the condition is severe and antibiotics do not bring significant relief, the patient is sent to surgery to partially or completely remove the prostate gland.
In the 3rd stage, the pain becomes severe, the changes in the organs become irreversible.
Acute stages of the disease
Prostatitis begins with acute inflammation of the glandular organ. It rises gradually. The prostate gland is affected by an infection that develops safely with a weakened immune system. Chronic prostatitis is observed in those who cannot cope with the pathology in its acute form. In this case, the man will not feel the special symptoms of the disease until he is in the acute stage.
Inflammation of the prostate gland caused by an infectious agent manifests itself from the first days of the disease. Therefore, this form of pathology is diagnosed earlier than chronic. Acute prostatitis is characterized by slightly different stages of development. Doctors distinguish 4 degrees of the disease, which follow each other.
catarrhal stage
At this stage, the inflammatory process begins in the prostate. Spread in ductal tissues of glandular lobules. There is a swelling of the prostate that continues to progress. At this stage, the man does not have purulent discharge, which may indicate an infection in the gland. He will be bothered by other symptoms:
- Frequent urge to go to the toilet;
- Painful urination;
- General weakness in the body;
- Changed psycho-emotional state;
- indifferent mood;
- Irritation.
Another distinctive feature of acute prostatitis in the 1st stage of development is the enlargement of the prostate gland. Although this symptom is also characteristic of the chronic course of the pathology. The doctor will be able to notice this feature during palpation of the problem area. Special analyzes allow to confirm the fears of a specialist. He must direct the patient to the delivery of prostate secretion to learn its composition. With prostatitis, an increased number of leukocytes will be found in the fluid. The doctor will also detect pus and mucus impurities in the sample.
Treatment of the catarrhal stage of acute prostatitis consists of taking a group of drugs that suppress inflammation and reduce the severity of the main symptoms of the disease.
With such a course of pathology, massage, like many other similar physiotherapeutic procedures, is strictly prohibited.
On average, the treatment of the initial stage of acute inflammation of the prostate gland takes about 2 weeks. During this period, the patient is completely cured of the disease. The positive result of the therapy is due to the fact that the pathology started before the moment when it could not lead to the development of irreversible processes in the organs of the genitourinary system.
Follicular stage
With the development of this stage of prostatitis, the swelling spreads to the follicles and excretory ducts of the prostate. Its structures begin to squeeze the neighboring tissues, which causes serious suppuration. The symptoms of the disease intensify and become more clear and noticeable. In this case, men complain of the following malfunction symptoms:
- Body temperature rises to 38 degrees and does not fall;
- indifferent mood;
- The appearance of pain in the groin;
- The spread of pain to the genitals, anal region and thigh joint;
- painful urination;
- Pain in the head of the penis;
- Defecation becomes difficult;
- Minimal urine output.
When examining the problem area, you can detect asymmetric growth in the prostate tissue. When examining the results of a urinalysis, the doctor will detect the presence of an excessive amount of pus and white blood cells in the sample.
It is very important to start urgent treatment of the follicular stage of acute prostatitis, otherwise a malignant process may develop in the structures of the glandular organ.
If therapy is ignored, there is a risk of developing cancer
Parenchymal stage
Prostate tissues are subject to permanent damage. For this reason, a large number of small pustules are formed in them. Urinary tract is further compressed. As a result, there is acute urinary retention. Other symptoms of the parenchymal stage are the following conditions:
- Painful defecation;
- An increase in body temperature to 39 degrees or more;
- constant feeling of thirst;
- loss of appetite;
- severe weakness;
- Chronic fatigue;
- difficulty urinating;
- Severe pain in the pelvis, anus and back;
- Flatulence and constipation.
Impurities of abnormal mucus begin to appear in the stool as inflammation affects the intestines. The gland is quite enlarged and its contours are blurred.
Stage of abscess formation
This stage of acute prostatitis is accompanied by a number of painful symptoms that prevent a person from leading a full life. They are more obvious than in the initial stage of the development of the inflammatory process. At this stage, small pustules merge into a whole. Purulent masses quickly accumulate in it. When it gets too big, it explodes. As a result, the accumulated pus comes out of the urethra. In the abscess stage, the patient suffers from the following symptoms:
- severe malfunction;
- Increase in body temperature up to 40 degrees;
- Passivity to any action;
- severe pain in the anus and genitals;
- Difficulty in defecation and urination.
A person with this condition may die if not treated adequately. It is very important to remove the abscess in order for the patient to feel better. Only after that, the main symptoms of the disease will begin to decrease.
Complications
The sooner the treatment of prostatitis is started, the less damage the inflammatory process will have on the body. Therefore, it is better to fight the disease at an early stage. However, not all men follow this recommendation, because many hope that the disease will go away by itself. Because of this, the disease progresses and leads to the development of unpleasant complications. A person who ignores the help of a specialist faces the following consequences of untreated prostatitis:
- The appearance of various inflammatory processes in the organs of the genitourinary system;
- Decreased sexual desire;
- Psychological disorders;
- infinity;
- Impotence.
It is not uncommon for men with prostatitis to have normal erections. It is for this reason that the sexual activity of the patient decreases significantly. In some cases, the absence of ejaculation is considered a complication. A man's penis can drop sharply. If such deviations are detected, it is necessary to visit a specialist to learn the nature of the violation and find ways to get rid of it.
Remember that the inflammatory process can actively spread to neighboring tissues and organs. Therefore, against the background of prostatitis, men additionally develop cystitis and urethritis. These diseases cause a violation of the flow of urine. The appearance of chronic incontinence is not excluded.
Impotence is considered by men as one of the most serious complications of acute or chronic prostatitis. With such a deviation, the ability to excite disappears. This is due to inflammation that interferes with the tissue nutrition process. Edema does not allow cavernous bodies to be filled with blood. Medicine has learned to treat this complication with long-term drug therapy. However, not all patients who have completed such a course are satisfied with the result.
The main reason for the development of infertility of the 1st degree is the so-called prostatitis. In this case, a variant of the disease in which the composition of the seminal fluid changes is considered. Cannabis changes its level of acidity and viscosity. All these deviations are detected during the examination of the sperm sample submitted for analysis.
Men with infertility problems should contact an andrologist. It will help you choose the best treatment.
If prostatitis is severe, then it will cause the appearance of 2nd degree infertility. This condition is not suitable for therapeutic treatment.
A man's psycho-emotional mood suffers a lot due to inflammation of the prostate gland. Frequent failures in the intimate area worry him. Against this background, depressions arise, which worsen the general condition of the patient.
More than 30% of patients diagnosed with prostatitis face psycho-emotional experiences. A psychologist helps them restore their male libido, which has decreased due to stress.
Impotence and infertility are common complications of the disease
Remission of chronic prostatitis
If the treatment of prostatitis is started, the patient can achieve its remission. This is the name of the condition in which the symptoms of the disease are significantly weakened or they completely disappear. Prostatitis in remission is determined in the majority of patients who have completed the full course of treatment. This period varies from person to person. If a man does not follow the doctor's recommendations, after a while the inflammation of the prostate will worsen. And then the patient will have to be treated again.
Species
Remission with prostatitis can be complete or incomplete. In the first case, after complete therapy, the man stops being bothered by all the symptoms of the pathology. He forgets them for a long time. Incomplete remission usually does not last more than 3 months. During this period, the patient may complain of minor symptoms that characterize prostatitis. For example, many continue to experience painful urination and discomfort in the pelvic region.
Duration
Even experienced doctors sometimes find it difficult to predict how long remission will last for a particular person who has been treated for prostatitis. This indicator is individual. The duration of this period directly depends on a number of factors:
- The causative agent of the disease;
- General condition of the body;
- Quality of treatment;
- The severity of the disease;
- Disease stage.
It is also taken into account how faithfully the patient follows the recommendations of the attending physician regarding the prevention of recurrence of prostatitis.
If a man fulfills all the requirements of a specialist and takes care of his health, his remission can last for several decades. Sometimes the disease disappears completely.
Forecast
If a patient who needs to be treated for chronic prostatitis begins to lead a proper lifestyle, passes control tests and regularly consults a doctor, as well as takes medication to prevent the recurrence of prostatitis, then his recovery will be favorable. forecast. In this case, the disease can never bother a person again.
If a man is still suffering from prostatitis, he should start treatment immediately. For this, you need to contact a specialist. A complete examination of the genitourinary system will help the urologist to choose the appropriate treatment that will stop the disease and eliminate the resulting complications.