Thanks for sharing your experiences and thoughts, it helps to hear others are dealing with it and finding favorable outcomes. Best of luck to you as well!
Here is what I ended up doing:
2 days on cipro (couldn't sleep, but seemed to work)
5 days on doxycycline (didn't work)
2 days back on cipro (again couldn't sleep, also didn't work)
4 days on bactrim (didn't do much)
10 more days on bactrim + flagyl
So basically 3+ weeks of antimicrobials. I have never taken Flomax and nobody has suggested it. I'm not sure what lifestyle changes I could make, other than perhaps having more regular ejaculations. I do 12 minutes on an exercise bike every day but other than that don't ride a bike.
Toward the end of the treatment things started to get slightly better, in that I might have a good afternoon once in a while and I was able to sleep better. After one full week of no treatment the cloud started to lift and I've now had one week with only mild urinary symptoms and basically no depression (which was the worst part). Now I'm under treatment for the GI after-effects of the antimicrobials.
I've been reading more about this disease, and by a strange coincidence the coordinating center for the big national studies of chronic pelvic pain (including prostatitis) is in my department, right down the hall from my office. Based on their work, there is some reason to believe that, except in those cases where there is an obvious infection (with fever, discharge, etc. that I never had), prostatitis is not an infectious disease at all. Moreover on other occasions when I've taken antimicrobials (for an arachnid bite, strep throat, bronchitis) they worked right away. So I'm inclined to agree with those scientists who are questioning whether there ia any role for antimicrobials in this disease, and whether they had any beneficial effect in my case.
Anyway, it's been a strange journey, and I'm glad to be coming out of the tunnel. I am hopeful that with serious and rigorous research we will get some new insights and possibly new treatments. Best of luck to you!
I'm a 54 year old male and have had similar experience with both doxycycline and cipro. The first time I had a prostititis attack cipro didn't work and doxycycline helped me after 2 full weeks. 18 months later I'm having another bout, this time its the other way around - Doxycycline didn't help and cipro seems to be working after 2 weeks.
Are you taking Flomax too? My prostititis problems seemed to start when I went on Flomax.
Sounds like we're on the same track - I'd love to hear how you're doing and what works. Have you tried any lifestyle changes? I've stopped biking, I suspect it may have triggered my latest case.
Hi,
In your case, acute infectious prostatitis usually need to take antimicrobial medication for 7 to 14 days. Almost all acute infections can be cured with this treatment. And it usually takes 3 days before the resolution of symptoms. However, if the second drug does not eliminate all your symptoms, inform your doctor for proper management. It may take a longer time before the effects could be seen depending on the dose. Or you may be shifted to a stronger drug with milder side effects.
Take care and regards.