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Prostatitis from oral sex?

Several years ago, I received unprotected oral sex. Shortly after, I started to feel pain in my testicles.  I got tested for STDs, all negative. I then went to the urologist for an ultrasound and a urine sample, which came back fine. The pain has been a dull ache on and off since then. I’ve been on cirpo a few times. Recently though, the pain came back quite severely, and this time my doctor prescribed cephalexin, which I’m on now.

Now to back-track a bit: shortly after the instance of the oral sex, I engaged in unprotected sex with my new girlfriend, and this is where I really started to worry. Not long after we had sex (again, this was several years ago, so I can’t pinpoint how long exactly) she developed a severe yeast infection and was diagnosed with bacterial vaginosis (she also has PCOS). She’s been ok for the past few years, but last week my pain returned a couple of days after we had unprotected sex. Is there a link? Freaky timing.

My questions:

- is my unprotected oral sex encounter in any way related to my testicle pain?

- could I have gotten NGU (never had symptoms) for said oral sex encounter, and have passed it on to my girlfriend, causing her bacterial vaginosis? Could we have been passing something back and forth for the last several years? She gets UTI’s from time to time. Is that from me as a result of the unprotected oral sex with the first woman?

- are my symptoms in any way related to the unprotected oral sex from years ago? Can unprotected oral sex cause chronic prostatitis?

- chronic testicle pain, my girlfriends’s bacterial vaginosis and UTI’s - could all of this be the result of one session of unprotected oral sex?

- and finally, can excessive masturbation lead to prostatitis? I’ve read that “DHT, when found in excess, inflames the liver and prostate, causing chronic prostatitis.” Is this true?

Thank you so much.
3 Responses
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351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
I am glad some of your worries have reduced.

Well, if there was acidity of semen and presence of white blood cells in semen, then that would indicate infection and would need to be followed up with culture. It may not be worth testing for NGU but if there is no cause found for the pain, then this may be worth testing for. Epididymitis, orchitis, prostatitis etc may be inter related as infection of one may be passed through to other through ducts. So, any infection needs to be diagnosed and treated. Please follow up the possibility of fungal infection, BV and chlamydia infection.

Other than that if there is a history of testicular injury, wearing very tight clothes, going for hot sauna baths, excessive cycling causing nerve and blood vessel damage, excess alcohol use, use of certain prescription medications, drug abuse, radiation injury, obesity and emotional or physical stress, then this can be a cause of low sperm count.  A sperm count over 20 million sperm per milliliter is considered normal. A healthy count varies from 60-70 million sperm per milliliter. Sperm motility and morphology are the other factors that need to be considered.

My suggestion is that you consult a good infertility specialist as they can run specialized tests and help you in other ways. I am sorry, but beyond this, nothing  can be ascertained on net.
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Thank you so much for your incredilby detailed response... it’s very much apprectiated, especially since it feels as though we’ve ben through the ringer these fast few years.

I was never tested for NGU... I never experienced any symptoms, and I did in face get a semen anayasis done
(a few times actually as we are also trying to conceive). My sperm count was a little low, and that’s when the ultarsound was done that actually did find a small varicocele, and I since had it removed. Other than that, sperm was fine. But, the pain remains.

My doctor put my on cephalaxin since he thinks it could be epidermatitis (he said my testes felt like there was an infection of some sort). Is that related to prostatitis?  I have the sore back back, the fatigue, and lately I’ve been experiencing sharp, shooting pains in the region between my sroctum and rectum. Comes and goes, once every 2 or 3 weeks for a couple of seconds at a time.

But seeing as how it’s been several years since my unproteced oral sex encounter, is it even worth testing for NGU at this point, especially since my semen is and urine is fine? Can NGU last this long? Years?

Your reply also really made me doubt that my experience is related to our issues which is reassuring, so thank you again.
Helpful - 0
351246 tn?1379682132
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
Hi!

I can understand your worries and will try and answer all your questions based on the information that can be shared on net. Clinical correlation and investigations will have to be done by your doctor to reach a diagnosis.

1) Unprotected oral sex can pass on STD, bacterial and fungal infection, but this is a less common route of transmission of these infections than vaginal or anal sex. However, yes, bacterial and fungal infection spread this way. A lot also depends on the partner. If the partner was a sex worker then the chances of infection are high. If it was casual sex with someone known to you with a clean STD history, then chances are less. Also, yes, multiple sex encounters raise the possibility of transmission than a single encounter, but the possibility cannot be completely ruled out without culture and routine tests of urine and semen. Of this, urine analysis you had, but you probably did not have semen analysis—so this needs to be done. So, yes, oral sex can increase the risk of prostatitis, but is not the major cause of prostatitis.

2). Yes, NGU can be transmitted through oral sex, and so also bacterial and fungal infection. However, oral sex is a less known cause of passing these infections than vaginal or anal sex. But yes, if you have the infection, you could have passed any infection you have to your girlfriend. You will need a complete set of tests to rule out NGU, which you may already have got done. She may have got bacterial vaginosis from any other partner or if this is the first time for her then from this sexual experience. However, bacterial vaginosis also affects virgins; so, it is not actually considered a STD but a sexually enhanced disease.  It is really a far fetched idea that the oral encounter could have caused bacterial vaginosis. This is only possible if the woman fingered her vagina and licked it and then passed it you through oral sex. Again a pretty far-fetched idea as G. vaginalis which causes this usually does not remain alive in mouth for long—it mainly inhabits the vagina and penis. Similarly a virgin can also get vaginal fungal infection. So, it may be difficult to assess the source of infection if it is BV or fungal infection or even if it is NGU.
However, yes, you may be passing fungal infection or bacterial vaginosis or NGU like infection to each other and this may be the cause of recurrent UTI in her case.

3) As, explained earlier, it is difficult to assess whether your symptoms are due to the oral sex encounter or not. And yes, if not diagnosed and treated correctly, any prostatitis can become chronic, even if it was acquired through oral sex. First however, your doctor will need to establish whether you have prostatitis or not.

4) As explained earlier, chronic testicle pain, BV and fungal infection in your girl friend may or may not be due to the oral sex encounter. It is less likely to be the cause. However, if she has BV and fungal infection, then you both need to abstain from sex and get treated for BV and fungal infection. The chain of infection and re-infection can be broken only if both partners are treated simultaneously.

5) Excessive masturbation and DHT levels have been linked to prostate inflammation, but there no conclusive proof for this. If you masturbate a lot, then incomplete ejaculation may cause testicle pain.

Also testicle pain could be due to referred pain of kidney stones. An ultrasound of the lower abdomen will be able to rule out kidney stones. It could be due to varicocele or spermatocele. An ultrasound of the testicles will diagnose varicocele and spermatocele.

Apart from the ultrasound, get semen analysis done. You may need to test the PSA levels and get a digital examination of prostate. You may need specialized tests to rule out Chlamydia and other bacterial infections. Please consult your doctor regarding this.

Wishing you good health! Good Luck and take care!
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