I was healing good since 1 year back now and yesterday I woke in the middle of the night with a extremely tingling feeling in my balls and after I masturbated everything calmed down but the day after the burning in my rectum and ice cold feeling in my feets moving around, sometimes both legs are ice cold and this terrible burning which goes up and down in intensity.

Anyone else experience this ice cold feeling in feets and legs?

It's horrendous to live with and I need to sit down to urinate, can't stand anymore since 6 months back..

Will this ever go away? Is it neuralgia in the pelvic region, why this ice cold feeling and tingling, but this burning is a nightmare

Disclosure: firstly, this post is long as fuck, so I verbally word-vomited this into ChatGPT and then revised/proof-read to ensure accuracy of my thoughts and to save me from the carpal tunnel I'd incur from having to write this out from scratch by hand, and because I hate the way that AI-generated shit sounds.

Secondly, if you have been suffering from this condition and have ruled out bacterial infections and have yet to find an answer, I really want you to muster up the attention span and read through this.

Lastly, I haven't accessed this account in five years. I had a heap of DMs from strangers that wanted to discuss their issues with me from my last post, and I'm sorry, but I purposefully do not keep this account saved and don't have the capacity to help individuals. I really just want to avoid reddit altogether. So I'm trying to make this as detailed as possible with any open ends left clear enough where your own individual web searching should be tight enough to fill in the gaps.

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In 2021, I made a post about how I had fully recovered from what I had been calling “prostatitis.” I was diagnosed with "prostatis" after a grueling cystoscopy, when the doctor said "yeah, you're stuck with this for life. You should be dealing with this when you're 65-70, not when you're 20-30." He prescribed me antibiotics. I had temporary relief, went through a spiral, then ultimately started working on my stress, lifestyle, and environment. Regardless, I finally ended up finding relief at that time. Things got significantly better, and I made a post about it because we don't see enough of these posts on this sub.

That said, my recovery didn’t last forever.

Around New Year’s 2024, I had a bad injury. Fractured and dislocated my arm and immediately started suffering from a total-body flare-up. I was in complete dysfunction and was ultimately diagnosed with an autoimmune disorder (Hashimoto’s Disease) causing my entire body to go haywire. My stress levels were through the roof. I couldn’t sleep. I was chronically stressed physically, mentally, and emotionally. Zero cortisol regulation. Weight ballooned and gained 20lbs in one month. Full-on depression. At one point, I was borderline suicidal due to my inability to function.

And on top of all of that, my pelvic floor symptoms, the same “prostatitis” symptoms I had dealt with years earlier, came back with a vengeance.

I had a completely numb pelvic area, zero libido, erectile dysfunction, constant urinary urgency, and difficulty actually urinating when I actually needed to go. It felt like there was a grain of sand stuck at the very end of my urethra. My lower back hurt. My hips hurt. My perineum hurt like a bitch. Sometimes it hurt just to stand. My legs would get tired because I'd constantly have to shift weight from one to the other just to get some relief.

I also developed hard flaccid, which severely affected the size and quality of my erections. My scrotum had shrunk up and my semen volume was nearly nonexistent. Between the pain, urinary problems, sexual dysfunction, and lack of sleep, it was affecting basically every aspect of my life.

(***See edit at footer for more symptoms)

It also became a huge mental burden and affected the relationship I was in at the time (to be clear, that wasn't because my partner was angry with me for having physical or sexual problems. It was because I had become so depressed, stressed, and negative from dealing with this constantly that it spilled over into the relationship — irrelevant to the big picture here).

It was a living hell.

I spent a huge amount of 2024 learning everything I could about my autoimmune disease, and eventually got that under control. That helped considerably.

But I was still left with all of this pain, a non-functioning penis, and annoying bladder issues.

What made it especially frustrating was that five years earlier, when I wrote my original post, my recovery had seemed relatively straightforward. Back then, I figured out how much stress was contributing to the problem, so I thought that was all I needed to focus on.

I tried to do it all over again. I mediated, journaled, eliminated vices, ate healthy, exercised, did reverse kegels, and eliminated all controllable external stressors.

This time, it just wasn't doing anything for me.

I was incredibly confused because I had already been through this once and thought I knew what recovery was supposed to look like.

After dealing with these crippling symptoms for over a year, and out of desperation, I called a local pelvic floor physical therapist.

That was probably the most important decision I could've made.

The therapists I worked with opened my eyes to my conditions and genuinely gave me my life back. To you guys: we're constantly focusing on prostate health but in so many cases, it's pelvic floor dysfunction. Like, entirely a pelvic floor issue and not at all a prostate one.

Treatment involved pelvic floor physical therapy (internal and external massage work), nervous system regulation, specific stretching, and *controlled*, specific exercise.

From everything I experienced and learned through this process, I think a lot of younger men dealing with these symptoms (especially when doctors aren't finding an infection or bacterial cause) should at least consider the possibility that their pelvic floor is involved. In my case, I was dealing with a chronically tight, overactive pelvic floor. Hypertonic is the word I believe.

You hear about pelvic floor dysfunction much more often with women. There are entire communities of women talking openly about it and getting treatment for it. You don't hear nearly as much about men. But the therapists I worked with treat plenty of men, and many of them are dealing with the same kinds of symptoms I see guys describing in this community. The sexual dysfunction, hard flaccid, urinary problems, pain and discomfort, all of it.

So with all of that said, here's what actually helped me this time around.

1. Internal pelvic floor work

This was probably the biggest thing missing from what I had done five years ago.

You can technically do internal trigger-point work yourself, but I strongly recommend seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist that has worked with men (if you have access to one, otherwise just find a general PF therapist). At least I think you should do it initially, at least one visit. Having someone who actually understood the anatomy, could identify what was tight, and could tell me what I was doing right or wrong was invaluable.

For men, doing this yourself generally involves a pelvic wand. A therapist will likely use their finger.

It basically involves using said-wand/finger to apply pressure in all the different directions around the anal sphincter. Almost exactly like a clock face with 12 positions.

And yeah, I know exactly how appealing that sounds. As a guy it felt fucking weird to me too. But guess what, you stop giving a fuck about these things if it means you can get your life back. There are crucial areas of muscular tension that you simply cannot reach by doing external work alone.

One thing my therapist emphasized was that this should not be extremely painful. If I had to put it on a 0-5 intensity scale, with 5 being seriously painful, I was generally working around a 2 to 2.5. A 1 would be barely feeling anything, 2 would be a strong sensation, and 3 would be mild discomfort.

You aren't trying to beat the muscle into submission. More pressure isn't automatically better. But doing this consistently is pivotal to free up the internal stress that's choking your pelvic floor. The muscles trapping your nerves, your bladder, and your sexual organs.

And the relief is both immediate and long term. From my own experience, I was so tense during the first session that they couldn't even do internal work. On the second session, after doing internal work, it was like the light at the end of the tunnel shot into existence like a space ship coming out of hyper drive.

Happy to be graphic here, but after my first session of internal work, not only did my bladder calm WAY the fuck down, but I had a completely involuntary and SUPER healthy erection that evening. It was like the hard flaccid had immediately disappeared.

But to set proper expectations, the success was on-and-off in an upward trajectory. This is something that requires consistency and should be approached with the expectation that 100% recovery *without* maintenance work can take over a year.

Took me about that much time.

2. Abdominal massage and calming everything down

My physical therapist also did a lot of external manual work. This included deep abdominal massage, work around the inner thighs, the pubic area, the hips, quads, calves, buttocks, and IT band.

This ended up being huge for me. This is all we focused on in my first session (because they couldn't do the internal work I'd just mentioned above) and even JUST from this alone, I felt immense immediate relief.

They also recommended a shiatsu massager. I was given one with the brand name Zyllion, but you could just look up any device that looks and operates identically. It's marketed as a neck/back massager, but I use it on my abdomen, and this thing has been a fucking godsend.

I put it on something with some give, usually my bed or couch, lie face-down over it, and gently let some of my body weight press my abdomen into it.

"Gently" is important here. Like in my PT sessions, you don't want to go beyond a "3" out of 5.

When I first started doing this, my abdomen was incredibly sensitive and tight. The closest comparison I can make is foam rolling when you're extremely tight. At first, even moderate pressure can feel intense.

I usually position the massager sideways across my abdomen and gradually move it around. I'll work from just below my sternum down do the very bottom of my abdomen. Sometimes I'll rotate it vertically so it fits more comfortably between my hip bones and work down toward the lower abdomen above the bladder/pubic area.

I usually do about 10 minutes, especially before bed.

I can't tell you the exact physiological mechanism behind why this works so well for me, and I don't want to pretend I can. My PT discussed the nervous system and vagal activity with me, but what I can say confidently is that I can physically feel my abdomen and the rest of my body relax while I'm doing it. It has also been extremely helpful for my urinary urgency and sleep.

It became one of the most reliable ways for me to get my body to calm the fuck down.

3. Belly breathing

This sounds almost insultingly obvious if you've spent any time reading about stress or nervous-system regulation, but deep diaphragmatic breathing has been massive for me.

I often do it while using the abdominal massager, but I also do it on its own.

The basic idea is to breathe slowly through your nose and let your abdomen expand instead of taking a shallow breath into your upper chest. I'll inhale slowly for roughly 5-10 seconds, pause briefly, and then make the exhale slightly longer than the inhale. So if I inhale for 6 or 7 seconds, I might exhale for 8 or 9.

I do that for about five minutes with no phone or other distractions.

I especially do it before bed, when I'm anxious, or when I notice myself physically tensing up.

The other important thing I learned is that diaphragmatic breathing naturally helps me let go of tension in my pelvic floor. The sensation is somewhat similar to a very gentle reverse Kegel, except I'm not sitting there consciously trying to force a reverse Kegel. I'm focusing on the breath and allowing my abdomen and pelvic floor to relax with it. That's basically your pelvic floor dropping, which is important to work on, because a hypertonic/tight PF struggles to drop at all.

4. Stretching the right things

Stretching still helped me. It just wasn't enough on its own.

In the past, most of my routine consisted of hamstring stretches, quad stretches, hip-flexor stretches, and cobra stretches. Those still give me relief, and I haven't stopped doing them.

One stretch my PT added that helped a lot was a single leg, cross-body hip/IT-band type stretch.

I lie on my back, raise one leg straight up, put a band (or something as simple as a belt) around my foot, and gently pull that leg across toward the opposite side of my body while trying to keep the rest of my body relatively flat. I keep the stretching leg mostly straight.

I feel this heavily through the outside of my hip. You're targeting your IT band/abductors.

I don't force it. I'll accumulate roughly a minute or two on each side, whether that's shorter 10-30 second holds or longer holds depending on how I feel that day.

In general, I've had the most benefit from consistently working my hips, hip flexors, abductors, hamstrings, calves, and surrounding areas rather than obsessing over one magical pelvic-floor stretch.

5. Strengthening what was weak

This was another piece I had underestimated.

I needed to strengthen my glutes, including more than just the glute max. I started putting more attention into the muscles around the sides of my hips, including the glute medius and the muscles involved in hip abduction.

I also started doing low-intensity core work.

Planks are an obvious example. Dead bugs are another.

The key for me was low intensity.

Light hip thrusts. Light abduction movements. Easy core exercises. Controlled movements with good form.

Which brings me to probably the hardest lesson I had to learn.

6. I had to completely change how I exercised

I've loved working out for basically my entire life, so this was a tough pill to swallow.

My body was constantly rejecting hard exercise.

I was used to training hard, pushing sets close to failure, and thinking about exercise in terms of progression and building muscle. When my symptoms were at their worst, I couldn't approach exercise that way anymore.

If you're accustomed to taking sets to failure or stopping 1-3 reps short of failure, this can feel completely backwards.

I had to stop thinking about exercise as training to build muscle and start thinking about it as practicing quality movement and maintaining conditioning.

At my worst, the goal was basically to do the minimum amount necessary to keep my body moving and get some of the benefits of activity without leaving myself physically wrecked afterward.

Walking was great for me. With resistance training, I used extremely light loads, bodyweight movements, assisted movements, and simple compound exercises. I wasn't doing the traditional three or four hard sets of an exercise and trying to progress every week, just 1-2 sets at "50-65%" intensity.

I wanted movements I could perform with clean form without straining, grinding through reps, or turning the workout into a major stress event.

The way I started thinking about it was that my body had an extremely low threshold for physical stress. Every time I blew past that threshold, my symptoms would flare. My pelvic floor would tighten back up, the urinary and sexual symptoms would get worse, and I'd feel like I'd gone backwards.

I can't stress this enough. My symptoms would flare up like CLOCKWORK if I pushed myself in the gym. Every time I thought "I've been feeling fine for the past couple of weeks, I'll push it just a liiittle more today," my "prostatis" symptoms would come back the next day and linger for that week.

So instead of constantly blowing through that threshold, I started approaching it slowly.

Do a little. See how my body responds. Recover. Do a little more.

Over time, the goal is to gradually increase how much physical stress my body can tolerate without triggering that huge response.

This requires patience, especially if you're somebody who loves working out. You still need movement. You still need activity. But when your system is this aggravated, trying to prove that you can train the way you used to can just keep digging the hole deeper.

Putting all of this together

If I had to boil down what actually changed my recovery this time, it would be:

1. Internal pelvic floor work, ideally with initial guidance from a pelvic floor PT who treats men.
2. Abdominal/manual work and relaxation, including the abdominal massager that worked extremely well for me.
3. Diaphragmatic breathing and learning how to actually let my pelvic floor relax.
4. Consistent stretching, particularly around my hips and legs.
5. Low-intensity strengthening of my glutes, hips, and core.
6. Staying active without constantly exceeding what my body could tolerate.

The biggest mistake I made was thinking I could solve this by just stretching harder, exercising harder, or finding the one perfect movement.

My recovery this time required working on the actual pelvic floor while also dealing with the fact that my entire body had been wound up for a very long time.

And again, this is just my experience. I'm not saying every guy with prostatitis symptoms, CPPS, hard flaccid, ED, urinary problems, or pelvic pain has the exact same thing I did. But what I can CERTAINLY tell you is that I've had every single one of these horrifying, debilitating symptoms, and as of writing this today, I am completely, 100% symptom free and have to do absolutely nothing to maintain.

I'm just normal and healthy again. The guy down there works as well as he did when I was in my teenage years (honestly better than I can ever recall). I don't have to go to the bathroom from midnight to 4AM. I don't have any pain in the region at all. It just works as it should.

So again, if your tests keep coming back normal, nobody can find an infection, and you're stuck in the same cycle I was in, I really think it's worth finding a pelvic floor physical therapist who actually works with men and getting evaluated.

I hope this helps somebody.

***Edit: In case someone’s reading this post or ends up searching for key words/symptoms and finds this down the road, here are more symptoms that I neglected to mention. If you find similarities, it might urge you to take these suggestions more seriously.

- Constipation: extremely common with pelvic floor issues. Note that straining on a toilet is TERRIBLE for your pelvic floor and will exacerbate your symptoms. Focus on fiber and hydration in the short term.

- Hemorrhoids: had these on and off due to the above constipation. Frustrating but easily treatable with OTC solutions. A sharp reminder that I had to stop straining at the toilet and minimize general toilet time as much as possible (stop toilet camping on your phone). Treat them quickly as I personally felt like they increased general inflammation in that area which contributed to heightened chronic pelvic inflammation (I might be wrong; it could just be that they showed up when my PF was at its worst).

- Varicocele prominence: I was convinced that my visibly-thrombosed varicoceles were the source of my pain and inflammation. These would always show up when my “prostatitis” symptoms were at their worst. Had them scanned via ultrasound. Doc said I had them, but way too low grade to be taken seriously. Was so close to reaching out to a specialist surgeon. Even considered going to the Mayo Clinic to have them figure this out with the assumption that I’d need surgery. These all “went away” (at least superficially) after I addressed my pelvic floor. Probably a byproduct of the muscular constriction around circulatory pathways. Just my guess.

- Hard Flaccid: just adding some basic detail for anyone coming across this term for the first time. Imagine your penis basically shriveling up. No joke, feels like as much as 30% smaller at its worst. Penis gets cold, darker, and discolored. Skin gets tough, loose, sometimes wrinkled. Almost bruised in complexion and generally unhealthy in appearance. Usually a lot of lost girth. Feels tight and wound up, like the skin isn’t as elastic as it should be. It’s mentally debilitating to experience. This completely went away after addressing my pelvic floor and it feels like your penis Benjamin Button’d its way back into its healthy former self.

- Lower back pain: crippling lower back pain, typically just above one of the glutes. I addressed this with specific stretches — quadratus lumborum (QL) stretch (look up QL doorway stretch by MoveU channel), basic latissimus dorsi (lats) stretch (look up lat doorway stretch), and pigeon pose.

I’ve had this weird urinary sensation for years and I’m curious if anyone has experienced the same specific thing and recovered/improved.

I basically don’t feel the normal sensation of my bladder gradually filling anymore. After I pee, I’ll usually get some relief, but within 20–30 minutes I start feeling the “need to pee” sensation inside my urethra/penis instead of my bladder. As more urine builds up, that sensation gets stronger.

Before this started, my urge was completely normal and came from my bladder. Now I don’t feel actual bladder fullness/sensation. It seems to have started after a UTI episode and never went back to normal.

Has anyone had this exact issue and eventually gotten their normal bladder sensation back? If so, what helped you specifically? Stretching, strengthening, pelvic floor PT, myofascial/trigger point work, medication, stress/anxiety treatment, or something else?

Really interested in hearing from anyone who had the urethral focused urge specifically, not just general urinary frequency.

Hello everyone. 32 male here (of course lol). So I finally saw a urologist last week and was told I have pelvic floor dysfunction. But I don’t know if they did enough testing so I’m just asking here. To not the urologist I saw is really damn good and been doing it for years and his practice has great reviews (and he’s located at my community hospital). So a timeline of events. I was totally fine I feel up until July 13th when at night I noticed I felt I had to pee but little urine was coming out. And note, I do smoke a THC weed dab pen at night for anxiety/recreation, and I feel like sometimes before this it’d tense up my pelvis when I had to pee, but not always, just if I was getting anxious. I also have bad anxiety and stress, and I’ll get to that. So July 8th I was mowing my lawn and it was hot and I literally chugged like 4 bottles of water but still wasn’t getting the need to pee when if I drink even 2 water bottles back to back I usually gotta go a few times. It started making me nervous but then I finally urinated and it felt normal. I can’t totally recall the next few days but I don’t know if I really worried about my urinary symptoms, but on July 9th the day after I had a really stressful thing happen to me that I was constantly worrying about even before then, and on that same day I weirdly slipped stepping over a guardrail you’d see on a road, and did this weird stretch catching myself. I didn’t feel any pain or anything after it, maybe some groin ache that was very minor? I should also mention on July 4th I did lift this heavy wooden dog house but felt no pain really afterwards but I don’t know if that hurt my pelvis so thought I’d throw it in here. I went to a family party that day and was drinking (I don’t drink really, just social occasions) and was peeing normal and felt normal.

Anyway, July 13th I started worrying about my urination since it felt like I had to give a tiny push for it to start and felt like the stream was kinda weak, and this pelvic pressure I started feeling. I went to my local urgent care since I couldn’t get in to my new PCP until July 31st, and at the urgent care my urinalysis was negative but he mentioned a trace amount of blood was found but nothing to really be worried over and sent it for a culture to test for STIs too even though I really wasn’t worried since I’ve only been with my girlfriend since 2022 and she’s my only partner I’ve had. The next day I called and they said my culture was negative for any infection and or STIs. He put me on some antibiotic that day just in case and I only took one (think it started with a P), and he said after the urine culture I don’t have to take it. I was still feeling the strain to urinate sometime (not like have to push hard but felt like I had to give it a little oomf to start sometimes). And I still got the pelvic pressure (was never really a huge pain, just this pressure feeling). So I went to the ER Thursday July 16th and I feel that’s when I’ve just been a wreck since. They did a CT scan and bloodwork and my bloodwork was fine, but the CT scan which they initially did thinking it was kidney stones showed I had a mildly enlarged prostate (3.9cm x 5.4cm as shown on my results). The ER nurse put me on ciprofloxacin for 3 weeks and to follow up with a urologist. But everything in the CT scan was great, and my kidneys, liver, bladder and all were working normally.

I have horrible health anxiety too so all this that night sent me into a spiral. I was constantly calling the ER back to ask questions (they were busy and understaffed kinda that night so felt like I was pushed out fast since I wasn’t urgent which I get), and I looked up cipro and saw how bad it can be and that scared me even more since I took a dose that Thursday night at the hospital, and I took the two doses Friday and one Saturday morning that week and then I stopped, since I was directed to use the Galileo health app and I had 3 clinicians on there go over my lab results from the ER and urgent care and they told me I do not have to be taking cipro since I didn’t show any signs of infection in my body. So I stopped as I said saturday night and that Saturday one of the nurses on Galileo put me on tamsulosin 0.4mg. I’m not 100% sure it helped but maybe it did in some ways, since I stopped taking it after my dose this Tuesday since my urologist said I could and see how I feel, but I feel I’ve got a bit more pressure than I did, but even a week before when I was on it I felt that pressure and “a little push/weak stream” after smoking (so like 2/3 days before my urology appointment). I also noticed after the ER I started to dribble a lot more, like id have some urine leaking 5-10 minutes after going. Again I mainly notice more leaking when I’m high. Also I’ve been taking clonazepam for 3 years straight for my anxiety. And due to my anxiety and stress I’d sometimes poop a lot or get constipated and have hemorrhoids, especially during high stress times. Well, anyway, I was extra stressing and losing sleep since then wondering if my prostate was enlarged or inflamed. My new PCP finally got me in earlier on July 23rd, and we talked about my anxiety and how I should start weaning off clonazepam and he put me on buspirone but I haven’t fully committed to that yet since my anxiety comes on fast and I need something fast acting. They did bloodwork and a urine test and I got called on Monday that next week saying my bloodwork was fine (only my “bad” cholesterol was a bit high and to just cut back on processed foods), and got a diabetes test and was fine on that. So all I could do now was wait until August 11th for my urology appointment which was mentally and physically draining on me.

So August 11th came, I went to my appointment and I did the flow meter thing first, and I really had to pee since I drank two bottles of water to make sure I’d pee. I thought my stream was pretty good, and I peed for a good 15-30 seconds. The nurse did her stuff and was going to do the post void ultrasound but I really had to go again due to the water, so I went again and she did the ultrasound and my bladder was empty, and she said that’s good. So basically then I just waited for the urologist to come in and hopefully get more answers through testing to clear my mind of anything horrible. He came in, very friendly and saw I was nervous and told me to sit in one of the regular chairs. I explained my stuff to him, and he said confidently with a smile I’m fine, that my prostate wasn’t inflamed but enlarged and it’s only very mild he said (again the CT scan measured it at 3.9cm x 5.4cm). I thought he would do some new testing but I guess he just went by my CT scan from the ER (again the urology I went to is located and affiliated with my local hospital). He told me I had pelvic floor dysfunction, he said I empty my bladder great, but I do have a weak stream, and gave me a video he recommends to patients to do at home and to see him again in three months to see how it is, but I actually called the office today and requested to be referred to a physical therapist since I don’t feel confident in myself enough to feel I’m doing the exercises right.

So I’m basically just asking anyone else’s opinions on my symptoms Since I’m such a hypochondriac and hate it. I’m seeing a therapist September 2nd so hopefully that can start helping My mental health. But basically every day I just worry about my urination. I dribble after I go now, and sometimes will even leak a bit when I’m high at night watching a movie with family, I have this pelvic pressure that’ll go away for a few minutes after I pee but then start coming back, and then I have this little tingling like I have to pee in the tip of my urethra, and sometimes if I go it’s just a really weak stream that dribbles out for a few seconds. If I chug water then I’ll go at a good stream (which I guess is still considered weak since it feels the same like when I went at the urologist). The urologist said my prostate isn’t affecting my urinating, and guess he can see that from the CT scan? I also rescheduled a post void ultrasound for September 17th since it hit me I urinated and did the flow test while I was on tamsulosin so my mind is telling me since I, not taking it anymore I’m not emptying my bladder. I don’t know how true that is lol. But I don’t really wake up at night to pee (when I am able to sleep). Like I go to bed late but when I wake up I have to eve but I can lay in bed for a bit holding it. And also just my stream feels weak, especially the last few days. I mean, like I said when I drink water and stuff I’ll pee fine and it’s not difficult to really pee, but I noticed sometimes it feels it has to go over a “bump” in my pelvis to start, although that was yesterday and really haven’t felt that today. I just get that feeling in my urethra I have to go and that pressure in my pelvis. But then I still know when I REALLY have to go and it’s not just some phantom urge where not much will come out. Also I’d mention that I do masturbate frequently, even before my girlfriend, and I noticed that either due to performance anxiety or clonazepam affecting me, it can take an hour for me to finish, and a Lot of the time recently with my girlfriend I didn’t even finish and had pelvic pain from not finishing before all this started and sometimes masturbating can take a while if I feel a little anxiety. While on tamsulosin I did have ejaculation side effects, sometimes dry orgasms/retrograde ejaculation, or my semen would be clear and not much comes out, or sometimes it could be normal. Now that I’m off tamsulosin my ejaculation and semen is normal, a lot comes out so that would make me think a prostate issue isnt a problem? Sometimes I feel a little ache around my groin/pelvis area after, maybe two or three times since this all started in mid July, but usually no discomfort.

Anyway, I’m sorry for the wall of text but any sort of opinions or advice right now would be welcome. Like I also learned through Google that my prostate has probably been mildly enlarged for a few years since it doesn’t just grow in a few months, since I also had a CT scan in April when I went to the ER for gastrointestinal issues and they didn’t bring it up at that point. But they were looking for stomach issues so probably paid no mind to a mildly enlarged prostate. Is 3.9cmx5.4cm pretty mild though? And do you think my urologist did enough? I thought there’d be more tests but he seems confident it’s pelvic floor dysfunction but that Mainly seems to affect women? I guess physical therapy will only tell. I just want to stop worrying about it all the time since it just makes it worse. Like I just went to the bathroom and urinated for a good 10+ seconds and felt like I emptied my bladder. So I also just keep stressing if I’m emptying my bladder still and it wasn’t only due to tamsulosin At the urologist. And I did see the little uroflowmetry chart and if I saw right, the blue line was like a bunch of small waves up and down, which signals it’s not prostate issue but pelvic muscles? I read that prostate line would just stay flat, my went up and down, even though it’s weak.

I'm in central Illinois but at this point will travel anywhere. 7 urologists so far and all are clueless for one reason or another.

My latest one has been the best but doesn't treat the bacterial side or even test for it at all aside from basic urine samples.. I fought hard with my 6th urologist to order a semen culture. I had to locate a lab who would test. His office was clueless. It took 6 months but I found one and it came back positive for bacillus.

My 7th urologist looked at it and said he has never seen this in 25 years of his practice. He has referred me to a infectious disease doctor. I am awaiting my 1st appointment.

All of this started after a crazy but of jock itch. So bad it discolored my upper inner thighs and I had open sores from scratching so hard. Cured it with using a bidet, laying naked with open legs near a fan and wiping occasionally with alcohol wipes. Took just under a month.. prostate symptoms started soon after 3 years ago.

Psa has been a roller coaster. 3.2 at the start. As high as 5.9 and currently 4.8 but symptoms are the worst currently.

1 year ago my semen turned clear and watery. Just this month I started having close to dry orgasms. Very little output.

The main symptom that has been constant is urine flow thats weak and completely stops when I push out to try and make it stronger. Opposite effect...

My wife has had 4 miscarriages in this span. She has also developed issues with yeast and ecoli after trying to conceive. I was put on antibiotics previously but wondering if we were giving it to each other without being simultaneously treated.

I can not find a doctor to take bacterial or fungal infections seriously. Even with my latest semen culture they are just pushing me off to someone else..

I'm hoping to find a urologist who will perform a 2 cup or 4 cup urine / prostate fluid test? Also possibly testing for fungal infections like candida. I don't believe there is an accurate test for this which is why I'm getting the run around but I'd like to try a quick 1 or 2 week trial of fluconazole and see if it helps.

Yes I have seen pelvic floor therapy. About to try a 3rd. None will do internal work so far. My 2nd straight up told me I seem fine just slightly imbalanced. She said nothing she can do will help my prostate inflammation. So I never went back. Still hoping to find someone better.

My semen culture has seemed to open a new door and im hopeful this infectious disease doctor will work with me better.

My stats 46 years old, 6'6 220lbs. Just over a healthy bmi but I do have extra abdominal fat I need to lose.

I've had 2 MRIs. 1st showed 50cc. 2nd a year later showed 40cc. Weight loss seems to have helped mass but has never help symptoms as they have gotten worse.

I was diagnosed with ADHD and and trying vyvanse. About to get a MCAS diagnosis. Im also on Dupixent and Mirtazapine. Going to ask for Ketotifen and or cromolyn sodium next for that but hoping losing another 20lbs will do some good.

I've asked to test for sibo and my gi doctor is clueless.

I'm giving gut issues for 2 years now. Mushy poop that breaks apart and creates a cloud when flushed. The ONLY thing that seems to firm things up a bit is consuming a massive amount of milk. My urine turns cloudy from too much phospate of unfiltered milk throughmy kidneys (I have horseshoe kidneys and have to watch them)?? But its the only time I will have a slight part of my poop solid and normal. Nothing else does this.. my body does feel better eating junk food though. Candy and pastries. I wonder if its because I'm feeding yeast???

Anyways. Can someone recommend a urologist anywhere in illinois? I'm on medicaid and willing to travel anywhere in the state

Hello guys, I’m 30M.

I’m hoping someone can help me understand what this might be.

For years, I’ve had a constant feeling of anxiety, tightness, or discomfort in my lower abdomen—around the area behind or slightly below my belly button, deep inside.

It feels almost like a nerve is being triggered. Whenever I try to do something, even something very simple like replying to a friend, picking something up from the ground, or doing a normal task, I can feel the sensation in that area. It’s very annoying and sometimes makes me want to avoid doing anything just so I don’t have to feel it.

Sometimes I stay in bed or sit in a chair for hours because moving around seems to trigger the sensation. I’ve also noticed that it affects how I interact with people—I become less talkative and have less to say when I’m experiencing the discomfort.

I don’t have any urinary problems. The main issue is this constant internal discomfort/tightness.

Location: Deep inside, behind or slightly below the belly button, around the lower abdominal/hypogastric area.

I’ve noticed that the sensation becomes noticeably stronger a few hours after masturbation, especially if I also haven’t slept well.

The strange thing is that I’ve had this for years. If I avoid masturbation for about a week, the discomfort gradually improves. However, when I masturbate again, it eventually comes back.

Has anyone experienced something similar? What could cause this? Does it sound like a nerve, muscle/pelvic floor issue, or something else?

I know nobody can diagnose me online, but I’d really appreciate hearing from anyone who has experienced similar symptoms or knows what might be worth investigating.

Hey there. I’m a 23yo male. About a month ago, I started experiencing symptoms such as discharge, a burning sensation in my urethra, and pain/discomfort in the rectal area. I thought it might be an STI, so I immediately went to a urologist to get it checked out. I took doxycycline for 10 days while waiting for the results of urine and discharge cultures. All the STI tests came back negative, and both the urine and discharge cultures were also negative. I was also tested for syphilis and hepatitis, and those results were negative as well. After that, my doctor prescribed Cipro, which I took for 7 days (I finished it yesterday). The discharge and burning when urinating have now disappeared, but I still have some discomfort in the rectal area, and I’m not sure what I should do next since all the tests came back negative😭

Officially diagnosed today. Has anyone used flomax? Was prescribed it but wanted to ask around before taking it. Don’t really have other options just wanted some insight. Thanks! Is the retrograde ejaculation issue a very likely possiblitu? I’m depressed and don’t know what else to do

Hello guys i am 30M

Please help me guys to identify what is this exactly?

I have this constant anxiety feeling in lower stomach in the area of under my belly button behind my hypogastric region. I would describe it like a nerve that gets triggered all the time anytime i try to do task i get this sensation in that area even stuff like responding to a friend saying hi or a mild task like picking up something from the ground or literally anything. It is really annoying feeling that makes me don't want to do anything just to avoid the sensation, sometimes i don't wake up from bed just to avoid it and sometimes i just want to set in a chair all day without moving because i don't want to feel the sensation. I noticed also it effects speech ibam less chatty and have less to talk about around people when i have this discomfort (I have no urinary problems) it is this constant discomfort or tightness or something

Syptom Location: behind the belly button or a little bit under it but from inside

I noticed that this feeling gets more intense hours after masturbation and if i didn't sleep well.

I had it for years now but i really don't know what it is, has anyone experience the same thing and what do you think it is exacly because it feels like a physical thing.

The only way it gets better is if I don't masturbate for at least a week it gets better gradually but as soon I go back to masturbation it comes back.

I had CPPS since 2 years ago. It appeared after a UTI. It was hell the first months. I tried different methods, but I feel the following worked for me the most:

Relaxing the pelvic floor anytime I can

Myself, if I had read this in the past, I’d say that this is too simple. But once I started doing it explicitly, I realized it helped tremendously.

I realized that my pelvic floor was tense most of the time. When I was stressed and when I was not. So I learned to relax my pelvic floor as much as I can and whenever possible.

How: I make sure my pelvis, perineum, and anus are relaxed as much as possible. I let the pelvic floor drop, kind of like when you are going to pee. I maintain it for about 30 seconds.

When: I built a habit of doing it with high-frequency activities. Anything I do frequently during the day. Whether it is peeing, drinking water, etc. It’s a bit like when you try to be present during everyday activities.

So I try to do this exercise about 10 times a day or more. It also makes me feel good knowing that I’m not holding tension in that part of my body.

You can add it to breathing, meditation, prayer, or any mindfulness activity. The point is simply to relax everything and especially relax that area. Im sure it also has other benefits to not be tense most of the time.

I still have CPPS, as i notice it flares up when im sick or very stressed. But I removed many of the symptoms I had and I can say I have a normal life unlike before.

Doc said i could either do dozy or moxi (i was hesitant of doxy because of the sunburns) but he said theres a riak of tendon rupture/nerve damage with moxi. So its a pick your poison situation. The thing is no bacteria has been yet found so this would be to help with inflammation more than bacteria he says. Has anyone tried both? Im super scared of pills and their side effects

Please share your positive progress.

Hi everyone,

I'm a 26-year-old male with symptoms that I think might be CPPS or pelvic floor dysfunction, but I don't have pelvic pain or trigger points.

My main symptoms are:

* Frequent urination and weak/interrupted urine stream

* Feeling like I subconsciously tighten my pelvic floor while urinating

* Erectile dysfunction for 5 years

* Erections require physical stimulation and fade quickly when stimulation stops

* Rare morning erections

* Worse erections for a few hours after ejaculation

Occasionally reduced sensation at the base of my penis

The interesting part is that a few times a year I have 7–10 day periods where everything improves (erections, urination, sensation).

I've had normal hormones, negative urine cultures/STI tests, and a normal-sized prostate.

Has anyone had CPPS or pelvic floor dysfunction without pain, mainly causing urinary symptoms and ED? What helped you recover?

I'm 22 M & stuck in a chronic guarding loop wherein my pudendal nerve gets irritated in response to stool consistency. My brain/neurotransmitters perceive defecation as a threat and automatically start guarding or clenching the pelvic floor/anorectal muscles which in turn causes neuralgia symptoms {I presume the false guarding has arisen from my history of chronic constipation and diarrhea issues which doesn't happen anymore}. I experience 90% relief when my stools are soft/effortless and gel-like but that's impossible and unsustainable to maintain because osmotic supplements & laxatives don't suit me and I have to starve myself for a chance of achieving that consistency (I have tried everything in my power)

Was wondering if there is any medical procedure I can undertake (maybe botox?) in order to forcefully break this loop and reclaim my life again. The problem is that I'm from a third world country and don't have access to any pelvic floor specialists. Also don't know what kind of doctor I should visit since it's such a complex problem, have gone to a gastroenterologist, urologist, proctologist but they didn't seem to have a good understanding of the issue and prescribed basic medication like Gabapentin which provide temporary relief and don't address the root cause. What's my best option here? Any advice would be appreciated 

When I masturbate, I feel the sensation of ejaculation, but nothing comes out.

Hi everyone,

I saw a tele-health doctor and they scheduled for me to take a test yesterday. I talked to them again today and they said my test was unremarkable.

I am still awaiting a test for STDs but I have only been having sex with my girlfriend the past few months so a STD would shock me heavily right now. The only event I can attribute this new painfulness is that I did spend awhile masturbating heavily the night before (6-7+ times) and then this newfound pain started showing up.

The telehealth doctor said I would need to go to an actual urgent care / primary care doctor if the STD test came back negative (pretty unhelpful besides just scheduling a test really...). My primary care doctor doesn't have availability until mid September. Once the urination stream begins it's not the worst but getting started on it is a lot to handle...

I am very active and drinking water and bought these cranberry pill supplement things yesterday so can anybody please give me advice on what I should do next?

Don't mind the tag, I'm not venting or discouraged but the other available tags didn't make sense to use.

I started 10mg Amitryptaline 4 days ago and it seems to have helped my sense of urgency and frequency with urination. The only side effect I am noticing is a longer period of time to begin urinating and a weaker urine flow (my urine flow was already weak). I feel like I am completely emptying my bladder but I know that urine retention is a thing with Ami and wanted to ask if anyone else with Ami experience has had a similar side effect and if it dissipated/improved once the body adjusted to the medication?

I have multiple issues going on. I have all the BPH luts symptoms 31.1 ccm prostate pirads 1 PSA 1 high riding bladder neck 56 y/o been experiencing these symptoms for the past 5-7 years more extreme this past 8 months. I’ve had every test done, mri, ct scans both w/ contrast ultra sound etc. I have bright red blood in my urine off and on the urologist I have is chief of Urology dept. K.P. I have increased frequent and sudden urge to pee then a very weak stream low volume dribbling. He put me on Flowmax it hardly helps, I also read cialis helps, so I asked him and he prescribed 5 mg cialis I take flowmax night and Cialis morning.

My symptoms are not improving to much. The complex cysts are pushing on my bladder and is or squeezing my urethra. Dr. recommends TUIP the only real fix is surgery. High riding bladder neck with complex cysts been 10 months on Flowmax 2 months on cialis combined Not much improvement if any? I don’t think the medication is working this is a physical condition of the complex cysts and my high ridding bladder neck combined. The medicine won’t unblock the kinked hose?

Asking the Reddit bph community who has dealt with High Bladder Neck along with Complex cysts? Anyone have positive results with PT! or TUIP surgery results?

I am a 61 year old male in fairly decent shape. I do CrossFit 3–4 times a week and lift regularly. I have suffered with BPH for about 7 years now (it’s 85 grams). I’ve been to multiple Urologists and they have me on Flomax twice a day. The last Urologist I spoke with said a procedure is my only solution.

I researched TURP, UAE, HoLeP and Aquablation. It seems like Aquablation
has the fewest sexual side effects, as long as they don’t take too much tissue away.

My concern is, having the prostatitis return if they don’t take enough tissue, or lose complete ejaculate fluid if they take too much.

Has anybody done the Aquablation for their prostatitis, and if so, how were the effects?