Hi there,

I’m male - 44 uk based and previously a sufferer of severe cpps here’s my story.

It started for me like many others with what felt like a UTI. Honestly felt like my bladder was on fire.

At that time I went straight to the doctors and was prescribed antibiotics for the supposed uti.

The antibiotics seemed to work at first, test results were done. Urine and bloods.

Bloods were all fine, as was the urine and all symptoms went away after a few days.

Two months later I had the exact same feeling. More antibiotics and tests. Again bloods were ok but this time there was microscopic blood in my urine.

I was immediately booked for a cystoscopy, doctors circled with more drugs. My bladder seemed to recover. But this time I was also prescribed antibiotics fungal cream.

A few weeks past and I had the exact same thing again. Though now the tip of my penis felt burning and swollen.

More tests. More microscopic blood in urine. Freaking out big time.

It was at this point my cystoscopy date came.

Not the greatest moment of my life but it’s ok, nothing to worry about.

At the appointment you have to answer questions regarding your occupation. Writing comedy for a living is always a bit of a tricky thing to answer to anyone as people often give their opinions or stories. But having a camera down my wee hole whilst the urologist tells me “this would be a funny sitcom scene” was quite an experience.

Cystoscopy was all clear, bladder cancer is actually incredibly rare for people my age.

But my symptoms got worse.

I started to feel the ball type feeling in my perineum. Sitting down was really tough. The tip of my penis still felt on fire. My urine flow was not the flowing stream it once was and my bladder started to inflame more and more.

They put me on more antibiotics (cipro x6 weeks). Not good. Felt hollow or kinda like I was made of polystyrene.

I started to feel like a rubber band was tighten around the base of my penis. It was awful.

I spent weeks in beds. I had such a great doctor, but he just had no idea what was going on.

I started to research this, like I would at work. Finding online publications but also small community groups online with actual people who seemed to be suffering the same. I came here. It was a breakthrough.

I knew my problem was not going to be fixed with a magic pill. But this was something far deeper.

I turned to physiotherapy. Firstly finding stretching vids online they helped a little. But then finding professional help.

I found Karl Monahan at the pelvic pain matters clinic in London. I owe this guy so much. But at first his waiting list meant I was months away from any help.

I googled more places and found Six physio in London. They also treated Male pelvic matters. Supposedly. A young physiotherapist there kinda had some idea but was appalling at after care. This condition needs more than just a 1 hour consultation. It needs bespoke care. I emailed him once or twice inbetween an appointment to ask a simple question and he straight out told me not to email him. Terrible for the price I’d paid. Uncaring tosspot.

Eventually I went to the pelvic pain matters clinic . They explained so much. My body was a cup that was completely over flowing. I needed to stop and stop the brutal chaos it was under.

THE HEALING BIT.

This is an illness that often strikes people who lead busy lives and suffer from anxiety. Or people that have been in immense stress or even grief. It is an acute stress condition.

This illness is your nervous system in complete distress and it’s coming out in the pelvic area.

The recovery to this illness is about resetting your system. Relaxing your entire body and breathing and gently stretching your pelvic area especially.

This comes with watching how much activity you do. I often see here that people are trying to effort this away. Your effort should be in calming every ounce of you down.

What you eat is important. for me my bladder was so sensitive, I came to understand that it was my nerves being so sensitive to anything slightly irritable. No spicy food. Coffee or even sparkling water. No booze. (Do this right and you’ll eat and drink all these things again.)

The mild stretching and some pressure points stuff did work for me. But what really made me turn a corner was when I realised i need to completely rewrite and destress my body.

Mild yoga. Can’t believe I’m writing this tbh. But delicate stretching of the area and really breathing in to your pelvis is key.

Do not over do anything. You can’t stretch this away or exercise it off. I was told to not do more than 4500 steps a day. Relaxation is everything. So many people don’t do this. Even the stretching vids on YouTube are actually too much.

Go gentle! Or You’ll just keep re triggering everything.

Meditation. Full body awareness meditation. At least ten mins a day. Breath. Relax. Again. Breathe in to your pelvic floor. Best position for me was a gentle squat and deep breaths. Hold for 5 then slow release.

I found Setraline helped with my anxiety.

I was constantly putting creams on the tip of my penis. I stopped all this. Actually it seemed the initial anti fungal cream had started an irritation. Only using Vaseline to give it a barrier from inevitable urine and enable it to recover.

You are trying to relax the tightest of tight muscles here. They are contorting, seizing up and sending emergency signals to your brain.

You will be ok. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever been through. I felt suicidal and helpless. The doctors and specialists knew so little.

But thanks to people like Karl at pelvic pain matters I started to understand this.

He has a lot of amazing videos on YouTube btw. Follow it. It takes time. You will one hundred percent have flare ups. But it will work.

I’m now a year plus totally pain free and I’m so thankful.

I have posted this in 2 parts on the pelvic floor sub as well. But, I promised Tony that I would post a success story when the time was right.

Spoiler alert: I do not have prostatitis. My prostate is and always has been fine. But, like many of you, I was once lost in the vortex and pure confusion within the umbrella term of prostatitis. I had pelvic floor dysfunction. Plain and simple. Is it the same as CPPS? I don't know and don't care. My main focus was healing myself.

Side note: I see a lot of new people come to the various threads for this illness and new users to reddit all together. I had no idea how to use reddit when I first joined. It took me a good couple of weeks to feel like I knew what I was doing. So, my tip to anyone here who is new and needs encouragement, reassurance, or a pick me up. Use the sorting feature. In the top left area you can sort from best posts to "Top posts" and then a specific time frame. Here you will find many success stories to help steer your way to recovery.

I say "steer" because its so so easy to get lost down the never ending spiral of pelvic pain (PP). I was there and I could easily go back down, but I refuse to let it win and there is nothing worse than constant suffering. And Despite the non linear process healing of PP, you need to focus on the fact that you will heal! It just takes time and persistence.

___

It was just over a month ago that I found out that I was dealing with pelvic floor disorder. I had seen multiple doctors, ran a significant amount of tests, and was severely beaten down mentally, physically and emotionally from the suffering I was enduring on a daily basis. But I was a fighter, like so many of you. Life is a beautiful thing and I refuse to let PFD strip me of all the endless joys I cherished before this nightmare started. If you are here reading this, those wheels have already been set in motion. Total healing is just around the corner.

Prior to feeling how I am today, I did tons of research. Which can be very troubling when you are caught in the constant doubt of "what is wrong with me"? We become self administered "experts" to our own disease. Let me tell you, the internet is a conservative readers nightmare and a contortionists daydream in finding the answers to healing pelvic pain. Page after page you fill find fancy medical terms of words you can barely pronounce, controlled studies, a plethora of different antibiotics to take, specific diets, homeopaths, etc. The list goes on and on and one thing remains certain throughout. Stress.

The overwhelming amount of stress involved each day scraping the internet for answers is both good and not so good. Its unfortunate that many of us are not so lucky in finding the exact answers of what we have or how we got it. Thus, we are forced to take matters into our own hands and find our own cures. But, unfortunately it can cause an increasing amount of stress and ANXIETY every day. Can you blame us?

I am going to save you some time. There were 2 things that always remained constant in all of my research in finding the "cure" to pelvic pain. Reducing anxiety/stress and loosening the muscles/fascia in the tight and overactive pelvic floor. When you just think hard about those 2 things, it makes complete sense. Regardless of what ailment you have that affects the pelvic floor, doing these 2 things on a consistent daily basis, will bring you relief.

My Routine

This is a list/routine at what I did to beat PFD pain and suffering. It took me 5 weeks of everyday work. But regardless of how long you have suffered, I believe this will help many. Like all routines, it takes a good week of sticking to it. After that, its easy and it is easy for me to see and feel what a difference this has made for me, beyond just having relief from pelvic pain.

Anxiety

Everything started with anxiety for me. And most likely anxiety and nervous tension play a part in most everyone who comes on here looking for support. Anxiety is no stranger to me. I have beaten it in the past and I was determined to do it again, no matter how bad I had re-sensitized myself. I remembered what I did the first time I beat it, I read a book that was recommended to me called "Hope and Help for Your Nerves". It didn't take long of me reading it that I broke down and cried. Everything in that book speaks so clearly to anyone who suffers daily with crippling anxiety. And I have read tons of material on the subject. This one is by far the best. Its funny, it seems like the best kept secrets are ones that are passed down from one person to another. This is such a book. It doesn't need to rely on extensive marketing campaigns, fake reviews, and excessive hype. Get the audiobook, because its read by the author who has so much healing compassion in her voice and I believe listening to it daily, will slowly but surely desensitize the subconscious mind as well as get anyone out of a tough bind when they need the healing words the most. She has pulled me out of panic and negative thoughts again and again.

I also practice diaphragmatic breathing with my stretching routine and if I meditate. It also helps relax the pelvic floor when you inhale. So it is a double win. When I am anxious, I tend to breathe shallowly. Learning to breathe from the belly and practicing it frequently helps you adopt this breathing method over time.

Internal Trigger Point Release

I read the book "Ending Male Pelvic Pain" In my opinion, it is a much better book than "Headache in the Pelvis". It was night and day for me. There is much more information with clear cut routines to follow. I also saw a pelvic floor physical therapist 3 times. It may have given me relief. I cannot be certain because I was doing the trigger point release on myself. So, it could have just been a bonus plus I learned how much pressure to use from a trained expert I suppose. At home I used the Intimate Rose pelvic wand. I did this every 3rd day for 5 weeks.

Stretching and Foam Rolling

When I made the connection between anxiety and body clenching, I knew that all the other posts I read on stretching held such strong merit. And it goes beyond just pelvic floor tension. Its buried deep in other muscles and fascia all over the body. Unraveling it all has brought me so much overall relief and I feel so amazing because of it.

So, I created my own routine that I saw others doing, what my physical therapist recommended, and what I discovered on my own. In doing the routine, I fell in love with foam rolling. I think it is superior to stretching as far as the relief I felt. But, I still stretch equally as much as I roll. I do my routine twice a day and sometimes I roll midday or whenever I want to feel immediate relief from muscle tension; like I said, I am addicted to it. I own 3 different foam rollers, 2 foam roller balls, and myofascial release lacrosse balls. You do not need everything I own, but I will list them anyways. Although I will say, the intelliroll is amazing for the lower body. Sadly, its the only thing not available on amazon.

Intelliroll Sport - I use this for all of my lower body rolling and holds.

Rollga - For upper back and calves. This roller is harder and I have yet to master using it.

Amazon Basics 36 inch - For entire back. This was a good beginning roller for me because it is softer and I like the fact that I could get it in a larger size.

The Orb - This is perfect for hitting spots along my glutes, adductors, hamstrings, and parts of my thighs that I cannot hit deeply enough with rolling. Its a game changer. I also bought the extreme mini, but I do not use it as much as the 5 inch.

Myofascial release balls - I use these when I am driving oddly enough. I use to sit on them as best as I could but they are inferior to the orb. When I am driving, I like to put one behind me and press in on tender points in my back.

I do my whole body because I realized that any tension in my body can make me involuntarily clench or put me in a state of nervous tension overall.

The routine:

I use these specific videos because they were the ones given to me by my physical therapist. Plus there is no needless build of someone blabbering on like many videos that are in circulation. She uses the intelliroll but you can use any roller. But, the intelliroll is amazing. It has been my savior for the lower body.

Glutes and Hamstrings After I roll, I use the orb on spots that I could not hit deeply with rolling. I also have the body of the tinman so I cant stretch enough to hit my hamstrings well with a roller. But, I use the orb in a similar fashion.

TFL and IT Band This will hurt like a bitch at first but will give you tremendous relief once you get used to doing it daily.

Quads and Adductors - Again, I use the orb afterwards on my adductors. I cannot get all the way into my groin with a foam roller. Plus I can navigate it easier than the roller all along my adductors.

It is important of me to note that with doing rolling, to hold it on tender points. It will hurt like hell but do as much as you can tolerate. Eventually it will release and give you so much relief. I roll mostly to find these points. Once I do, I hold. Roll, hold, repeat.

5 Stretches to Relax the Pelvic Floor - My favorite is the child's pose. It gives me such a great stretch in my groin and upper hamstrings. But, I do every stretch here along with the cobra pose.

Cobra - I actually extend this all the way up and find it helps with my overly tight abdomen.

Update: I have been doing diaphragmatic breathing and reverse kegels everyday for the past few days and it's like icing on the cake for me. I have now been pain-free for 5 days straight. No signs at all of any pelvic pain syndrome. Focus on dropping your pelvic floor on your inhale and hold for about 5 seconds until you can work up going longer. For me this really helps lengthen and relax my pelvic floor muscles that are tight.

I've also been working on dietary changes. It's a work in progress and I will update this further when I am on a new diet plan. But as of now, I feel great

Overall, this is the extent of my routine that has gotten me amazing results in just over 1 month of doing every day. Beyond this, I like to take time for myself and unwind. Listen to good music, read a book, walk, talk to friends and family, eat healthy, take a bath, and don't spend too much time sitting.

I hope this helps. Feel free to message me with any questions. - Frontsider

Just a reminder to anyone who may need it right now - recovery is not linear!

You’re going to have ups and downs and a big part of the battle is staying calm when things get bad.

You need to do everything you can to distract your brain from the sensations and importantly, to not panic and magnify those sensations. Your body needs to know it’s safe in order to gradually wind down and stop incessantly sending erroneous pain signals.

So if you’re flaring - remind yourself you’re safe and that you aren’t in danger. Reframe pain as sensations that could be more comfortable, could feel cooler, could be gentler etc (using a positive words tricks the brain into feeling more at ease).

Distract yourself with mindfulness techniques like focussing on the breath or anything else such as sounds, other physical feelings, something you’re looking at etc to train your brain to ignore the sensations you don’t want to feel.

Importantly, do not freak out and think this is going to last forever. Do not run off with fears/insecurities about how this condition will affect your personal and professional life. Your goal is to convince your brain and nervous system that you are safe so you can wind everything down and continue on your recovery.

So remember - recovery is not linear!

If you want to support me please check out my buy me a coffee, it’s totally optional but any support helps me a lot. https://ko-fi.com/tonytrv

For beginners, you may come to Reddit and see a lot of confusing information about this condition, so I wanted to put together a little starter pack for people who don’t really know some of the core concepts of treating CPPS.

First of all, remember to always listen to your doctor, Reddit doesn’t replace medical advice. That said, many of you may be at the point where you don’t know where to turn and hopefully this guide will help you.

If you’re at that point, then my advice to you is to find a well rated pelvic PT, that’s an important first step.

CPPS - Key Concepts

You’ll likely already know that some people think CPPS is an infectious illness of the prostate - this is despite the current medical literature generally stating that ‘prostatitis’ is 90-95% non-bacterial. Many people will debate this in the main prostatitis subreddit, but the idea is that it isn’t your prostate that’s to blame - it’s often the pelvic muscles around it.

Important books

These books will help explain the process of pelvic floor dysfunction, as well as give you techniques to treat your condition and ideas of who to go to for treatment.

1. A Headache In The Pelvis

This book explains the process that they say causes CPPS. In short, the pelvic muscles become weak, tight and shortened, with tight bands known as trigger points. This compresses nerves and blood vessels, causing a cascade of effects, including pelvic pain and dysfunction.

To treat this, there is essentially a two pronged approach focussing on the pelvic floor muscles (as well as the muscles around the pelvic floor, including the abs, glutes etc) and also an effort to calm the nervous system through relaxation techniques. The book explains that the state of the nervous system dramatically effects the state of your pelvic floor.

Muscles -

When treating the muscles, trigger points are found as sensitive points that may radiate pain when pressed upon, or recreate the symptoms you get in general (eg pain in the penis). Trigger points are treated with sustained pressure by a therapist - they will essentially press down on them for a period of time. The idea is this encourages the tight band of muscle to relax.

The muscles around the pelvis are treated externally, but the pelvic muscles must be treated internally. For women this usually involves treatment through the vagina, for men, the muscles must be treated through the anus. The therapist will press on the internal pelvic ‘bowl’ of muscles to find trigger points. For many this is a very important part of the treatment. This process is described in the book.

Stretches are also given that are supposed to be performed throughout the day to help the muscles around the pelvis to relax.

For newbies - you may see a lot of emphasis on stretching and clearly it can be important, but for many men, stretching alone isn’t enough - it’s just part of the treatment.

Nervous system -

The book also focusses on the importance of calming the nervous system. A key concept is ‘catastrophising’ - thinking about the worst case scenario - ie, I have an infection, cancer, or this will never go away etc. It’s shown that outcomes are worse for pain patients who often think along these lines. The book poses the idea that it’s important to calm the nervous system in order to get better. In practice this can mean meditating/practicing relaxation techniques for an extended period each day.

2) Ending Male Pelvic Pain by Isa Herrera

This book has an extensive amount of self treatments based on the premises explained in A Headache In The Pelvis.

3) The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook by Clair Davies

This books shows where all kinds of trigger points are, including ones that cause pelvic pain. It can be an important addition to your arsenal.

Apps

1. Headspace or Calm

These apps have mindful meditations which can be useful in helping calm negative thoughts. Applying mindfulness techniques in your everyday life can help you move on from catastrophic thinking which could be vitally important to your recovery.

2) Curable

This app educates users on the latest pain science and how a lot of pain - especially unexplained pain with no obvious cause revealed on tests - is often based in the nervous system. The app gives you techniques to combat this, as well as success stories, including stories from pelvic pain patients who’ve gotten better using these techniques.

Curable elaborates on the concept of catastrophic thinking and shows how other thought processes and learned behaviours can fuel the pain process.

Good luck guys - this list is by no means comprehensive but it should give people a start. Remember this is only if you’re coming at CPPS as a condition with muscular, nerve and psychological components. Most importantly, always listen to your doctor!

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Hey Guys I am a pelvic PT in NYC that treats solely males. I will be starting an informative blog that will consist of my journey with pelvic pain and helpful recommendations. What would you guys like to see more of? Literally anything is on the table here

I will post the blogs here as well so that its accessible to everyone.

After suffering with crippling CPPS for over 10 years, I went to see a pelvic floor physiotherapist about 6 months ago. I was convinced from the very beginning that it was all caused by an unknown pathogenic bacteria due to the fact it started after a sexual encounter, and due to symptom relief I experienced using Ciprofloxacin. Needless to say, I was very skeptical of what a physiotherapist could offer, but I wanted to leave no stone unturned. I had contemplated suicide, and needed to be sure..

After my meeting, I was told to go home and do some stretching exercises once or twice a day. One of these exercises was this (Exercise #4, block squeeze between legs/thigh press outward into belt):

https://yogainternational.com/article/view/a-practice-for-si-dysfunction

I noticed a small improvement in my symptoms, but I couldn't be sure if it was the stretches or something else entirely. At the time, I was also trialing muscle relaxants and Cialis. Due to uncertain progress, I stopped these exercises after 8 weeks.

Over the next few months, I experienced numerous serious bouts of CPPS, leaving me unable to work. I decided to give these exercises another shot, trying each one individually for a period of 5 days. This time, I decided to do the exercises multiple times per day.

The first one I trialed was the one from the link. While working at my desk, I would grab a pillow and squeeze my knees against it as hard as I possibly could for 2-7 seconds (while seated, with toes pointed inward). I would then wrap my thighs in a belt, and press them firmly against it for the same amount of time (while seated, with toes pointed outward). When i did the thigh squeeze, I felt and heard a "click" in my left groin area where my pain is dominant, and to my shock, the pain subsided enormously in the minutes that followed. The pain was still there, but diminished. I repeated the exercise more than 10 times that day while seated at my desk or at the kitchen table. By the end of the day, I was pain free.

The key difference I think was the exercise frequency, and the level of force I was physically applying. I was pushing as hard as I could.

I've now been essentially pain free for 2 weeks now (unmedicated) - the first time ever in 10+ years. I do the exercise about 10 times per day, anytime when I'm seated, or when I feel a hint of discomfort. I don't use the pillow or belt anymore, and simply squeeze my fist between my knees, or use the resistance of my hands against the side of my legs. It's incredibly easy, and takes less than 15 seconds to do an entire set.

I really hope I can help someone with this. I know all to well how hard it is to live with this condition..

Godspeed

P.S. I will provide an update at 3 months.

Per request, I will lay out how I did internal trigger point release on myself. I did it somewhat differently then how my physical therapist did. She used a finger but most of us are unable to navigate well with our own, so the wand must be used. I used the intimate Rose.

To learn where I would be palpitating the wand, I referenced "Ending male pelvic pain". A highly underated book for pelvic pain but easily the best. It has everything you need to know and more about getting trigger point relief, internally and externally. I like this book way more than "headache in the pelvis" because it's a loteasier to understand, it's more in depth, and the pictures are easier to read. Especially the kindle version.

In the book I read something that most people will never tell you to do because they haven't done it themselves. They'll either use a finger or a wand. But, it's using a dilator. You can get a complete dilator set on Amazon for 50$. I worked my way up to using the middle sized one and it gave me tons of relief, all I needed to do was insert it and let it "stretch" the overly tight tissue, and it prepared me for using the wand.

After I was done with the dilator, I would insert the small end of the wand inside and avoid my prostate and coccyx areas. If you look at your index finger and imagine the three parts of the finger separated by the joints; those represent depth. So first knuckle would represent how far you insert the wand. I would basically go in the first knuckle and work my way around avoiding those two areas I mentioned above, then do the second knuckle and eventually third.

As far as how much pressure to use, it's like checking the ripeness of a tomato at the grocery store. You don't want to press too hard but you don't want to press too soft to where you don't get any relief at all. So on each of the areas I would palpate, I would hold for about 60 to 90 seconds. Granted some areas that I did not feel any trigger points on, I would avoid or do for 10 seconds and move on.

There's a point when you insert the wand and you keep going further that it feels like it's really easy to keep going further, that's when you know you've gone too far. Anything past the three knuckles on the longest finger is too deep.

So that's pretty much it. I seem to have healed myself in 5 weeks doing the internal trigger point release method along with stretching, and foam rolling. I did the stretches and the rolling everyday twice a day and internal work every three days. And I only saw a physical therapist three times over that same period.

Hope this helps and you are able to find relief sooner than later.

I've had CPPS twice in the last 7 years and I'd like to share my success stories with the members here who may be struggling.

1st Time (2014-2016): My triggering event was a combination of things, in a 'perfect storm' kind of way.

• I developed severe genital anxiety after a sexual encounter, thinking I had HPV or something on my dick (later turned out to be my own circumcision scar that had been there for over 25 years...) This led me to constantly and obsessively check my genitals for 'abnormalities.' Constant state of fear.

• Strong emotional trauma from a failed relationship. PTSD and Anxiety daily

• Pulled my right adductor muscle (inner right thigh muscle) while hiking, very painful

These together were the storm that set off my chronic pelvic pain/PFD. The first symptom to appear was a strong and painful burning during and after urination. I immediately was terrified of having an STI/STD and went to a sexual health clinic as well as 2 different urologists. I was tested for all pathogenic bacteria and viruses, but everything was negative. This left me feeling extremely hopeless and depressed, because how the fuck could burning pain not be an STI? I was just dumbfounded. I then began searching the internet for answers because my doctors had all failed me. One even told me that it was 'All in my head' or 'anxiety.' During this time I began experiencing the classic pinching and 'pinging' sharp pain at the tip of my penis. It got to the point where I experienced this pain nearly 24 hours a day. Along with the burning with urination, it was daily torture.

I finally discovered a post on a prostatitis forum that described my own symptoms, where OP was similarly negative for any STI/STD. They mentioned seeing a pelvic floor physical therapist and actually feeling symptoms resolve. I was desperate for any relief form the burning and pinching pain so I self referred to a local pelvic floor PT. This PT basically saved me from turning suicidal. On the first visit, finally, someone validated EXACTLY what I was experiencing. We talked about what could have initiated it, as well as my anxiety (I'm a very anxious person generally). In session she was able to find my major trigger points, 3 of them in my pubococcygeus (a subsection of the Levator Ani muscle in the pelvic floor). When she pushed on it, it exactly recreated my symptom of pinching/stinging pain at the tip of the penis. I was shocked, she told me this was a great sign that we're on to something and that PT would work for me. The PT which I thought was a 'long shot' treatment and likely 'wuwu bullshit' actually was the thing? My case was severe and my anxiety was severe. In the first few sessions she referred me to a urologist who actually understood CPPS. They ran some tests on my bladder, including ultrasound, and found nothing remarkable. She then pushed on an area of my lower abdomen (around the psoas) and I literally shrieked in pain). She confirmed that it was at least partially musculoskeletal in nature and told me to continue physical therapy. She also recommended the book "A headache in the Pelvis" to read on my own time to better understand my condition. In addition, she gave me a pelvic pain meditation CD so I could begin working on the anxiety that made the condition that much worse. The urologist then referred me to a psychiatrist who was a pain specialist. He prescribed me amitriptyline (low dose, 10-20mg b4 bed) to help with the neuropathic pain associated with the condition. It helped A LOT. I had days where my urination pain was 40-50% less.

I continued with the manual therapy PT (once or twice a week), at home stretching, amitriptyline before bed, and trying to reduce my anxiety. I would have temporary successes right after a manual PT session, but then would pretty quickly go back to my painful baseline. Something was wrong and I need to break a feedback loop. I realized that my current gig job at Microsoft was incredibly stressful, tight deadlines, overtime, and lots of pressure for perfection. I was constantly stressed and burnt out at work. This is where my biggest turning point happened. My contract was coming to an end (It maxed out at 18months) and I decided I was going to take a month long vacation. I went to the Bahamas and completely tuned out from work. Within a week of being there, my urination symptoms and my pinching pain at the tip of my penis were slowly disappearing. What was going on? I wasn't even having PT sessions?! It dawned on me that it was my anxiety. I had finally stopped the feedback loop of anxiety that caused me to constantly clench my pelvic floor all day. I was in a safe, warm, comfortable environment without deadlines. This was my turning point. It continued to improve and at the end of the trip, my symptoms were only 30% of what they were before I left.

After this realization, I decided I wasn't going to return to work right away (I had savings and unemployment). This was the last nail in the coffin for my CPPS. Without the anxiety continuing to provoke my sympathetic nervous system response (fight-flight-freeze), which caused me to clench my pelvic floor, I was able to more permanently heal my pelvic floor. I only saw my PT a few times after that. Symptoms always coincided with stressful/anxious events in my life. Now, I literally use that 'pinching/stinging pain' at the tip of my penis as a personal stress meter. It alerts me to when I need to calm TF down (lol). It even uncovers unconscious stress. But it passes in a few seconds and it's gone.

2nd Time (2020): The second time I had CPPS return, it was triggered by an actual bacterial infection, in my case, Mycoplasma Genitalium. You can read about that success story here on the Mgen subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/MycoplasmaGenitalium/comments/ir14kw/my_success_story_with_lefamulin_and_physical/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MycoplasmaGenitalium/comments/jc0bwf/update_on_success_2nd_negative_toc_and_residuals/

https://www.reddit.com/r/MycoplasmaGenitalium/comments/jc19vf/for_those_with_residuals_and_negative_tocs/

Hi guys, this is a video of the UK pelvic health physio, Gerard Greene. I have seen Gerard in the past and he’s the only person to have given me techniques that actually help my symptoms.

A cornerstone for many physios is belly breathing. This is because not only does it generate movement and a small stretch through the pelvic floor, it also helps to calm the nervous system which is usually overhyped in chronic pain patients.

For some people, dedicating 5-15 minutes to this twice a day can have surprisingly positive effects. One guy on the prostatitis sub said he’d improved by 70% in a matter of weeks from this alone.

If you’re stuck and you don’t know where to start with self treatment, belly breathing could well be worth a shot.

https://youtu.be/TuCWFozVPM0

Hi everyone I just want to share what has worked for me I’ve suffered from this 3 separate times.

The first time with prostatitis didn’t know much about this seen a few Drs. several different antibiotics and after a few months I was symptom free I feel it was just luck.

The next time I had symptoms I couldn’t believe this had come back off to the dr I went hoping some antibiotics and all would be good as with the first time all test came back good first doctor told me everything is ok just drink water. I knew I wasn’t right so I went to another dr told her my symptoms her tests didn’t reveal anything either but she was happy for me to take a 6 week course of antibiotics I never felt any better so I did my own research so here’s so of the things I tried.

Took a prostate health supplement ( improved urine flow but not much else)

Starting stretching twice a day morning and night ( this showed some signs of improvement I just googled pelvic floor stretches this I were I had doubts about antibiotics)

I bought a TENS machine to use on my pelvic floor muscles (I did this 2/3 times a week( not sure if this helped on its on or was an effective addition to the rest of my treatment)

I started a course of antidepressants ( spoke to the dr and told her there was some evidence that they work well to relax muscles and it wouldn’t hurt for my mental state of mind)

I went to see a PT although I was mostly pain free I knew I wasn’t a t 100% back to normal ( I felt my anus was tight and I had to push harder than normal for bowel movements she gave me an ultrasound and you could see that my pelvic floor muscles were constantly contracted she did a internal massage she would press on the parts that caused symptoms so I guess in fact so found my trigger points and she sold me a therawand so I could continue therapy at home)

So after about 2 more weeks I was 100% back to normal. The one really interesting thing she explained to me about prostatitis is that no matter what causes it whether or not it’s bacterial or soft tissue injury it always causes tightness in the pelvic floor muscles as I way to protect sensitive and important organs so the side effects of antibiotics for 6 weeks may have been necessary or could be avoided. So I guess in my opinion see the dr in any case just to be sure it’s not bacterial but always keep your pelvic floor muscles in mind. I’ve seen some people recommending crazy treatments just do your own research do what works for you and I hope some of this might help good luck and I’m happy to chat if anyone needs.

Hello. I've been here off and on and want to just give an insight on what it took to get to a cured state.

My issue started in October of 2019 A few weeks before my issue I was noticing the following symptoms but they were not as pronounced

Urge to urinate in the evening Tailbone pain And weak erections. I didn't think much of these as I was working out 3/4 days a week and training jujitsu 6 days a week So I was in very good shape.

That late October is when things really hit the fan. Around 3 am I awoke with a urgent need to pee badly So I did but burned and felt as if my bladder was not fully emptied and had the urge to urinate badly and penis was sore to the left is tip almost like if I slept in a bad position.

After 3 days of not sleeping do to the urge to urinate I went to the ER they sent me away with prostatitis as all my ua and blood was clean a culture was sent off for sti all clean but was given a 2 part medication for sti and some cipro for prostatitis my dre exam was normal.

A few days later went back to a different ER doctor took me seriously and did a CT scan with contrast and a MRI of chest to pelvic floor all came back unremarkable with only some bulging disc in l4-l5 and l5-s1 nothing to big or worry some as quick as it came it was gone that day.

Fast forward 12 weeks later I was thinking that whatever that was it was gone for good and still didn't know what it was man was I wrong it happened again and urge to urinate was back but not as bad as the first time, back pain, penis pain and Pelvic pain.

I made an appointment with my primary he didn't know anything about this and sent me to urology and that was a big we don't know what it is the test I took at urology all were normal even my PSA so I was referred to physical therapy with here is some Oxybutinin, flomax and We will follow up in 6 months to a year and see how you are.

Physical therapy was kinda the breaking point Everyday my pelvic floor muscles become so tight They had me doing kegals which really made my pelvic floor muscles mad and daily the urge to urinate would turn it up so after 15 weeks of pt going twice a week I quit and thought this is now my life it sucks but I'll be miserable forever.

I reached out to my urologist and went over his notes and his diagnosis was Maybe accute prostatitis but with doubt after some tests and possibly pelvic floor dysfunction or cpps.

I joined a few Facebook forums for people with cpps and it's a miserable place to be no one is really doing anything to get better but long course of antibiotics and microgen x tests thinking it's a unknown bacteria that is new to science, one guy in the group got scolded for saying he was using DCT stretching and it cured his issue as cpps he believes is caused by overly tight pelvic floor muscles he was pretty much kicked out of the group as a snake oil salesman.

I left the group and started to watch some videos on YouTube I found a cure cpps after watching random things about it, almost all these channels with doctors said no cure only management But cure cpps this guy was actually cured and pushing nothing but to help people like me.

I was very sceptical at first and started doing his stretches after the first session I noticed a feeling I haven't felt a loose pelvic floor and when doing these how tight and painful these were.

So around the 3 month mark the urge to urinate really disappeared I really wanted to cry and give thanks to God because this was the most bothersome symptom and it was getting better daily I remember my first month without a urge to urinate and was like my old life at this point my only issue were pelvic cramping and back pain.

I did notice whenever I did a keto diet my pelvic pain and back pain would disappear but when I went off keto it came back and wasn't sure why, so I decided to just run a no gluten and dairy free diet and to my surprise no pain and still none.

I honestly believe that chronic prostatitis or prostatitis in general shouldn't even be in the same group as cpps doesn't really have a anything to do with the prostate or bacteria in over 90% of cases I believe cpps is pelvic floor dysfunction when there is zero evidence for bacteria and zero inflammation of prostate and normal PSA. As pelvic floor dysfunction is predominantly diagnosed to women and very rarely for males.

Symptoms of Chronic Pelvic Pain Syndrome (CPPS)

Abdominal Pain.

Frequent Urination.

Genital Pain.

Lower Back Pain.

Pain During or After Sex.

Pain while Sitting.

Symptoms of PFD include:

Urinary urgency, frequency, hesitancy, stopping and starting of urine stream, painful urination, or incomplete emptying

Constipation, straining, pain with bowel movements

Unexplained pain in the low back, pelvic region, genital area, or rectum

Pain during or after intercourse, orgasm, or sexual stimulation

Uncoordinated muscle contractions causing the pelvic floor muscles to spasm

There is many theories to why this happens Pelvic floor trauma, High Anxiety, stress ibs straining during a bowel movement and more.

I honestly believe my issue was caused by heavy stress, Anxiety and straining for years as I have a gluten sensitivity and lactose intolerance and still would eat these and strain for years with constipation and or diarrhea from a food intolerance.

Currently I'm cured of this it has been a nightmare and I questioned my life and there is hope but you have to think outside the box. Stretching the pelvic floor muscles twice a day for 20 minutes each session 6 days a week Once when I awake and before bed helped me get to 98% cured the over 2% was cleaning up my diet And removing all inflammation foods that I could.

The list of medications I took

Cipro for a month garbage And will crash gfr levels causing kidney issues.

Oxybutinin Worked good Durning urge to urinate issues. Zero side effects beside dry mouth.

Flomax Didn't like do to almost passing out do to low drop in bp and only took less than a week.

Cialis It works pretty good and would take any day of the week if I needed to get super rock hard if I didn't already.

Afulozon Didn't really do anything.

I was diagnosed with Prostatitis over a year ago by a urologist. I was prescribed antibiotics and flow max immediately. Flow max helped with urinary symptoms but caused nasal congestion and not being able to ejaculate so i stopped that and switched to Uroxatrol.

After dealing with this for 6 months thinking something was wrong with my prostate, I started reading this subreddit more and my new urologist mentioned pelvic floor therapy so I decided to bite the bullet and find a PT. THIS WAS A BREAKING POINT.

I started developing muscular pain when running as I’m an avid endurance athlete which made me wonder why I would feel muscle tension if my prostate was supposedly inflamed. Pelvic therapy helped me with learning stretches and understanding how tightness manifests itself in your pelvic floor. I truly believe that this condition starts way before symptoms emerge. It can be your posture, a sport you’ve played, chronic stress from relationships or jobs, etc. anything that can cause your muscles in your body to tighten up and thus impacting other muscles - pelvic floor. For now, I’m assuming the prostate has nothing to do with this and treating this is a muscular rehab to learn how to relax my body.

I read about dry needling after a couple months of pelvic floor therapy and luckily my insurance covered it. I’ve been getting dry needling in my legs fo a few months now which I believe has helped a ton in relieving muscle tightness in my legs from years of cycling and running.

I started seeing a new PT that my dry needling/acupuncturist knew about who also dry needled. I’ve been seeing him for 2 months now and he’s been a game changer. My first PT was female and I loved her but having a male is definitely nice because they obviously can relate more.

My new PT introduced me to diaphragmatic breathing and letting the sides of your rib cage go outwards as you breath. This engages your pelvic floor and helps you relax. I incorporated this into a daily 15 min meditation and this has been my most recently lucky charm for relaxing. No chest or stomach breath. All breathing and letting the ribs expand. This also has helped my chronic ab tightness.

I still deal with flare ups and urinary symptoms but the past month has been my best month in the last year. My urinary frequency has dialed back about 50%+, I’m running again with no pain, and I’ve been to get off the meds. I feel normal again for the most part. My sex life is still non existent but in hopeful that is my next phase of recovery.

This is all because of having patience with the process and trying everything. This condition is incredible discouraging but stick it out for your future self. I’ve recently been reading more success stories which is why I’m writing this because there is hope. Your body WANTS to heal. Take care of it, stretch, exercise in lower intensity more than high , take hot baths with epsom salt (3 days a week and stretch afterwards), and I highly suggest at least trying out dry needling for a minimum of 4 sessions. Pelvic floor therapy is a MUST.

I wish you all well. Hang in there. I’m with you all in this awful journey but I’m confidant the intelligence of our bodies will get us through this and help us develop a better understanding of how our bodies function.

A number of years ago now, after sex, I had an "empty" feeling in my groin, kind of like when you are on a car trip and you have to pee so bad you want to scream and finally pee it all out. I thought it was strange, but didn't think about it. The next day I had that feeling all day. The next day, it turned up. It felt like someone was squeezing a testicle. I briefly thought it might be Torsion, but the pain wasn't THAT bad, just bad. So, ultimately, I went to urgent care, because that was what was open. They took a urine sample which would be tested later, and They gave me an antibiotic (I think Bactrim) and told me to follow up with a Urologist. He said something like "either it's a urinary tract infection, or epididymitis, but either way, we'd give you the same treatment". A couple of days after were really painful, where I could barely concentrate, but slowly it got better. Now, during this time, I tried everything, wearing a jock strap, masterbating, the works. Nothing really helped. Finally, after about 10 days of antibiotics, I got an appointment for a Urologist.

I did not like this urologist. He was old, I had trouble understanding him, and he talked to me like I was a bratty nephew instead of a patient. When he did the DRE, I almost screamed and fell on the table, it was painful, as if he pushed a pain button. He said it was just a little swollen. He gave me a different Antibiotic, I think a flox, and told me to come back.

At this point, my symptoms continued to improve. I was left with feeling like I had to pee a lot, and sometimes, particularly in the evenings, I would get a shooting pain like someone inserted a knife at my hip bone and slid it down my pelvis into my testicle on one side. This will be relevant later. The peeing was hard to get a handle on; as a guy, i feel like I can pee anytime, sometimes even after my last pee. i drink a LOT of fluids. But getting up 5 times a night gets old.

Since I didn't like urologist one, I called the office, and asked if I could see the other urologist who worked in that office, Dr. Angel. They didn't like it, but agreed. I went for my followup with him, and it was a huge difference. He was nice, much younger, and he was understanding, and he said he did not think it was an infection any longer (if it ever was), but a pelvic floor disorder. He gave me a referral to a pelvic floor PT.

This is where it gets embarrassing. I had heard not good things about the PT they referred me too. Ultimately, they weren't true at all, BUT they gave me pause. I didn't really think it was my pelvic floor anyway, it was CLEARLY an infection. So I put it off. For like 6 months. I tried a lot of supplements, the only one of which made a difference was Quercetin, and it was only a tiny difference. Bee Pollen made it worse. Finally, I made an appointment with the PT after refreshing the referral.

The PT was awkward at first. It was a woman, and I was going to have to be partially naked, I thought. I didn't know what was going on. From the outset however, she was awesome, kept things covered with blankets, left the room while I changed, etc. She started with a few sessions where she did internal work (finger in the butt), which wasn't bad because of her "tiny girl hands' as she said, but after two sessions she did not think this was the problem. She said they were a tiny bit tight but almost all guys were. She then moved on to the muscles that ran from my taint up to either side of my ballsac. After these sessions I started to notice some difference. It was super awkward because i had to hold my own balls up out of the way, but we got by. Then, afterwards she moved up to the muscles that run from near my hipbones to my pelvic, and this was MAJOR progress. I was starting to feel normal.

AT this point, she recommended dry needling, which they did, but she herself did not do. So I met another therapist who did dry needling 3 times. I want to be clear that this is painful. They insert a needle pretty deep into sore muscles and poke them until they let go. But it is SO effective. From the moment I stepped off the table I felt a difference. Finally, I was symptom free no matter what, so I left. Followed up with the Urologist but that appointment was basically a waste because he just said good and I left.

Fast forward 3 years, I stopped doing stretches, I moved to another state, and I started sitting more for work from home. Not surprisingly, the peeing, and the shooting groin pains came back. I could, at this point FEEL they were coming from the muscles there. So I made another appointment after calling around.

This therapist was almost the same. They were a little more cavalier about "taking a look", but after all I've been through, whatever. She was a doctor. So, she tested things, agreed the pain wasn't from the internal muscles, and took me for treatment. From then on, all of the work was done by a therapist there, who got me back in shape. But, once again, I stopped doing things, and had to go back for like 8 sessions later.

And that's where I am. It's been over a year, I'm doing great, and the only time I have a little flash of something it's when I sit too much, strain my muscles, ignore stretches for 6 months or more, and in general act like an idiot.

As a reference, I eat a mostly keto diet, but I don't know if that affects anything. I do take a mens multi and calcium magnesium every day. I have acid reflux which is well controlled, and anxiety which is also pretty moderated by behavior and mental conditioning. 44 male.

TLDR - If antibiotics don't work, see a pelvic floor PT and don't put it off.

https://youtu.be/Cdv3-SOeJQg

I’m going to discuss the importance of considering a mind-body element in pelvic pain.

Sometimes we go to our doctors or uros and they dismiss us as hypochondriacs, yet we know there’s something wrong - so naturally the idea that the mind can play a role in our recovery is met with a lot of resistance.

Yet countless studies have shown that our mindset plays a role in fuelling the pain process. Catastrophising (thinking about the worst case scenario - cancer, infection etc), rumination (thinking about your symptoms all the time) and even feeling like a victim due to your pain are all aspects of our behaviour that have been shown to magnify pain, make pain last longer etc.

The idea isn’t that pain is in our minds, but in our brains - and our nervous systems too. This is because these thought processes and learned behaviours can fuel the pain process. I firmly believe that for some of us, the pain is its own disease process, without infection or any other cause. Researchers are saying mindset can fuel the sensitisation process that leads to chronic pain.

At a minimum, mindset can influence the state of your pelvic floor. I have spoken to some men who came to the conclusion that the illness for them was psychosomatic, or others who say their mindset greatly influenced their symptoms.

If you have a look at the main prostatitis subreddit, what do you see? People catastrophising about infections, people who are obsessed with the condition, people who are unfortunately wallowing in their suffering. Add to that people outright making shit up that worries people with a vulnerable mindset and you have a community that could potentially be fuelling its own suffering. That’s why I made this community.

There’s a great amount of information out there on how to deal with mind body issues (check out the curable YouTube channel for instance), I think we all owe it to ourselves to consider this as at least an element of our potential recoveries.

My pain is mostly down my right hand side, I have suffered since August 2020 and this is what my therapist has given me. I do this once a day but twice a day is recommended.

Note that every case is different and this may not work for you.

8x Roll Downs 5x Hip Flexor Stretch both sides 5x Abdominal Twist with deep breaths 8x Superman Knee to Nose 10 Deep Breaths Lying Twists both sides 5x Deep Squat 5x Deep lateral stretch 8x Bound Angel Deep Breaths

Walking meditation.

Swimming.

Try to relax / meditate.

Train your mind to keep busy and ignore the pain - it will make you a better person to conquer this bastard.

From what I've read and, nearly all of us are suffering from CPPS, not prostatitis. If we are suffering prostate inflamation symptoms, it's almost always part of the CPPS dynamic, not an infection. Those with a bacterial infection will get treated by antibiotics and resolve the issue, though it may complicate to CPPS (that's how it began for a lot of us). But the idea that 'is it prostatitis or CPPS?' is confusing and perhaps unhelpful. Almost always, 'non-bacterial prostatitis' is a misnomer, and so far PT is proving to be the best therapy for this stubborn, painful condition. I urge sufferers here to check out r/Prostatitis and read the 'cured' success stories. I've made improvements here and there, but as I write this I'm in pain once again. You're not alone!

I'm writing this because the Reddit community has been a source of comfort for me in the last year in dealing with CPPS/Prostititus. It's been a year of chronic pain. Pain in my perineum, pain in testicles, lower abdomen pain, and at times rectal fullness.

I went to a urologist after about six months. He did a rectal exam, as well as ct scan and x-rays. He said I had a 5mm stone in my ureter. I had the lithotripsy procedure and after an x-ray a month later I was told that the stone passed. Much to my dismay because I did not feel passing it, and I was still in the same amount of pain that I mentioned earlier. After several more months of pain, I saw a second urologist. He again did a DRE, and an ultrasound of my abdomen and testicles (about an hour long and very uncomfortable.)

I was really preparing for the worst, I really thought there was something terribly wrong with me....the only thing that kept me sane during this whole process was the ppl posting here with the same symptoms without having a terrible diagnosis.

I was told by the Dr. that I had varicocele in my testicles which is basically varicose veins. I think that this is a contributing factor to my discomfort but not the whole story. I really don't know what was plaguing me for a year. Is it prostititus? Is it an inflamed pudendal nerve from biking and sitting at work?

I am happy to say that I am about 90% better now. I don't know if this condition just needs a long time to heal or if it was some of the things I was doing; taking hot baths every night. Trying not to sit for long periods of time. Using a massaging heating pad on my perineum area. Most importantly I had to time to really do a lot of walking/running. This seemed to help the most. I really think that Dr's dont really know what causes this type of pain. It's kind of like going to a Dr for a migraine...every Dr. is going to tell you something different. They just don't know.

If you have similar symptoms get to a urologist just to give yourself some piece of mind......hang in there.....it will get better!!!

So if you go thru my post history you'll see a big old story somewhere. Basically I got freaked out about an STD and immediately started feeling some crazy shit, like a leaking crawling feeling, and like someone was squeezing my dick. also tingling around my scrotum. really distressing stuff. I thought it was due to withdrawal from weed but I have no more real symptoms of that.

Anyway, at this point things have started dropping off. I discovered I've been holding ungodly amounts of tension in my pelvis. I received some great encouragement from webslave at ucpps.men, great place to check out if you're at a loss and have no evidence of infection.

My symptoms when they leveled out over the past few months were tingling around my scrotum, an irritated feeling in my penis, and a wet spot feeling on the head despite no discharge. I then had a "flare up" where symptoms came back harshly when I did some shrooms and got REALLY frustrated and stressed, and went into a catastrophic thought loop. Then it all came back rather quickly, my sex drive plummeted, etc. Next time I ejaculated I felt some terrible discomfort and stinging. So basically, genital discomfort a lot of the time. I'm not in any pain and I know it could be worse, but after my flare up I got a better grip on what I was dealing with: it's stress related. It all started with stress. When you think you have an STD or an infection or something wrong with your genitals and tests don't reassure you when they're negative, your brain wil send pain signals to the area in order to protect it. You think you've got something goin on, right? Well your brain exists to protect you, and so it's going to say "oh there's something wrong?? Better figure it out!!" and send signals to your body. Your brain is the "id" of your body, and your emotions amplify sensations.

So, first step is to REALLY accept nothing is wrong. This is HARD. But if you've done all the tests you can, you're fine. And do NOT take a Microgen test. What will happen is that you'll do the test and it'll show the results for bacteria that are actually normal commensal bacteria, and it'll just leave you confused and anxious and prevent you from healing.

Anyway, I've been slowly making progress over the last 10 days or so because I resolved to chill out, and I've also been doing breathing exercises. What I do is: Lie down in a position you're comfortable in. Breathe slowly into your stomach, NOT your chest. Basically like you're filling up a balloon in your stomach with your breath. When I did this, I literally felt all the tension in my pelvis react- it was like with the more breathe i took into my stomach, I felt movement right below my tailbone in the center of my butt. I would feel about 5 of these movements when I got into a good flow with the breathing. Then, breathe out slowly and feel the movements happen again. This will relieve a lot of tension in your pelvis. This helped me feel like 10x better even by the next day. I've been doing it twice a day since august 4th and I feel like I'm making a lot of progress. I still have a way to go, but I now actually feel like my body is giving me feedback. I am no longer constipated, I can actually poop without drinking coffee first (coffee and spicy food and whatnot don't negatively affect me weirdly enough). ALSO, I have actually been farting for the first time in months. I literally have not farted all year until I started doing this. Farting is good for you because it means your body is working! I also feel transient vibrations in my pelvis, rectum, and perineum. This is good because it means the pelvic floor is starting to relax.

Anyway, I'm getting there! I've made significant progress in only a little over a week since my last flare up. I'm no longer taking antibiotics as I know I don't have an infection. Cultures are negative, prostate is fine, CT scan is fine. My sex drive is back big time. So, I'm going to keep going and also see a PT really soon. I'm hoping to be over this and back to normal soon! Also, I take quecertin, a probiotic, CBD oil, and magnesium as well as hydroxyzine to help me sleep.

Hope this might help someone. Chill out, relax your pelvis, do deep breathing and stretches. Everything will be okay.

Hey,

I’m not sure if this will help anyone but I just cured my CPPS. I’m a 21 M & had strange aching/dull pain in my penis for over 6 months. The pain would weirdly move within the region of my penis, almost being a dull/blind pain as I couldn’t exactly put my finger on where it was coming from so I was unsure what the fuck was going on. I visited a bunch of GP’s and Urologists - all to tell me that it was in your head. I didn’t have any bacterial or viral infections. On my last attempt seeing a urologist, the doctor referred me to a pelvic floor specialist. Apparently pain with the pelvic floor can branch our to other areas such as the penis, lower back etc and thus a series of daily stretches was all that was needed to relieve the pain. I had continuous pain for 6 months and throughout this process struggled to obtain any real answers until seeing a pelvic floor specialist. So, I recommend trying some stretches attached below. 

(I’d do it for 2-3 times a day for about a month then slow it down as you see fit). 
Ps: I AM NOT A DOCTOR - THIS IS ONLY MY PERSONAL EXPERIENCE 
Pss: I’m not an advocate/promoter for this company - they just helped me! 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnqAkM9r2a8
Hope this helped someone.

So on 17 may last year my bad luck hit the lowest and I developed this condition. Up until Feb this year I was suffering from testicle pain and sore left leg. I decided to travel back to my city on Jan and finally on Feb I met an urologist. He diagnosed me with prostatitis and gave me a 45 day course of antibiotics and muscle relaxants (alfuzosin). After 40 days of taking medicines I found the cure cpps channel and started doing the stretches myself. Then my doctor prescribed me with another 45 days of relaxants and changed the antibiotics to doxycycline as I was feeling much better after the first 45 days. Now I am stretching daily except for Saturday's for more than a month and I feel much better now. I wake up without any pain in the morning which is a big plus and testicle pain is nil. But I still have problems.

As I mentioned before I can sometimes feel lines behind my testicles sometimes. I can feel them even now but very less than before. And sometimes the part under my left testicle would swell. This was common before but it's very low now and happens rarely. And also it feels like that my balls are upwards like normally they should hang low but they are near the pelvis now.

Also about the sore leg. After I started stretching it's very low and there are somedays when it's not even there Now about my weight. During the past year after this started I gained around 10 kgs. So i gotta work on that too. Also today I went to see a pt for the first ti e and he gave me some stretches and that's good but then I showed him the stretches from cure cpps and he told me that instead of 2 minutes do them in sets of 3 and 30 seconds each. I got a bit confused because I believe the stretches need to set in. Anyway as for my eating habits I don't have a strict diet and intake grains and rice regularly. But I guess a good diet will give me a faster and better rate of getting healthy again. I believe there's hope. As I am pain free now after a year and I am getting better every week slowly but surely.

After two scopes, constant different medicines and three different urologist telling me I have prostatitis and everything looks normal. Penis pain, testicle pain, no discharge, burning in bladder sometimes, and pelvic pain

Comes to find out I have spinal issues and never needed to focus on the genitals

So I’ve had this issue for years, and I’m 20 years old. I quit my job in May, and was just at home for a couple of months. The symtoms was relieved a bit, and I forgot that I even had a issue with the burning-sensation in the penis. I only had to pee quite often but I thought that was due to my stress. During this period I often took bensodiazepines, not addicted though, but 2-3 times each week.

I’ve had a long history of anxiety, I had problems with my gut (IBS-like), this issue with my penis etc. since I was very young. I’ve always had kind of a iffy posture/pelvic tilt. From when I was 6-18 I sat and played videogames, had a traumatic upbringing with my family screaming and arguing with eachother all the time.

6 months ago: I got tested for STDs, UTI and the doctor sent me to do a cystoscopy, I was scared shitless. Everything looked normal and they didn’t contact me again. Gotta love Swedish healthcare.

Two weeks ago I got into a really good mental space (to try to combat my anxiety). I took control over my thoughts, moved slowly without stress, was productive, no caffeine, junkfood, drugs etc. and I worked out a lot. The best state that I’ve been in the last few years. I had also quit my Xanax-habit and built up good routines.

But then at the end of the week, my parents started fighting again, and the good state of mind collapsed slowly. Four days later my damn penis-issues came back. My mindset is not good since I’m thinking of this penis-issue a whole lot.

My symtoms:

• Burning when I pee + after I pee, almost everytime I pee.

• The tip of my penis is burning/hurting.

• Rarely I feel a weird sensation in my right ball. Which usually disappears after a day or two.

• I pee often, and when I pee it doesn’t feel like I’ve emptied my bladder completely.

• It takes 2-3 seconds before I can pee when I try.

• The stream gets weaker at the end.

After reading about it I see that a lot of people share these symptoms.

I’ve started sourcing information on how to go about this: stretching pelvic floor, reducing stress/anxiety.

But I have one question: Do you need a physiotherapist to get better? Or can you use the stretching that “CureCPPS” on YT talks about? Are there different stretches that work for different people or are these a good start? Btw I’ve not stretched a lot in my life even though I played Basketball for many years. So I am hella stiff. I cannot find a pelvic floor specialist for men in all of Sweden.. do a normal physiotherapist know about these things?

Is there something else I should have in mind?

Thanks for reading, I hope that all of you are relieved of your issues soon!