raggamuffin
01-12-2014, 04:50 PM
Epididymitis flared up 3 weeks ago and got pretty severe the beginning of this week. Dr put me on another antibiotic (6th course now) but the pain was getting worse and anxiety was flaring up so I visited another Dr a few days later. He disagreed with the first doctor's prescription and gave me a different antibiotic and Amitrityline at 10 mg. This is an anti depressant but apparently in this tiny dose it can help you mediate pain after several weeks. I'm not sure how effective it'll be but it seems my GP has a good undersatanding about pain management. The first Dr didn't think i'd be able to tolerate 6 weeks of antibiotics as it'd mess my stomach up. Surprisingly, apart from stomach aches and nausea I seem to do ok. But the second Dr told me to either try 2 pills a day or 1 depending on whether or not I could tolerate it. I imagined he meant stomach problems again but I think this is more anxiety based issues.
I think stress was a leading cause in my epididymitis pain getting severe. Since things calmed down it has waxed and waned a lot more and in general has felt a lot less severe. The antibiotic seems to be giving me stomach aches and nausea but it's also making me feel quite anxious. Comapred to the usual anxiety symptoms I get this one is certainly new. Not so symptom based and not a sheer feeling of impending doom. but this horrid inbetween of feeling on edge but it not spilling over. I know these are side effects and will hopefully settle down oiver the next few weeks (as this is another 6 week course of antibiotics).
Dr contacted urologists to find out what else can be done and perhaps get an appointment with them. I'm rather fed up with having this condition over a year now and for it to be considered chonic now. Seems on health forums there's quite a number of men with this chronic diagnosis and they don't seem to have much luck with the dr's at all. They dish out antibiotics, they never work, or if they do the pain soon returns once the course of meds is over. Most got the all clear for STD's and still the pains continue. Many people have tried many different remedies. I printed off some of the short responses men had written where they said they'd overcome their condition. These replies were few and far beteween compared to the sheer volume of men clearly distraught, anxious and severely depressed from this painful and debilitating condition. The GP dismissed all the remedies and drugs the men had tried and still insisted we stick to antibiotics to deal with the problem. Problem is this part of the body is also connected to the prostate and can lead to a chronic prostate condition. Also i've been sitting with more weight leaning on the tailbone to avoid hurting the epididiymis which has lead to bad tail bone pain which the Dr said is also difficult to treat and can become chornic. Certainly doesn't feel like i'm on a winning streak at the moment I must admit.
I guess i'm writing this mainly because about 20 minutes ago I had a rather severe anxiety episode. Bit of back ache at first which hopped around the place but then I got the most severe stomach pain. First I thougth it was wind...to be honest it probably was. When I moved in certain ways like arching my back and sticking my stomach forwards I was faced with crippling pain. For me the panic attacks always come around when a severe ache or pain sets it off. it's never usualy a situation or general impending doom feewling that causes it. It's gut wrenching pains which don't go away or get worse and worse until I'm convinced that it's all over. The whole epidosde lasted barely a minute but when you have an episode of pain so intense it seems to put you on edge for the rest of the evening. So now, even though I feel exhausted i'm quite wound up to say the least.
It was my week off this week and I spent virtually all of it getting bed rest. It certainly helped with the Epididymitis pains but lying in bed most of the day seems to have sparked difficulty in falling asleep recently. I think i've confused my brain/body and now when I try to actually fall asleep I wind up tossing and turning for hours before I finally nod off. Even then the sleep is very broken up and i'm waking up 2 or 3 times a night when normally I just sleep straight thorugh.
I truly hope these antiobitcs work this time. The first GP I saw this week worked as a surgeon for a urology department. he said himself that they used to just hit poeople hard with antiobitcs for 6 weeks and they'd expect to see the patient back in a few years once the epididymitis had arisen again. How on earth is that effective medical treatment? Surely they can't keep dishing out antibiotics like candies? It's really unnerving to be honest. But i've been trying to focus on the good recently and minimize stress. it's certainly helped with the epididymitis pains. Unfortunately the anxiety pains still seem to be hitting hard as ever.
I suppose we can't have everything.
Ed
I think stress was a leading cause in my epididymitis pain getting severe. Since things calmed down it has waxed and waned a lot more and in general has felt a lot less severe. The antibiotic seems to be giving me stomach aches and nausea but it's also making me feel quite anxious. Comapred to the usual anxiety symptoms I get this one is certainly new. Not so symptom based and not a sheer feeling of impending doom. but this horrid inbetween of feeling on edge but it not spilling over. I know these are side effects and will hopefully settle down oiver the next few weeks (as this is another 6 week course of antibiotics).
Dr contacted urologists to find out what else can be done and perhaps get an appointment with them. I'm rather fed up with having this condition over a year now and for it to be considered chonic now. Seems on health forums there's quite a number of men with this chronic diagnosis and they don't seem to have much luck with the dr's at all. They dish out antibiotics, they never work, or if they do the pain soon returns once the course of meds is over. Most got the all clear for STD's and still the pains continue. Many people have tried many different remedies. I printed off some of the short responses men had written where they said they'd overcome their condition. These replies were few and far beteween compared to the sheer volume of men clearly distraught, anxious and severely depressed from this painful and debilitating condition. The GP dismissed all the remedies and drugs the men had tried and still insisted we stick to antibiotics to deal with the problem. Problem is this part of the body is also connected to the prostate and can lead to a chronic prostate condition. Also i've been sitting with more weight leaning on the tailbone to avoid hurting the epididiymis which has lead to bad tail bone pain which the Dr said is also difficult to treat and can become chornic. Certainly doesn't feel like i'm on a winning streak at the moment I must admit.
I guess i'm writing this mainly because about 20 minutes ago I had a rather severe anxiety episode. Bit of back ache at first which hopped around the place but then I got the most severe stomach pain. First I thougth it was wind...to be honest it probably was. When I moved in certain ways like arching my back and sticking my stomach forwards I was faced with crippling pain. For me the panic attacks always come around when a severe ache or pain sets it off. it's never usualy a situation or general impending doom feewling that causes it. It's gut wrenching pains which don't go away or get worse and worse until I'm convinced that it's all over. The whole epidosde lasted barely a minute but when you have an episode of pain so intense it seems to put you on edge for the rest of the evening. So now, even though I feel exhausted i'm quite wound up to say the least.
It was my week off this week and I spent virtually all of it getting bed rest. It certainly helped with the Epididymitis pains but lying in bed most of the day seems to have sparked difficulty in falling asleep recently. I think i've confused my brain/body and now when I try to actually fall asleep I wind up tossing and turning for hours before I finally nod off. Even then the sleep is very broken up and i'm waking up 2 or 3 times a night when normally I just sleep straight thorugh.
I truly hope these antiobitcs work this time. The first GP I saw this week worked as a surgeon for a urology department. he said himself that they used to just hit poeople hard with antiobitcs for 6 weeks and they'd expect to see the patient back in a few years once the epididymitis had arisen again. How on earth is that effective medical treatment? Surely they can't keep dishing out antibiotics like candies? It's really unnerving to be honest. But i've been trying to focus on the good recently and minimize stress. it's certainly helped with the epididymitis pains. Unfortunately the anxiety pains still seem to be hitting hard as ever.
I suppose we can't have everything.
Ed