Having gone for quite a long time w/ my prostatitis symptoms being almost
unnoticible, they are back now w/ a vengence. What has precipitated this
lovely turn of events?

An antibiotic.

Yep, Augmentin to be exact. I suspected this was a problem about a year ago,
but the event was so close to my initial prostatitis flare that I couldn't
draw a clear cause / effect relationship. I acquired a sinus infection at
that time and was prescribed Augmentin. My prostatitis symptoms were bad,
being so close to the flare, but they were on a downward trend. About 4 days
into the antibiotic, they sharply rose in intensity. I stopped the
antibiotic and about 3 days later the downward trend resumed. I had a few
suspicions, but just wrote it off as a coincidence.

Fast forward to now. I acquired an ear infection last week and was
prescribed Augmentin. Approx. four days later (now), my symptoms have gotten
quite unbearable. I also notice that I am having watery eyes and
intermittent sneezing fits. My conclusion? I am allergic to penicillin and
the resulting allergy has caused my immune system to go haywire.

I know some on this newsgroup think all prostatitis is bacterial in origin,
but in my case this is most definitely not true. It is the result of a
dysfunctional immune system, plain and simple. That's how I acquired
prostatitis (bad allergic reaction) and that's what's causing me problems
right now. I suspect this is the same reason why some people notice certain
foods setting them off (i.e., wheat); it's an allergic reaction. Since I've
stopped the antibiotic, if my suspicions are correct, in a few days I should
be a lot better off.

Just more evidence that you can't easily point to one factor as a cause of
this condition.

May I suggest you try some Levaquin? So sorry my evil twin made me write that
stay away from Levaquin.
I dont think that Ive read one post of someone being helped by Augmentin, so I
no longer mention it as a possible antibiotic to take.
***********

Thad,
Your experience is extremely interesting.  You mention allergy to wheat.  Have
you seen any research into the possibility that at least some cases of
prostatitis may be due to an autoimune response?
Please post the progress of your symptoms as you withdraw from the augmentin.
After reading your post, I can't help but wonder if Cipro could cause a similar
effect.  Then there's Levaquin, but that's another story.
Perhaps some of us should consult an allergist.
-Tom

Quite a lot. And in my case, speaking from personal experience, I know this
is what is causing mine. I've posted short descriptions of my situation
(allergies, genetic factors, my identical twin. etc.), which you can search
the archive for if interested. If you can't find them, I would be happy to
email the situation to you if you wish. As usual, the "most excellent"
chronic prostatitis website has the full, up-to-date 411:

http://www.***.com/

As average urologists are clueless, I doubt an allergist would know what
you're talking about, but it could be worth a try. I certainly don't think
it would hurt. In fact, I may actually look one up and have a "scratch test"
(or whatever the current procedure is nowadays) performed. This was used to
acertain allergic sensitivity - the results would be used to form the basis
for allergy shot serum. Basically the allergist would scratch your skin and
then apply some kind of extract (food, grass, molds, animal dander / saliva,
etc.) to see what kind of reaction would result. I used to be horribly
allergic (maybe I still am in a way). I remember having this procedure done
and inadvertantly freaking out the nurses. I started forming massive hives
over the scratch sites and almost fainted due to the severity of the various
reactions (loss of {*filter*} pressure - mild anaphylaxis, I suppose). They said
they had never seen anyone react so badly to such a "mild" stimulus. Hey, if
you're gonna do something, go all out, right?

I am so happy with so much of what I read here that I do not know
quite how to respond, without wanting to make any light of the
suffering Thad is enduring  I would hope that a uro or two out there
might be able to come up with a response better than mine.
It seems from what I read here that cooking.net">food allergies may be considered
the
original culprit here, and allergy to antibiotics a further culprit.
I'd be a bit suspicious myself that bactrim, which I've taken lately,
gives
me allergies, since I'm also down with a sinus infection now, which I
am
treating along with my CP with erythromycin (prescribed by my uro).
Where was the allergy last May, though, when the bactrim I took for
3-4 weeks and which was considerably more powerful in my system than
how it's been, taking it lately?  I seldom have sinus trouble in May,
anyway.  I had a sinus infection start two months before my first
obvious episode with CP, with a runny nose instead of the usual sinus
pain and clogging, and after the fall hay fever season had passed.  I
had frequently taken decongestants (usually not more than one a day or
every two days) for a long time before coming down with CP, and had
done a lot of bike riding and some strenuous weightlifting also.   The
antibiotics I had taken, up until recently, were good at holding sinus
trouble at bay, as well often as keeping the CP under some control.

Thad, were you taking antibiotics for sinus problems before you came
down
with CP?  I am of the belief that chronic bacterial prostatitis does
not
necessarily have bacteria as its underlying cause, but possibly some
autoimmune
response, and it is such that I suspect that not only I have, but also
Thad.
As I've mentioned here before, I was having sinus pain during my first
vist to a uro and pointed to that as a suspicion, which he shrugged
off almost completely.
The recent talk about stealth bacteria and results of more
sophisticated DNA exams is a bit eye opening, in regards to cases long
suspected not to be
bacterial.

My response to antibiotics had been very sensitive the first six to
eight months
I've had bacterial CP (I may have had it subtle non-bacterial for a
year before) but not necessarily anymore.  I would theorize that
antibiotics, though an evil necessity, are not the ultimate answer for
the condition I have, and that may be true for a good number of other
guys as well.

Very interesting post, Thad, and whether you intended or not,
complementary
to the 'Conflicting needs for abx' post of mine seven threads ahead of
yours.  And sorry you're feeling so unwell.   How long again have you
had CP and at what age did first have problems?

No. I've had sinus problems in the past, but I was fine for several years
before I got prostatitis.

I agree.

I was 29 when I acquired prostatitis. I took a substance called Xenadrine
(energy booster, fat burner) which apparently sparked off a bad allergic
reaction. I got a fairly bad rash / hives across my back which should have
been a warning, but for some stupid reason, I kept taking it. The resulting
prostatitis presented a much stronger argument to stop it. For whatever
reason, this allergy (I believe) produced chronic prostatitis by creating
some kind of dysfunction in my immune system. The fact that my identical
twin brother did exactly the same thing 2 years prior to me lends
significant weight (anecdotal, I suppose) to the genetic / immune system
dysfunction theory, at least for me. As a side note, realize that neither I
nor my brother have ever had any kind of urinary tract infection or STD at
all.

I'm 30 now so I've had it for approx. 1 year, 2 mo. To be honest, I was in
pretty good shape until I took the antibiotic. Note that I don't mean to say
the antibiotic is the problem per se; the allergy (immune system factor) is
the problem. I'm sure most people could probably take Augmentin (or
Xenadrine for that matter) and have no problems at all (and they do). As I
suspected, since I've been off it about two days I notice that my symptoms
seem to be decreasing steadily. While I don't doubt that bacteria
undoubtedly play a role in some cases of prostatitis, it should be fairly
obvious that they don't in this one.

This disease is so irritating, as I'm sure you guys know. This last weekend
was pretty much shot since the "Augmentin Flare" had me running to the
bathroom about once every hour. And of course, all the lovely depressing
thoughts - "Will this get better? Will it stay like this? After all those
months, have I now screwed myself up? etc.".

Now it's been a few days since I stopped the drug, and I'm looking at the
clock, counting the hours. It's been 7 hours so far since I last took a leak
and I still don't have to go yet despite guzzling tea. I got so used to the
hourly ritual that now I'm thinking, "Maybe something is wrong!" While I'm
actually very glad about this, I'm left with this haunting feeling of
uncertainty. Seems like I'm going to have to be extremely careful about
ingesting any kind of new {*filter*} / foods / etc. Makes me want to just stop
eating altogether...not really an option though. :)

There's no conditioning like operant conditioning!

There's only one way to learn things, Thad - the HARD way! vbg

Ciao