Epididymitis/ Orchitis

[srtlrt]

Hi all,
new to the forum but not to what I'm reading. I've been dealing with epididymitis for about 4 years. I've had the usual, 3 urologists, rounds of anti-biotics, acupuncture ultrasounds, ice, heat, jock straps, pain management Dr that tried a couple of drugs on me with zero results, all of this with sadly no positive outcome.

I have a lump the size of a 1/2 pea on my left testi. My last urologist suggested he could try and remove the lump or remove the testi. The pain management dr said he's seen as many folks with the same pain after the surgery as without. I find this hard to believe, but is it a risk I want to take???
Same dr also did a procedure to ensure it was epididymitis an injection into my groin to "block" the nerves. He sent me home, told me to run, lift weights - whatever to see if I experienced any pain. It was a nice 24 hours!!! He said that they can not continue this injection as the results might effect other area's, for the record, what he told me scared me enough to stop asking! Disfunction, incontinence...you get the idea.

My opinion here - after a couple rounds on antibiotics - you've killed off whatever might be going on down there and additional meds will not help. Just my opinion here!

Does everyone one else have a lump?

Has anyone found anything that will help a little bit? Like a couple of earlier posts it really pisses me off that NO DR has taken this up as it effects so many folks.

I'm glad I found this site, not that misery loves company but to know there's a support team of sorts out there...

Steve

[jnana]

I just joined this forum because my 56 year old brother is also suffering from these same symptoms. He has excruciating pain in his scrotum for no apparent reason. The doctors say that it is a nerve thing and they are trying to track down the cause so they can treat it but can't find anything wrong. In the meantime my brother can't even open a door or open the lid on his laptop without feeling pain in his crotch. His life/health is going down hill because of inactivity and pain medication. I really feel for all you guys who are suffering from this horrendous situation. I just want to say that I would like to see someone really get into going the chinese medicine route to get some relief with this. I live in Hawaii and we have some excellent Chinese doctors here who are extremely knowledgable in the fields of herbs, acupuncture, and diagnosis. I have always gone to chinese herbalists/doctors when I need medical help, short of surgery and I always get immediate results. I am 60 years old and have consulted chinese herbalists all my adult life. My brother is in Seattle and can't travel or I would bring him here in a heartbeat. I've been trying to get him to see a chinese doctor in Seattle but He is really stuck on western medicine. I'm not knocking western medicine, it definitely has it's place but when it comes to nerve damage and undiagnosable ailments like this I'll go with chinese doctors any day.

Most times these doctors aren't covered by your insurance plan but who cares when the pain is so great! I would totally reccomend chinese medicine and I would like to hear from anyone who is going this route and I will also visit this thread often to see how all of you are doing. My heart goes out to you all and I can only pray that you can get some relief. The other thing about chinese herbs and accupuncture is that you won't have to have very many treatments until you see some results. The results are immediate and then it gets better from there. Alot of times the treatment will also include a required change in your diet/lifestyle, etc.. I hope this makes some sense to you all. Keep me informed! Best wishes

Jnana

[aportugu]

Hey everyone,
I've been dealing with chronic epididymitis (cep) for over a year now. I've seen 5 urologists so far and none of them had any answers. The consensus has been that it's caused by nerve damage and scarring but I find that theory hard to believe do to the flare-ups that occur seemingly at random. Instead of diagnosing the problem, I've been told that I need to focus on managing the pain. This opinion is something I am very unwilling to take to heart. Especially considering the lack of diagnostics most urologists do. I've essentially ruled out hernia. I do not think that most sufferers of cep have undiagnosed hernias, although I'm sure that some do. It can also be caused by fungi, either candida albicans or candida glaberata. My urologist refuses to test me for this and insists that I would present with external symptoms. Maybe he's right but I'm not completely convinced. Another potential cause is mycobacterium tuberculosis, although this is highly unlikely. It's not like we're living in some third world country where tuberculosis runs rampant. It's also possible that the pain is referred from the back or pelvis. Probably the most likely culprit is a bacterial infection. The theory is that urine can backflow through the vas deferens into the epididymis while weight lifting, running, biking, etc on a full bladder. I think this is how myself and a lot of others originally acquired the problem. There are a ton of antibiotics, each with different spectrums. I think the most common initial antibiotic proscribed for acute epididymitis is doxycycline. I was given penicillin. After that didn't work I was given cipro, bactrim, and zithromax. I had a varicocelectomy hoping that it was causing the problem, but the pain never completely went away. About a month ago I had a flare up, saw yet another urologist, and was put on celebrex and doxycycline (100 mg twice daily). I finished both and saw minimal improvement. I was looking into Ofloxacin (marketed under the name Floxin) and it seems like the most effective antibiotic for epididymitis. It performed drastically better than doxycycline in clinical trials so I'm going to ask my urologist about it the next time I see him. I still think it's possible that my problem could be a fungal thing. After all the antibiotics I took, it's surprising I don't have a yeast infection. I'm not really sure where to go from here. I feel like I've tried everything and I'm sure a lot of you feel the same way. I want to be really aggressive about this but urologists like to sit and wait. I want blood tests (complete blood count for leukocytes), urine tests, a dynamic ultrasound (to completely rule out hernia), semen tests, etc. and one urologist responded, "Go to med school first and then you can decide what's best for you." A lot of people suffer from chronic epididymitis/orchitis/prostatitis and it is my opinion that the real problem here is in the mindset of urologists who are overly hesitant to actually get to the bottom of problems. If your case isn't something they see every day, they'll think you're crazy instead of unusual. Good luck everybody. You're gonna need it.

[srtlrt]

Hello,
from what I understand the risk of removing the testical can lead to the same level of pain(according to my pain management guy). I've read that there is relief for some, same issues or worse for others.

Sorry, not very helpful but that's what I've come across.

Anyone else?

Steve

[xtian004]

Hi..I'm 20 years old,4th year nursing student...just want to share my own story....one month ago, I was diagnosed by the internal medicine doctor having an epididymo-orchitis, meaning inflammation of my epididymis and testis...there was only two laboratory exam done to me...urinalysis and ultrasound of the testis...urinalysis to detect if there is infection and ultrasound to know the cause of my illness.because my doctor told me that there are lot of possible cause of orchitis. then we found out that the result of my urinalysis had a pus cells of 5.9 which means there is infection then my doctor prescribed me antibiotics (levofloxacin) for 14 days and two intramuscular injections of gentamycin(another antibiotic) for the first two days...then when it comes to pain, the doctor just prescribed pain reliever (etiricoxib/arcoxia 90mg) for 5 days and it has also an anti-inflammatory effect to relieve the swelling of the testicles and it was very effective because the day after I took that drug there was no more pain and i observed that there was lesser swell than the first day...after 4days, i went to urologist to make sure that there will be no other complications and to check if the prescription of the internal med doctor was correct. He also prescribed same medications and added some instructions like bed rest with elevation of the scrotum for fast healing and drink 3L of water so that I won't be constipated because constipation may trigger our testis/epididymis to swell more because the blood vessels there will become constricted and when it becomes constricted, there will be less blood supply there and it will slows the healing of the testis/epididymis. My only problem now is my right testis is not yet in normal size compared before. I hope it may help you...