Chronic prostatitis

For a lay person:

Chronic prostatitis, also called chronic pelvic pain syndrome, is long-lasting pain in the pelvis, perineum or genitals in men, often with urinary symptoms. In most cases no infection is found.

For a trained medical person:

Divided into chronic bacterial prostatitis and the more common chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome. Assessment excludes infection and other pathology. Management is multimodal: alpha-blockers, analgesia, pelvic floor physiotherapy and psychological support.

In Chinese medicine:

Flaws and Sionneau's textbook differentiates this condition into these patterns: Damp heat stasis and stagnation; Qi and Blood Stagnation; Spleen Qi Deficiency; Kidney Yin Deficiency; Qi and yin deficiency; Kidney yang deficiency with damp turbidity. Treatment follows the pattern a patient presents with, not the Western diagnosis alone.

When to get help: See a doctor for fever, blood in the urine or semen, or difficulty passing urine.