Prostatitis Treatment

It is usual to start treatment for prostatitis with a course of antibiotics in case the condition is infective in origin. A long (at least 4 week) course of antibiotics is needed, and some antibiotics are better than others as they get into the prostate gland in higher concentrations. Ciprofloxacin, Ofloxacin, Doxycycline and Trimethoprim are the commonest antibiotics used.

If antibiotics fail to help there are a number of other things which can be tried. Anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen and diclofenac sometimes help. The drug allopurinol, which is more often used for gout, is sometimes of benefit for reasons which are not completely clear. Alpha-blocker drugs, such as Tamsulosin, may help particularly if there are associated urinary problems.

Are herbal and other treatments of any use?

There are a lot of herbal preparations and similar treatments which have are sometimes advertised for the treatment of prostatitis, particularly on the internet. In general terms the results of these are disappointing.

Often when an internet search brings about lots of different treatments for a condition it means that none of them work particularly well. If one of them was a good treatment, it would be used all the time and there wouldn’t be any need for the others. Some men do resort to alternative treatments for their symptoms, but if you are considering doing this it would be sensible to try and get some accurate scientific information about the reliability and success rate of the treatment before making an investment!

Surgical solutions for severe prostatitis

If prostatitis is causing severe symptoms, damaging your quality of life and you have tried a range of medication without success, a surgical approach may be considered. This is called a radical prostatectomy, which involves the complete removal of the prostate. Studies show evidence for using this approach in a very small number of cases and that removal does address the problem. However, such an approach would only be undertaken after very careful consideration of all factors, if other methods of management are not effective and with full understanding of potential risks and benefits.