A gentleman suddenly had pain in his balls, and his scrotum was red and swollen, and he was aching all over. So what is this about? Epididymitis, as the name implies, is an inflammation of the epididymis. Many people develop it every year, and the most common age is 18-35 years old. Most epididymitis is a bacterial infection that may or may not be sexually transmitted (STI, such as gonorrhea or chlamydia, etc.). The epididymis is actually connected to the urethra, and germs from other sources can trigger epididymitis, such as E. coli. The scrotum will swell during an epididymitis attack and sometimes it looks like a hernia, but epididymitis is often combined with pain to make it easier to distinguish. The following is a three-step approach to understanding this disease.
Step 1: Recognize the symptoms
Epididymitis can be acute or chronic, and is usually classified by a six-week limit. Symptoms can vary from person to person or from one cause to another.
Early symptoms
1. Pain from one testicle: This is the most common manifestation. The pain starts in one testicle, mostly concentrated in the lower part of the testicle, and gradually the whole testicle starts to hurt, even bilaterally. The nature of the pain can be sharp or burning and correlates with the duration of the inflammation. And the pain is accompanied by increased blood flow, accumulation of immune material and increased nerve sensitivity.
2. Redness and swelling of the scrotum on the infected side: very uncomfortable in the sitting position. The redness is the result of increased blood flow, body fluids also leak in the infected area causing swelling, and there is an increase in skin temperature on the affected side. These generally occur within 3-4 hours of onset.
3. Pay attention to urination symptoms: Many people will experience discomfort in urination during epididymitis, including burning in the urethra, increased urination than usual, and possible blood in the urine. Many epididymitis are caused by the urethra starting and reaching the epididymis through the vas deferens. Infection of the urinary tract naturally irritates the bladder or causes damage to the mucous membrane
Later symptoms
1. Pay attention to whether it is painful to urinate: Epididymitis can spread seriously to other tissues, and painful urination can be the result. In severe cases, there will be blood in the urine, which is the result of small bleeding in the epididymal duct into the urine. These are certainly not comfortable conditions.
2. see if there is a discharge from the urethra: sometimes a urinary tract infection or inflammation urethral orifice will show some white or yellow discharge, in due to sexually transmitted causes is will be more obvious.
3, measure the body temperature: if the inflammatory response or infection into the whole body, the body’s defense mechanism is fever. A fever indicates that the body is fighting the infection, and any temperature above 38°C should be rushed to the doctor. Three cases of high fever in the male genitourinary system would include epididymitis (acute prostatitis, acute epididymitis, acute pyelonephritis)
The second step to understand the cause of the disease
1. Understand the risk of developing epididymitis: epididymitis is most common in young, sexually active people, and men with multiple sexual partners are more likely to develop it. Other high-risk groups include: bicyclists or motorcyclists, or sedentary people; people with low immunity, such as autoimmune diseases or AIDS
2. The risk is increased if there is recent urethral surgery or transurethral manipulation: any surgical procedure or urethral manipulation, even simple catheterization, can easily invite infection. Urinary tract infections can further spread to the epididymis triggering epididymitis.
3. Congenital problems are also a factor: the urinary tract is the most common site for congenital developmental malformations, and these can be the cause of inflammatory reactions or infections in the urinary tract and surrounding tissues. The malformation does not have to be serious, even though some small volume or position change may pose a problem
4. Urinary tract infection is an important factor: an active urinary tract infection can be an inflammation of the surrounding tissues, including the epididymis. Recent urinary tract infections can create a hotbed of epididymitis.
5. Both orchitis and prostatitis can increase the risk of epididymitis: when prostatitis occurs, inflammation can spread down through the ejaculatory ducts and lead to epididymitis. The inflammatory response from orchitis can then spread in the other direction to inflame the epididymis.
Step 3 Treatment of epididymitis
1.Apply antibiotics: Epididymitis should be treated according to the cause of inflammation. Since most cases are caused by infections, prompt medical attention should be sought and antibiotics prescribed. The type and dosage of drugs will be selected according to the source of infection. For gonorrhea and chlamydia infection can be taken ceftriaxone intramuscular injection followed by doxycycline (macrolide) orally for 10 days; for some cases azithromycin high dose can be substituted for intramuscular injection; for E. coli, a 10-day course of oralloxacin is sufficient.
2, taking anti-inflammatory drugs: such as ibuprofen will reduce the pain caused by inflammation; these drugs should not be taken for more than 10 days if taken by themselves. Adults with epididymitis apply ibuprofen for pain relief, 4-6 hours a day interval can be taken again; still pain can increase the measurement.
3.Bed rest: Bed rest helps to reduce pain. As long as one is lying in bed, placing a hand towel or cloth roll between the legs can elevate the scrotum and reduce pain.
4, cold compresses: ice packs can reduce blood flow to reduce pain, the application is best not to exceed 30 minutes to avoid skin frostbite. It is also best not to directly touch the skin ice pack. It can be applied during the first one or two days of the onset.
5, hot water sitz bath: two or three days after the onset of the disease, the condition is more stable can be carried out. Sitz bath can be up to 30 minutes, hot water can promote blood circulation thus fighting infection. Such actions are much better.
6. Herbal formulas: There are three types of botanicals that are effective for epididymitis. Pine nut daisy herb – can fight infection to reduce inflammation, often made into a healthy tea and consumed daily to help relieve pain; honeysuckle – has two preparations: tinctures and injections, with powerful anti-inflammatory properties; ephedra – has antibacterial properties can reduce the inflammatory response, the leaves can be made into a tea.
Tips
1. Properly tightened: sports underwear has better support for the scrotum and reduces pain. Ordinary flannel underwear is not as supportive as triangular underwear.
2.If epididymitis is suspected, be sure to receive treatment under the guidance of a doctor. If this condition is not treated it may have serious consequences, such as infertility.
3. the symptoms of chronic epididymitis are variable and certain patients only show testicular pain, which is not as intense as acute ones.
4. Whether acute or chronic, it is important to differentiate. It is necessary to distinguish between testicular torsion, acute prostatitis, urethritis, epididymal tuberculosis, testicular tumor and many other problems, and these identifications can sometimes be costly if there are deviations.