My husband had a prostate biopsy in April and thankfully the results were benign. Since that time he has had two bouts of prostatitis.....urgency, incontinence, frequency, etc. Both times the urologist put him on antibiotics. They were helpful for a short time, then the symptoms returned. Do you think he should get a second opinion, or is this common for prostatitis?

Thank you.

It is indeed common to have such recurrences if he has chronic prostatitis.
I have had four bouts in past three years and two different urologists put
me on antibiotics for them. From what I have experienced and read from
others it is usual practice for urologists to prescribe antibiotics for such
outbreaks rather than pursue the actual cause. And bacterial infections
generally only account for less than ten percent of the actual causes.
There is a viral form, an ideopathic form (ideopathic meaning unknown cause)
and the symptoms you describe could be BPH rather than prostatitis.
If the doctor did a DRE and your husband experienced pain it is probably
prostatitis. Current TV commercials describe the symptoms you described
and they like to point to BPH as the culprit. So more information is needed
before ruling out BPH. Do you have more information to add?

It is indeed common to have such recurrences if he has chronic prostatitis.
I have had four bouts in past three years and two different urologists put
me on antibiotics for them. From what I have experienced and read from
others it is usual practice for urologists to prescribe antibiotics for such
outbreaks rather than pursue the actual cause. And bacterial infections
generally only account for less than ten percent of the actual causes.
There is a viral form, an ideopathic form (ideopathic meaning unknown cause)
and the symptoms you describe could be BPH rather than prostatitis.
If the doctor did a DRE and your husband experienced pain it is probably
prostatitis. Current TV commercials describe the symptoms you described
and they like to point to BPH as the culprit. So more information is needed
before ruling out BPH. Do you have more information to add?

The DRE will hurt is their is an infection? I didn't know this. It hurt when I had my last DRE and the doctor didn't say anything about that. I just assumed it always hurts since he is pressing on it.

My husband had a prostate biopsy in April and thankfully the results were benign. Since that time he has had two bouts of prostatitis.....urgency, incontinence, frequency, etc. Both times the urologist put him on antibiotics. They were helpful for a short time, then the symptoms returned. Do you think he should get a second opinion, or is this common for prostatitis?

Thank you.

Why did your husband have a biopsy? Was his PSA and Free PSA levels high? if so, what were they?

Vince, the DRE should not be painful, only a sense of pressure felt.
Unless your doc likes to be rough. Pain usually indicates prostate
inflammation, but not necessarily infection, although it could be.