I am now age 46. Since I turned 43, I started to experience some erectile dysfunction. I finally went to an Osteopath about six months ago to discuss the ED. He checked out my prostate and moved it around a bit. A few weeks after that exam, I masturbated and saw blood in my semen for the first time ever. I though it would go away, but it's now been happening for three months. My doctor thought it was likely Prostatitis which I had one time about two years ago. He prescribed three weeks of Cipro antibiotic but I really didn't have any key symptoms of Prostatitis.
I'm still seeing blood in my semen. So next step is to get a PSA test and see what the results are. I'm worried that I might have Prostate Cancer.
My main question is if I'm only seeing blood in my semen, not in urine. And I'm experiencing no burning during urination or no frequent trips to urinate, is having blood in my semen for 3 months a strong indicator of prostate cancer? If not, I'd like to hear from others who do have Prostate Cancer, what symptoms they experienced prior to discovering the cancer.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
My experience: I never had noticeable blood in semen, or urine (except, of course, immediately after my biopsy).
I was told there was blood in my urine when I had a severe bout with prostatitis, about 6 months before my biopsy/diagnosis, but it was not noticeable.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Anything is possible, but that doesn't sound like a typical symptom of those later diagnosed with prostate cancer. Starting to build a PSA history though is a good thing.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Quote:
Originally Posted by munkmunk
... If not, I'd like to hear from others who do have Prostate Cancer, what symptoms they experienced prior to discovering the cancer.
Hi and welcome to the board! (Let's hope you just need to be here for a brief visit.)
I too think prostate cancer is not a likely cause of the blood release.
The only possible symptoms I experienced prior to diagnosis were urinating typically three times at night and urgency. However, both were probably due to the heavy hydration I regularly did for exercise and physical activity.
Typically, men with low-risk cases of prostate cancer - the risk level that constitutes a great majority of cases diagnosed in the US today, are unaware of symptoms. Symptoms due to prostate cancer do not usually become noticeable until the disease is well advanced.
Prostatitis is often hard to nail down. It is often resistant to medications that used to work for the particular bacterial cause. The fact that a short course of Cipro failed to clear you up does not rule out prostatitis.
I wish you luck in figuring out what is going on and recovering.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Thanks so much everyone for your replies. I have an appointment scheduled with a Urologist next week and will be getting a PSA test done this week. Crossing my fingers it's nothing serious, but my Osteopath says blood in your semen is definitely NOT normal and should always be taken seriously. He is the one who told me there is a chance this could be prostate cancer. It's strange though that my regular physician didn't seem to be alarmed when I told him about it.
I'm curious why when I research Prostate Cancer online, that several websites do list "blood in semen" as one symptom? Maybe some have this symptom, while others don't? I really don't know what else could cause this to go on for now over three months? I don't play any sports and have not recently been hit in the area of my prostate. I am also noticing tha the blood to semen ratio seems to be increasing. So it's definitely getting redder.
Oh, what about ED? Did any of you experience ED prior to being diagnosed?
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Glad you are following-up with urologist.
With PC, a high percentage of men don't experience any symptoms. However, some men will experience one or more of the other symptoms typically listed in various literature. These observed symptoms could also be caused by other factors.
I had no symptoms (except my previously mentioned bout of prostatitis, which was serious (included hospitalization), but only lasted a short time). No ED.
Last edited by kcon; 08-04-2009 at 03:27 PM.
Reason: changed "doctor" to "urologist"; added comment on "hospitalization"
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Hi KCON,
When you say serious, how serious was your bout of prostatitis. Mine was roughly two years ago during a very long drive. Around 10 hours of driving. It was also very hot and the A/C didn't work well in my car. I woke up the next morning and couldn't urinate. Like a dummy I didn't see the doctor until the evening when it was really painful in my prostate area and then had to be injected with Cipro while I was hospitalized. I haven't had any other incident of prostatitis since then.
Steve
Quote:
Originally Posted by kcon
I had no symptoms (except my previously mentioned bout of prostatitis, which was serious (included hospitalization), but only lasted a short time). No ED.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Similar. Temp over 102F, which is serious for middle-aged adult. Prostatitis symptoms were that I felt like I had to pee constantly...but I was going to urinal (at work) so often that not much came out each time. Wicked thrashing between chills and sweats overnight...didn't sleep a wink. Went to doctor the next morning; they checked me into hospital without going home.
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
Thanks Kcon. I don't think I had a high temperature. But yes, had the same symptoms during my prostatitis incident. So when you were checked into the hospital, did they then run a PSA test on you? If not, how were you then diagnosed with PC? Also, was this your first case of prostatitis? If not, how many cases of prostatitis did you go through before you were diagnosed with PC?
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
That was my one and only incident with prostatitis...it was last summer, end of June.
PSA test was NOT given at the time of hospitalization...prostatitis inflammation will artificially/temporarily inflate one's true PSA value. In fact, generally prostatitis is said to be the most common cause of a falsely elevated PSA readings.
After my prostatitis cleared-up, I had follow-up appointment(s) with the urologist who treated me in the hospital to look into the root cause...why did this incident of prostatitis occur? In his office, I had scope up urethra to look into bladder looking for stones, tumors, etc. (forgot, for the moment, what this procedure is called); nothing found unusual.
Then had PSA test (4.1 ng/ml in Nov or Dec; several months after prostatitis incident), which then led to biopsy (Jan).
Re: Blood in Semen for Three Months and ED Problem
That's right...nothing noticeable.
Urine test during prostatitis incident showed that there was blood in urine, but I couldn't tell by sight...looked normal to me. Never noticed anything in semen.
(Let's hope you just need to be here for a brief visit.)
