Is this Balanitis? I'm 21, had it most of my whole life, no treatment has worked

Which symptoms do you have?

Reddit and facebook groups about Chronic prostatitis have quite a few users mentioning redness/inflammation at the meatus of urethra and the glans. Some have pain/burning while others don't. So very possible this balanitis is related to the prostate.

ive had this 18 months and this is the list of symptoms ive had.

1 x episode of discharge only.

inflamed uruthera and meatius.

pain when urinating.

urine dribbling out.

mucus and extremely cloudy urine.

pain in testicles.

the skin glands appeared damaged/scaly/crack.

foul smell sometimes due to skin issues.

very dark urine.

only on a couple occasions had prostate cramp.

there might be more ive missed but my symptoms are now only slight inflamattion of uruthera and meatius,also cloudy and dark urine still.

hopefully these might be reduced/gone by the time ive finished 4 weeks of treatment im only

5 days in.

also the dermalogical issues found on the meatius and glands could be a reaction from prostate issues if there has been a trauma and your body has reacted and become hypersensative.

Hey Mate, Any update on your condition?

The flakes on the glans is probably your dry skin peeling (gets especially visible during erection). We're all having this same issue and isn't it weird that the common age of onset for this thing is 29-30 years? I'm also 30 and seen a few other posters mention the same age.

Another user maxpower2020 has likely pinpointed the exact issue in this post here:

https://patient.info/forums/discuss/is-this-balanitis-i-m-21-had-it-most-of-my-whole-life-no-treatment-has-worked-604272?page=29#3748102

Pudental nerve inflammation - the nerve that runs from inside of the pelvis down to the testicles and out into the urethra. The testicle pain many have mentioned would make sense. So does the burning sensation when passing urine/ejaculating. Also look up fibromyalgia skin rashes as mentioned in the above post. This condition is often chronic so we'll have to learn to live with it, unfortunately...

Thanks for your response! I had a diabetic blood test done 7 months back during the onset of this problem and my fasting blood sugar & Post prandial blood sugar levels were absolutely normal. Also my hba1c levels (3 months average diabetic values) were also normal. So I'm hoping it should be normal now as well. If required, I'll get a blood test done again tomorrow to rule out confusions. Also tomorrow I'll be visiting the same dermatologist that I visited 7 months back. I'm sure he'll take anti-fungal route (medications and ointments etc) after taking look at my glans penis. I'll keep you posted on the status. In the mean time can someone look into the pics i posted and suggest if this is anything you all are aware of? Should I visit a dermatologist or Urologist?

PS - Sorry for my bad english as I'm from a non-non-English speaking country.

Some patients report fibromyalgia beginning after an illness like flu, which causes muscle inflammation and pain. For this reason some people have wondered whether a virus can 'trigger' fibromyalgia by upsetting the way the nerve fibres in muscles react to pressure and stretch. For many patients, though, fibromyalgia comes out of the blue.

The pain and other symptoms of fibromyalgia typically come and go over time. This is referred to as flare ups. However, some people make a full remission from fibromyalgia syndrome to become symptom free.

Ah, I edited my response asking you about diabetes when I remembered maxpower2020's post about pudental nerve inflammation and fibromyalgia. Definitely not diabetes related then.

Just gone through the links shared by you. I can very easily eliminate most of the symptoms related to fibromyalgia - Apart from urinary symptoms, I don't have any other symptoms relating to Fibromyalgia (Like depression, fatigue, stiffness & joint issues etc) or maybe I'm missing something. Anyway let me see what my dermatologist has to say tomorrow.. Fingers crossed -

Hey I didn't mean it's fibromyalgia, just that nerve irritation can cause a rash as evidenced by some people that have fibromyalgia. Also, I've been reading more on forums about men with chronic prostatitis and the inflamed/puffy tip (like in mukund83050's photos) is pretty common. My tip is inflamed as well and becomes worse after any stimulation like an erection.

So another theory is that slight prostate inflammation is causing urethral irritation which is causing the inflamed tip, urinary frequency, pain etc. But what's causing the chronic prostatitis if it's not bacteria? Perhaps it all comes back again to nerve issues in the area. Personally I think our conditions are more urology based, than dermatological.

However, no one as far as I know has been able to find a cure. Some people here with the same symptoms have gone to see Professor Bunker (one of top penis doctors in the world) and he hasn't been able to diagnose them either.

Thanks for clarification max.

I actually had my prostate checked last week and the doc said that if it is indeed my prostate, it would feel really tender upon pressure. During the inspection, there was 0 tenderness.

It may have ruled out chronic prostatitis, at least for me. If the prostate was inflamed, I would immediately feel it according to the doc.

Still leaning towards pudental nerve inflammation at this point. Something (in my case an infection) caused the nerves to overreact and they haven't calmed down since.

You would definitely know if your prostate was tender, ive been diagnosed with chronic prostatitus last week and the pain i felt when i pressed on my prostate was crazy.

also explains the pressure and pain i feel when i need the toilet as my uruthera is cramped by the inflamed prostate causing all these issues i have.

i wrote my diagnosis a few posts ago, after 18 months ive been diagnose with chronic prostatitus and been put on 3 different medications.

Again tested for diabetes and well within control. Have visited couple of urologists and a dermatologist in the span of 1 week and all they said is mine is a case of non specific balanitis infection. This is really killing the quality of life.

Did they prescribe you anything at all? Just them telling you it's a non-specific balanitis is not very productive. I read that circumcision may improve it up to 70-90%. A viable, last resort option in my opinion (something I may end up doing myself but not yet).

Also, I found this that may be of interest:

Nonspecific urethritis may be treated with a short course of tetracycline.

Link to the study: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1045340/?page=1

Go to the next page (41) for the results and the doses of this clinical trial. This non-mainstream antibiotic is worth looking into.

depends whether you have a bacterial infection or not. also tetracycline only treats certain types of infections. certain bacteria are resistant to many antibiotics

Sorry for my delayed response. Yes I was told non specific balanitis and was prescribed with antibacterial (azithromycin), anti viral (acyclovir) and anti Fungal (flucanazole) all 3 together and I've been told to strictly abstain from masturbation. As far as pain is concerned there is good reduction in pain but there is still redness and dryness in the Glans. I'm still managing with topical creams like clotrimazole. I think eventually I'll have to undergo circumcision after covid pandemic situation my my country settles down to an extent.

Finally some good news. I have a good improvement to my pain and redness. Infact I have zero pain. Also my inflammation has come down. My urine flow has improved a lot, like I used to strain myself a lot before to pee and now can pee freely. My docs prescribed me antibiotics for bacterial (6 days 500mg azithromycin) , antiviral (acyclovir 5 days) and flucanazole 150(thrice a week for 4 weeks). All these prescribed medicines I took it together. I'm abstaining myself from masturbation which is also helping it heal faster. Also I haven't started to wear tight clothing to see if I still have irritation at the moment don't want to take that risk. Overall good progress that when compared to how it was 1.5 months back.

That's great to hear man. Could you post a new picture so we can see what it looks like now? To compare it to what is in your original post above. This might give hope to the men suffering from this unpleasant ailment.

Definitely keep us posted. A lot of people never come back to this forum to post an update on their progress (or a lack of it). So when somebody does, it's appreciated.

So your doctor gave you antibiotics, antiviral medication and medication for a fungal infection all at once?

Attaching the most recent pic that I took 10 minutes before. For sure I will keep this group updated on the progress. For now things are moving smooth, though I haven't gone back to my ways of masturbation (This is where the problem actually started) however I prefer to rest my penis without masturbating for next few days. I have stopped applying any external creams (Clotrimazole 1% was prescribed for me) and only for the dryness I used to apply cocunut oil but I stopped that as well. Not sure if its just me, but I have always felt any external applications to penis only gives temporary relief and causes some sort of addiction.

yes my doc prescribed all these medications at once and I had it all together. Really not a good idea taking it all together (Considering the tiredness, dehydration and other side effects) but its non-specific Balanitis. So nothing much that can be done.

That's a good doctor, covered all bases (bacteria, herpes, fungus). Most doctor won't even consider prescribing acyclovir but I'm finding more evidence that this could be linked to HSV. However, azithromycin is also an anti-inflammatory so hopefully the symptoms don't come back after the 6 day course. Keep us updated!

were you not tested for hsv at all? i tested negative for hsv2 twice and hsv1 three times. there are other kinds of herpes viruses like CMV and EBV, which can be tested for but from what i was told a UTI would mostly only come along with other symptoms like fever cough and soreness. cant rule anything out though! ill get tested for that if my urine comes back clean, im still curious about hpv maybe being a cause. with so many strains out there and no test for me in the US(that i know of)

ive got 2 weeks now with no masterbating no alcohol no caffine and drying after a pee. pain has gone away but inflammation comes and goes, redness and veiny urethra is still present

I really doubt if this is hsv related or atleast in my case, as I've never had any Intercourse in my life and there is almost zero possibility of the virus transmitted in non sexual ways. I've already completed the course of anti bacterial and antiviral 1.5 weeks back but my inflammatory condition really improved after taking antifungals for 2 weeks. Most doctors prescribe antifungal medications (flucanazole 150) one medicine/dose a week and I guess that is not sufficient to kill a fungus that is strong in our cases. I had to take 3 doses/medicines a week (mon/wed/Fri basis) and i really started to see improvement in second week. Do you know anyone taken antifungal medications thrice a day anytime before?