On the scientific level, the causes of prostatitis are not completely understood. There is controversy among the most highly regarded experts. Keep in mind that any one patient may have more than one cause operating at the same time. Or, looked at from another point of view, prostatitis could be several different diseases which present with the same or similar sets of symptoms in different individuals.

There are three main schools of thought about the causes of prostatitis. Each of the following linked pages will soon have additional information related to the potential cause.

• Bacterial infection,
• Auto-immune response or disordered immune response,
• Neuromuscular, tension or physical injury problem
  
• Additional possible causes:
  1. a uric acid disorder,
  2. prostate stones,
  3. a urethral stricture,
  4. a rare tumor,
  5. prostate cancer,
  6. benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH, non-cancerous growth of the prostate),
  7. a food allergy,
  8. a yeast infestation,
  9. a specific yeast problem from the Genus Candida,
  10. or a virus.

If you've had prostatitis for very long and had very many appointments to try to deal with it, you've heard some of these theories.

Does it matter what is causing it? Will knowing the cause help you get over it? The answer would be "yes," if only determining the cause were simple. (See the "Methods " page for a discussion of methods of treating prostatitis.) Also, unfortunately, even doctors who are sure of the cause of prostatitis in their patients cannot cure all their patients.

If your prostatitis is caused by bacterial infection, knowing that should help your doctor treat the infection and make you better. Unfortunately, many doctors and clinics do only cursory checking for bacteria. But even doctors who do very careful checking for bacteria, and indeed find bacteria, cannot always make their patients' symptoms go away.

Similarly, ruling out bacteria and going on one of the other hypotheses does not necessarily help either. If you thought or even knew that your prostatitis is caused by an immune disorder, does that mean there is a clear route to fixing the problem? Not likely.

There are therapies around for fixing physical problems. There are people who can teach you relaxation techniques, or muscle-strengthening techniques, to repair or ameliorate problems with your pelvic floor musculature. But there is no clear path that works for everyone.

Why can't doctors fix you up? Well, for one thing, they aren't trained very well in diagnosing and treating prostatitis. Urologists spend most of their time studying surgery. If prostatitis were something that could be fixed by surgery, they'd give it a try. And other doctors tell patients to "learn to live with it."

The upshot of all this confusion is that YOU, and only you, brother, are going to have to take charge of finding out what's causing your prostatitis . Sure, you'll need doctors to help you, and to run tests and interpret them for you, and prescribe drugs if necessary. But YOU are going to have to be the one who is well-armed with questions and demanding enough to get your doctor to get to the bottom of things.

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The mission of the Prostatitis Foundation is to educate the public about the prevalence of prostatitis
and encourage and support research to find the cause and a cure for prostatitis.

We're sorry you are having to learn about prostatitis, but we're glad you came here, because we think we can help. Please be advised that the Prostatitis Foundation does
not warrant, support, sponsor, endorse, recommend or accept responsibility for any health care provider or any treatment or protocol performed by any heath care provider.

© The Prostatitis Foundation
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