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Russ |
| I had been suffering from prostatitis for about 18 months. My initial
acute bout was cured immediately with Cipro. However, I never felt
completely normal after that, and I had urethral irritation, frequency
and urgency problems that ranged from mild to extremely painful for the
whole 18 months. Tiredness and stress usually led to the worst bouts. |
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I tried more Cipro, saw palmetto, diet control (no alcohol, no caffeine,
no hot stuff), antibiotics with prostate massage, and just about
everything else I came across as a suggested remedy. |
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In August this year, my urologist put me on Levaquin for 20 days, and
this helped, while I was taking it. It was very expensive, but it
seemed to do the job. However, I was out of the country when my
prescription ran out. Within 36 hours, I was suffering terribly. I was
in a country where Levaquin was not available. I tried Cipro, but it
did not work. |
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A week later, I was a different country, and went into a pharmacy to buy
some Levaquin. The pharmacist there told me that people there usually
take it with Flomax. I told him, expert that I thought I was, that
Flomax was for BPH, and that I had bacterial prostatitis. I took the
Levaquin alone, and it made me feel a bit better, but was not as
effective as the first time. |
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I went to see my urologist again, and he prescribed more Levaquin. This
time for 30 days. My GP is a close friend, and I was telling him that I
wanted a muscle relaxant, or something that would soften up the
prostate, and allow the Levaquin to get in. I was pretty sure that it
was the right drug for my bacteria, but that it was not getting in there
to eradicate all of them. |
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My GP is about 70, and he had some Flomax, and suggested that it might
do the trick. I remembered the Arab pharmacist who had told me to do
that about a month before.
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I took 1 Flomax capsule at night, and 500mg Levaquin in the morning.
The Flomax information suggested peak impact after 6 hours, and the
Levaquin peaks after 1-2 hours. I wanted the peaks to coincide. I
could have done better, but the Flomax made me feel pretty weak, and I
did not want to take it during the day. |
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After 10 days, I felt as if I was completely cured. After 20 days, I
finished all the Levaquin I had, and stopped the Flomax also. I have
been feeling perfectly well since then. It has been about a month now.
I have absolutely no symptoms for the last month. I do not need to
urinate most nights. My stream is as strong as it ever was, and I have
finally lost that annoying irritation of my urethra. I am reluctant to
say that I am completely cured, because I have thought I was cured
before. The difference is that this time, I am symptom free while I am
off the antibiotics.
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A few words about Flomax. It is heavy duty stuff. I am relatively
fit, 40 years old, 220 pounds and 6'4". The first time I took Flomax, I
just about fell over when I stood up. It has a dramatic effect on your
body's ability to maintain blood pressure when you change positions (eg.
Lying down to standing up). Getting up in the night to go have a pee
could result in you ending up in a heap on the floor. Be aware of this
effect, and get up slowly. Sit down to pee in the night, until you are
comfortable with the way that this stuff effects you. |
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Also, using this combination will have a disasterous temporary effect on
your sex life. The Levaquin reduces sex drive to just about nothing.
Flomax does the same. The Flomax also causes retrograde ejaculation.
In other words, when you ejaculate, the fluids go into your bladder,
rather than out the normal route. It is not uncomfortable, but it is
unusual. When you urinate after sex, the urine looks pretty normal, but
if you look closely, you can see tiny clouds of ejaculate. |
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I have taken great comfort from the information I have gained from this
website. I will keep you posted, and certainly let you know if I have a
relapse. For now, I am happy and hopeful. Compared with everything
else I went through, taking this combination is no real hardship. I
encourage you to give it a try. |
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Russ (click to e-mail author of this page)
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