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What Causes a Firm Prostate?

Having an enlarged or firm prostate does not necessarily mean that you have prostate cancer; it could mean several different things. There are various symptoms that can help eliminate and figure out what the actual diagnosis is. The best thing to do is to see a doctor to find out exactly what your problem is, but you can start by figuring out what it could mean to have a firm prostate.

  1. Acute Prostatitis

    • Having acute prostatitis means that your prostate is infected suddenly by bacteria that travels through the urethra. Prostatitis is when your prostate is swollen or inflamed. Feeling pain or pressure when you urinate, is one of the first symptoms you will notice when you have acute prostatitis. You will also feel your prostate is firm or swollen, burning when urinating, cloudy or bloody urine, fever and chills, vomiting or feeling nauseous, muscle aches or flu symptoms. You may also feel pain above your penis, pain in the back or in your rectum, and/or pain in or above the scrotum. These bacteria can either be from sexual intercourse or from the normal bacteria that lives on or inside of your body. The best way to treat this problem is to go to a doctor, allow the doctor to run tests, diagnose the exact problem, and treat it accurately.

    Prostate Cancer

    • Having a firm or enlarged prostate could mean cancer, but not necessarily, so be sure to eliminate every other possible problem first. You can get checked by the doctor, as you would for every other prostate problem. Finding the cancer early will help keep it from spreading and will make it easier to treat.

    Chronic Prostatitis

    • Being diagnosed with chronic prostatitis can mean one of two things. It can mean that you have bacterial chronic prostatitis, which is when your prostate is swollen due to a bacterial infection. This is diagnosed if there are white blood cells and bacteria in the urine sample your doctor collects. The other type of chronic prostatitis is called inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome, which is the same as bacterial chronic prostatitis without bacteria being found in the urine. Inflammatory chronic pelvic pain syndrome also has white blood cells in the urine. This is how doctors know there is an infection. Chronic prostatitis may not have symptoms you can detect, but a doctor can tell from a urine sample.

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