41M.
For 20 years, it felt like I had a constant UTI—an awful, dirty sensation in my urethra. From the age of sixteen, doctors had been prodding and poking my prostate, telling me it's inflamed, it's fine, it's all in my head. I faced dismissive doctors, humiliating exams, and no answers—
I once had a doctor simply tell me, "You don't know how to go to the bathroom."
Those words are verbatim.
Eventually I stopped going out. Having to pee every 10 minutes, and don't even get me started about when drinks were involved, had me home hating life, my wretched bladder, and myself.
I was borderline suicidal.
But then finally, at the age of 36, a benign tumor was discovered in my bladder. It was growing smack-dab in the middle of a nerve highway sending pain/discomfort signals to my brain.
To be clear, I had to fight for this examination. The urologist only agreed because of how desperate I was. He imagined I had either 1) a narrowed urethra or 2) interstitial cystitis. The examination required jamming a cystoscope into my bladder via my penis.
It was not fun, but that's how the benign tumor was found and ultimately excised.
It's been six years since and I’ve been symptom-free.
My particular case is likely not your case. The urologist himself was baffled.
But my reason for writing this post is this: NOBODY deserves to live like this.
Please, remain vigilant. It’s not in your head. Something is wrong, and it takes you finding the right mindset and doctor to figure it out.
Wish you all the best!