Epididymitis

Swelling and pain in the back of the testicles – an uncomfortable, often painful and end embarrassing condition called Epididymitis. It’s actually a bacterial infection of the sperm carrying tube coiled in the back of the testicles. It’s often caused by sexually transmitted diseases. It may also inflame the testicles.

The way to suspect that you might be suffering from Epididymitis is when you have a swollen and inflamed scrotum, pain during urination and intercourse, traces of blood in the semen or pain in the lower pelvic area. Most of the time, the symptoms subside in a couple of days of treatment. In rare situations, it may recur as something called chronic epididymitis, the cause of which is yet unknown.

Typically, your doctor would be able to diagnose the epididymitis with an external physical examination. He might use additional testing like nuclear scan of the testicles, ultrasound imaging or STD screening. Since it’s essentially a bacterial infection, antibiotic is often prescribed to treat conditions of epididymitis. Since the cause could be sexually transmitted disease, your partner would need treatment too.

Usually you would feel reprieve from the symptoms in a couple of days, but it’s still imperative to complete the entire dose of antibiotic prescribed. If antibiotic doesn’t provide relief, your doctor will test for causes other than sexually transmitted disease. In rare cases, pus forms which need to be drained and sometimes part of the epididymitis may need to be removed surgically.

You should not engage in sex while under treatment for epididymitis. You should also take enough bed rest, keeping the scrotum elevated. You can apply cold pack to the scrotum to give relief from the pain from epididymitis.

In general never ignore pain in the scrotum. It could be for a variety of reasons, it may or may not be a case of epididymitis, but some conditions require immediate medical attention to arrest further damage. See your doctor immediately.