Prostatitis is said to afflict 10 to 14 percent of the adult male population, but the disease has no celebrity spokesperson. Prostatitis may be linked to prostate cancer.
The March 28, 2005 issue of People Magazine profiled celebrity couple Emme (the plus-size model) and her husband Phil Aronson. Aronson was said to be suffering from prostatitis with his pain being an 8, on a scale of 1 to 10.
The article inadvertently points out a glaring omission in the celebrity medical world. No celebrity speaks out about prostatitis, like Elizabeth Taylor speaks for AIDS, or Mary Tyler Moore speaks for diabetes.
The Prostatitis Foundation is still seeking a celebrity spokesperson. Their web site, www.Prostatitis.org, gets nearly a million visits per year by men, and women, seeking answers. Questions remain about how to treat prostatitis.
Since the 1970s, physicians in Manila, Philippines have been treating prostatitis with repetitive prostatic massage and antibiotic therapy.
“Our research shows that prostatitis is often an infection and obstruction of the prostate,” says Dr. Antonio Espinosa Feliciano, Jr., M.D., who has published 4 papers on prostatitis in the peer-reviewed medical literature and has several more in the works. “We use repetitive prostatic massage to drain the prostate of pus and infection, not just antibiotics alone as seems to be done in most other countries.”
In the largest study to date of repetitive prostatic massage combined with antibiotics (Shoskes and Zeitlin), 40 percent of the patients underwent a complete remission of symptoms.
Prostatitis is inflammation, or swelling of the prostate. However, prostate enlargement, also called benign prostatic hyperplasia, or BPH, affects millions of men as well.
“One of the biggest things we do differently,” says Dr. Feliciano, “is that we test all men with benign prostatic hyperplasia for prostatitis, and we usually find inflammation under the microscope. This leads to treatment with repetitive prostatic massage and antimicrobial therapy.”
Some doctors suspect that prostatitis may be a precursor to prostate cancer. Bradley Hennenfent, M.D., author of the new book, "Surviving Prostate Cancer" Without Surgery (Roseville Books, 2005), writes about the possible connection in a chapter entitled: “What Causes Prostate Cancer?”
“A study needs to be done to see if keeping men’s prostates clean of prostatitis, pus, and infection by repetitive prostatic massage and antibiotics can prevent prostate cancer,” says Dr. Hennenfent.
Bradley Hennenfent, M.D., has seen five uncles suffer from prostate cancer. His book includes many uplifting stories about less harmful treatments than surgery. Dr. Hennenfent founded www.SurvivingProstateCancerWithoutSurgery.org, the Epididymitis Foundation (www.EpididymitisFoundation.org) and the Acoustic Neuroma Foundation (www.AcousticNeuromaFoundation.org).
"Surviving Prostate Cancer Without Surgery" is published by Roseville Books and can be found in fine bookstores everywhere. Biblio Distribution (800-462-6420) and Roseville Books/Rayve Productions (888-492-2665) distribute the book, which retails for $19.95 as a trade paperback, has 334 pages, 34 chapters, ISBN Number: 0-9717454-1-2, and was published January 15, 2005. Twenty-seven illustrations and cartoons are included within the book, which also includes an extensive index.
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