My room mate's problems

[pasarefun]

My room mate has been drinking cranberry juice on and off for about a year when he has a problem and has to piss often. The man usually pisses like a race horse and it can be heard all over the house. Anyways, he was drinking it again and I convinced him to go to the doctor. He ended up seeing the nurse since his doctor is never available.
Anyway, she did a dre (his first at 39) and the gland was slightly swollen. She gave him a book test paper to take if the current bought of having to want to piss often without a lot of piss as a result. Also, she gave him a script for some antibiotic which he is to get filled if the condition has not resolved in a few days.
I think he should go and get the blood work (he tool a piss test already at the dr office) and then push to see the actual doctor (or another in the same office) to find out what is happening inside his body.
His family has a history of cancer (on his mom's side) so I don't think he should screw around.
What do all of you think?

 

[Jason]

Well the safe answer is always "go and see a doctor".

BUT. Sounds as if he is being treated for a urinary tract infection (antibiotic) - which may of course be a chronic condition which flares up every so often because he hasn't had antibiotic to knock it out. I think the UK approach would be to take the treatment and if it doesn't work go back and see your doctor. No UK GP (family doctor) is going to refer a patient for tests until they've tried the simple things.

 

[B_Nicodemous]

Did he tell them how long it has been going on? Or about the family history of cancer? Is the cancer that runs in his family any of the following: prostate, penile, testicular,ovarian, uterine, breast, colorectal, anal? If they have a history of these (esp. if he has siblings who have had cancerous or precancerous cells removed) , then he may want to have a PSA screen along with the DRE. Hopefully the antibiotics will clear him up. If they don`t then other testing would be recomended.

Is he urinating before and after sex? Not doing so can increase UTI`s or the chance of them. is he using sented soap? I know it sounds crazy but I had to eliminate scented soaps as they began irratating the outer urethra and mimiced an UTI. He may have an enlarged prostate, though that may have been detected during the DRE.

As you can see there are a lot of variables. Best luck to him, and hope he sorts it out.

 

[pasarefun]

Thanks for the responces so far. As for the soap, we use the same liquid soap as there is nonly one bathroom in the house. I don't think he has been seeing anyone for over a year so I don't think that he is pissing before and after sex. He mentioned that he had to piss five times before noon but the afternoon was better. I think I will push him to get the antibiotics before Monday and he should start them to see if he has a uti that can be fixed by pills. I will post as for how the weekend goes.

 

[FuzzyKen]

There is so much we do not know here.

The age of the patient?

Urinalysis?

Other Symptoms?

Based on what I have heard so far it sounds like prostatitis which is common and the cause is often a prostate infection and the usual course of things even if it wasn't tends to be certain antibiotics because they tend to reduce the inflammation.

Sadly, in the common world of medicine, one often sees assistants or PA's for things that are very simple and the MD is held in reserve for more complex decisions.

Prostatitis is a really tough thing to clear and this is one that does not always clear quickly.

 

[pasarefun]

brief update: The roommate is 39 and the urine test came back negitive for growth. He seems to be back to normal and not pissing all the time.
He has always pissed a lot (and very loud so I know when he is going). Again thanks for everyone's help.