Hey, Vlad!

wassup?

Yes I am still in pain, but...

[1] My pain is less since I started Ampicillin. Possibly that is because it is killing bacteria, or possibly because it has a temporary anti-inflammatory effect.

[2] I was REALLY bad last May -- not just left ball hurting, but also severe burning upon sitting, sitbone and tailbone pain, all sorts of pelvic pain. Levaquin (an antibiotic that also kills E. Faecalis] fixed 80% of that in 5 weeks.

[3] There is no question E. Faecalis can be the cause of a serious illness -- especially if your culture showed more than "a few" of the buggers. See below.

So the bottom line is it is way too early to give up hope. E. Faecalis may well be the cause of your problem, and a cureable one.

- Carlos

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THIS IS WHY IT IS RELEVANT

"It is generally agreed that Enterococcus faecalis can cause chronic bacterial prostatitis and related recurrent enterococcal bacteriuria."
http://cmr.asm.org/cgi/content/full/11/4/604

"Enterococci, traditionally viewed as Gram-positive commensal bacteria inhabiting the alimentary canals of humans and animals, are now acknowledged to be organisms capable of causing life-threatening infections in humans, especially in the nosocomial environment. The existence of enterococci in such a dual role is facilitated, at least in part, by its intrinsic and acquired resistance to virtually all antibiotics currently in use."
http://pharmacy.ouhsc.edu/facultystaff/profiles/nshankar/CMLS-2003.pdf

Enterococci… [t]heir emergence in the past two decades is in many respects attributable to their resistance to many commonly used antimicrobial agents (aminoglycosides, aztreonam, cephalosporins, clindamycin, the semi-synthetic penicillins nafcillin and oxacillin, and trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole)
http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no2/rice.htm

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"My own conclusions so far? Some men with CPPS have true infections: I find bacteria, I treat bacteria, I eliminate bacteria, symptoms disappear, and sometimes later bacteria and symptoms come back. Some men with CPPS have bacteria that are commensals: I find bacteria, I treat bacteria, I eliminate bacteria, symptoms are unchanged."
Dr. Daniel Shoskes

"The fact that you don't feel better after a few days of antibiotics does not prove you don't have an infection. The fact that you feel better after antibiotics does not prove that you had an infection. CPPS waxes and wanes and while nobody wants to believe that they themselves would ever improve on a placebo, different studies have seen 20-60% of patients improve on placebo. Furthermore, antibiotics DO have direct anti-inflammatory effects..."

Dr. Daniel Shoskes
http://www.prostatitis.org/shosanti.html