Well, I never thought the day would come, or that it would come this way, but I guess I have to accept that I am now a statistic in at least one way. I thought it would be high blood pressure or cancer but, as it turned out, it was epididymitis, something nobody knows about until they get it.

First bout was April 2003. What I would call mild pain and inflammation, with no other signs of infection (no fever, no chills, nothing on the urine test). Two weeks of 500mg/2x day naproxen and 500 mg/2x day floxin. Pain went away in about 1 day, swelling never really went away. After I stopped the meds, the pain came back for about 2 days. I freaked and went to the urologist. He told me that epididymitis was a "pain in the balls," and that I would just have to wait and see. Well, it did go away, and it went away long enough for me to forget about it.

Then, whammo, about two weeks ago it came back, same as before. Mild pain and inflammation (I would say even milder the first time) with no other sign of infection. I went to my PCP and he gave me THREE days of naproxen and SEVEN days of levaquin (I only took six, though, because I threw up the last dose before it had been in there very long). I noticed that the pain came back while I was still on the levaquin, but, lo and behold, AFTER I had discontinued the naproxen. Hmm...

So, it's been a few days since the end of the meds, and I still feel sore, though not as bad as when I started. I have switched completely to briefs, but other than that am not sure what to do. My wife thinks I am nuts, to a degree. The pain isn't unbearable, but of course I am scared that it will worsen or never go away (I can take occasional bouts, even, as long as I know it will go away with proper care).

I am continuing to take Aleve twice a day and figure I will see how I feel on Monday. If it starts getting worse, I guess I will call the doctor and get back on the merry-go-round. Hopefully, if I take real gentle care from now on, this can be minimized. Maybe some of us are just really sensitive down there? Kind of like a bone that is easily broken, and that takes a long time to heal? Whatever...sucks either way.

You know, considering how many guys there appears to be here, it would be interesting to get a survey together to see if any trends can be determined, e.g. height, weight, diet, medications taken, vasectomies, alternative therapies and results, etc.

I myself am only 27, and I am really frightened at the prospect of a life lived in constant pain, especially down there. Like all of you, I can't believe that this condition is so poorly understood. I am a lawyer, and if there is any area of the law that hasn't been exploited, you can count on some attorney somewhere trying to carve a niche out for himself. You would think that some urologist at some university somewhere would think to himself, "hey, if I figure this shit out, I can corner the market."