A most frequent cause of Chronic Gonorrhea is the extension of the Gonorrheal infection into the Prostate Gland, which, as mentioned above, lies deep between the Urethra and the bladder. Once Gonococci have penetrated into the deep recesses of the Prostate Gland, they secure there a very strong foothold, and it is very hard to reach and dislodge them with an ordinary treatment. Gonococci may lay dormant in the Prostate Gland, producing very few active symptoms and very little annoyance and discomfort to the patient, who may consider himself well, or pretty near well, and suddenly, after some indiscretion like dancing or use of alcoholic liquors, the germs take a new lease of life and precipitate an acute outbreak of Gonorrhea. The patients as a rule believe that they have contracted a fresh case, while in reality it is a case of reinfection from their own prostate gland. These cases of rekindling of old Gonorrheal prostatitis can repeat themselves many, many times, until the true cause is discovered, and the Prostate Gland is cleaned up thoroughly.
A chronic Gonorrheal Prostatitis is an extremely common infection. Probably not less than half of the Chronic Gonorrhea cases are due to the involvement of the Prostate Gland. The tissue of the Prostate Gland is extremely rich in nerves, and its chronic inflammation, thru the pressure and irritation of different nerve endings, produces pains and discomfort, not only locally in the genital organs, but also far away in different parts of the body. Locally, the symptoms of chronic prostatitis are a whitish, milky discharge from the urethral canal, particularly after urination or defecation (stool), and a deeply-seated feeling of weight or deep burnings. From distant pains produced by the irritation of the nerve endings, most common are pains in the legs, in the back, in the region of the stomach, and headaches. In fact, very often patients come complaining of pains in different parts of the body, without having the slightest suspicion that the cause of it all is their infected Prostate Gland. One of the most distressing features of chronic Gonorrhea prostatitis is its powerful, depressing influence on the patient’s spirit and mentality. No other complication of Gonorrhea wears down a man’s courage, self-assertiveness, and joy of life, none of them makes a patient so disheartened, worried, and despairing of recovery as does chronic Prostatitis. Gonorrheal Prostatitis, under the best treatment, takes usually several months for a complete cure, and the task to keep up a patient’s courage and confidence in his recovery taxes as much the physician’s skill as the treatment itself.
Gonorrheal Strictures.
Next to Gonorrheal Prostatitis in frequency and practical importance should be mentioned stricture. In fact, in many cases it is much more dangerous, as the old neglected stricture can never be cured completely, while prostatitis, even in the old cases, almost always can be brought to a satisfactory condition.
The stricture is a scar, forming gradually and slowly after an uncured Gonorrhea. Usually these scars are a result of row patches in the urethral canal that quite frequently develop during a chronic Gonorrhea. These patches, so-called granulation patches, what the public calls “wild flesh,” are a common source of pains and persistent discharge, lasting for many months. These granulation patches can be discovered only thru a special instrument called urethroscope, which introduces electric light in the urethral canal and makes possible a clear and exact inspection of its entire surface. If these patches are not discovered or not properly treated, they may heal up slowly by themselves, but not in a natural way with the restoration of the normal size and smooth lining of the canal. They will heal up with a scar that has a peculiar ability to shrink and to contract. As a result of it, the normal (lumen) channel of the urethral canal is interrupted, twisted, and obstructed, partially or completely, which leads to a retention or a stoppage of urine. The granulation patches are soft in the beginning, and can be cured without difficulty in very few weeks or months; but after they have turned into a stricture the treatment is immeasurably harder and longer. In fact, the very old strictures cannot be cured completely, but only relieved temporarily.
The main danger of a stricture is its slow and insidious development. It takes many months for a granulating patch to turn into a fresh stricture, and it takes years to form an old stricture. For months and years a patient may have no discomfort nor symptoms sufficient to call his attention to his condition, and by the time he begins to feel some annoyance and to notice some disturbance, the stricture is already old and incurable. Therefore it is highly important for any man who has had the misfortune to contract Gonorrhea to secure a positive assurance that he is in no danger of developing a stricture later. The active symptoms of stricture are: (Gleet), a slimy discharge, particularly in the morning; frequency of urination and a slow, dribbling, weak stream of urine; but, as mentioned above, these symptoms develop long after the stricture is formed, and no man should wait for their development.
Gonorrheal Rheumatism.
The last, and by no means a rare complication of Gonorrhea, is rheumatism. Gonorrheal Rheumatism usually sets in abruptly at any time in the course of disease, and commonly attacks ankle, wrist, knee, or elbow joints. Clinically, it strikingly resembles a common acute rheumatism, but the treatment which is efficacious for the common variety of rheumatism is perfectly useless in Gonorrheal. Gonorrheal Rheumatism is a very serious complication; it causes a good deal of suffering, it takes many weeks or months for a complete recovery, and in many cases leaves behind stiff joints and permanent disability.
Treatment of Gonorrhea.
We shall proceed now to describe briefly the general principles and methods of the treatment of Gonorrhea and its complications, as we believe that the intelligent understanding of these methods will help men afflicted with Gonorrhea to avoid blunders of self-doctoring and exploitation by ignorant impostors and unscrupulous medical quacks. The acquaintance with scientific methods of treatment of Gonorrhea considered the best at the present time should prove conclusively to these men that to protect themselves against dangerous complications and permanent injurious aftereffects of Gonorrhea, they should not trust their health either to friends ever ready with advice nor to the alluring and highsounding promises of quacks; it would show that there is no short cut to a cure of Gonorrhea; that this cure can be effected only by systematic and persistent treatment at the hands of a competent physician.