Symptoms
Typical symptoms are pain, and swelling of the scrotum and testicles. Mostly the symptoms occur only on one side, possibly the second testicle is also affected in the course of the disease. Orchitis is usually the result of an underlying disease, such as glandular fever, so that its symptoms predominate for the time being.
After 1-2 days, however, pain occurs, which can vary from an unpleasant pulling in the testicles to a very strong sensation of pain. The pain usually disappears within a week. Beyond that, however, the symptoms of the underlying disease usually remain.
These include fever, chills, fatigue, muscle aches, headaches, and nausea. The swelling can become very prominent and is typical of inflammation. In addition to swelling, redness, pain, impaired function, and warming are general signs of inflammation. The testis is very sensitive to touch in this phase.
Treatment
The treatment is first symptomatic by cooling the testicle and, if necessary, holding it up with a bag. This promotes the drainage of tissue fluid from the scrotum, thereby accelerating the decongestant effect. The cooling inhibits a further influx of fluid into the scrotum, and relieves a little pain.
Painkillers of the NSAID class, i.e. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, can also be taken as a support. Ibuprofen and paracetamol belong to this group. If there is an unchecked influx of tissue fluid into the scrotum, there is a danger that the testicles, epididymis and spermatic cord can be squeezed out – after all, the testicles and scrotum have only limited elasticity.
If this is the case, an incision must be made in the testicles to relieve pressure. This incision does not impair the function of the testicle or epididymis, but is made very superficially, at the coarse connective tissue capsule. In addition, the treatment of the underlying disease naturally plays an important role.In most cases this has already been diagnosed, if not, a diagnostic exclusion of other diseases must be made, since an inflammation of the testis alone occurs rather rarely.
The swelling and the pain on the testicle will decrease within a week, and with appropriate therapy also faster. However, if there is a bacterial cause, antibiotics must be taken. These only work against bacteria, but not against viruses.
No broad-spectrum antibiotics are given, but first a pathogen determination is carried out and then specially adapted antibiotics are prescribed. Broad-spectrum antibiotics would also show their effect, but one always tries to find the most suitable antibiotic in order to have another antibiotic in the case of pathogen resistance. The antibiotic is taken for at least 7-10 days, even after the symptoms have subsided. This is important, because otherwise the pathogens may re-germinate.
