Article 95: Dietary Therapy and Daily Precautions for Testicular Tumors and Acute Epididymitis

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Treatment and recuperation of common diseases

Medicinal diet for treating testicular tumors

1. Ingredients: 20g yam, 20g lily bulb, 10g fox nut, 20g Solomon's seal rhizome, 20g lotus seed, 10g dried longan pulp, 300g pork ribs or 1 whole chicken. Preparation: Simmer the herbs in water over low heat for 30 minutes, then strain to remove residue. Add the ribs or chicken and enough water to cover. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 2 hours. Consume one small bowl of the soup and meat once a day. Store any excess in the refrigerator. The above ingredients are generally sufficient for 4 days. Mainly used to treat side effects of radiotherapy and chemotherapy for testicular tumors.

2. Take 30 grams of walnut kernels and 50 grams of barley. Cook them together with water into a porridge and eat it once in the morning and once in the evening. This is a common remedy and is suitable for recuperation after testicular tumor surgery or radiotherapy.

3. 15g mushrooms, 50g Job's tears, 100g water chestnuts, and 50g water caltrops. Wash and slice the mushrooms, wash and slice the water chestnuts (with skin), wash and cut the water caltrops (with shell), and rinse the Job's tears. Put all ingredients into a clay pot, add an appropriate amount of water, and simmer until a concentrated broth is formed. Remove the residue and drink the broth twice a day for one month as one course of treatment.

4. Ingredients: 250g purple garlic cloves, 50g sweet almonds, 50g white sugar, 10g brown sugar, 250ml rice vinegar, 15g salt. Wash the garlic cloves and marinate them in salt water for one day. Soak the sweet almonds in boiling water, peel off the skin and tips, and grind them into a paste. Drain the marinated garlic cloves and soak them together with the almond paste in the rice vinegar. Add the white and brown sugar, mix well, cover, and shake once a day for 15 days. Consume 5 cloves of garlic twice a day.

5. 15 grams of fennel seeds and 100 grams of japonica rice. First, decoct the fennel seeds to extract the juice, remove the residue, add the japonica rice and cook into a thin porridge. Alternatively, grind 5 grams of fennel seeds into a fine powder and mix it into the porridge before cooking. This is mainly used to treat testicular tumors causing heaviness and pain.

What should we pay attention to in daily life?

1. Strengthen nutrition, pay attention to hygiene, maintain a good mood, exercise appropriately, and improve physical fitness.

2. All types of radiotherapy and chemotherapy have side effects. During treatment, close observation is necessary, dosage should be adjusted in a timely manner, supportive treatment should be strengthened, the body's immunity should be enhanced, and complications should be actively treated.

3. In order to detect testicular tumors as early as possible, you should perform a self-examination of your testicles every 3 months, especially if you have cryptorchidism. Even if you have undergone descent surgery, you should still have regular checkups in order to detect and treat the tumors early.

4. For patients with testicular tumors, recurrence often occurs within one year. During this period, close observation is necessary, paying attention to whether there is recurrence at the spermatic cord stump, whether there is enlargement of the abdominal, liver, and supraclavicular lymph nodes, and regular chest X-rays should be performed.

How to prevent

1. When showering, touch your testicles to see if both testicles are the same size. If you suspect there is a problem, you should immediately see a urologist, especially if you have cryptorchidism. You should seek medical attention as soon as possible and have regular follow-ups.

2. Take care to protect the testicles and avoid external injury or impact.

3. Avoid unprotected sex, which can lead to testicular inflammation, necrosis, or atrophy.

4. Cryptorchidism is closely related to the development of testicular tumors; therefore, orchiopexy should be performed as early as possible, before the age of 2. Unilateral cryptorchidism after adolescence can be surgically removed to prevent malignant transformation.

5. Avoiding testicular trauma, mumps orchitis, and other types of orchitis is of certain significance in preventing testicular tumors.

Acute epididymitis

Acute epididymitis is a nonspecific infection of the epididymis, commonly seen in young adults. It is caused by bacterial (tonsillitis, pneumonia, etc.) or viral infection via the bloodstream, with the lesion usually located in the head of the epididymis. Epididymitis is a relatively common disease in young and middle-aged men, caused by pathogens such as Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus, or Streptococcus entering the epididymis retrogradely through the vas deferens. Therefore, this disease often occurs secondary to posterior urethritis, prostatitis, and seminal vesiculitis, or occurs after urethral instrumentation or long-term indwelling catheterization, with retrograde infection being the most common route.

What are the symptoms?

1. Symptoms: Epididymitis often occurs after heavy physical labor, such as lifting heavy objects, or after strong sexual arousal. Injury caused by urethral instrumentation can lead to epididymitis, and it can also be a complication after prostatectomy. Epididymitis is often secondary to prostatitis.

Pain in the scrotum often occurs suddenly and can radiate along the spermatic cord to the groin and lumbosacral region. The pain is severe, tenderness is obvious, and the patient is reluctant to touch it. Swelling progresses rapidly and can double the size of the epididymis within 3 to 4 hours. Body temperature can reach about 40°C. There may be discharge in the urethra. At this time, cystitis may also occur, and the urine may be cloudy.

2. Physical signs: Tenderness in the groin area, scrotal enlargement, local skin redness and swelling; if an abscess forms, the skin becomes dry, thin, and easily peels off. The abscess may also rupture spontaneously. If medical attention is sought promptly, the boundary between the enlarged and hardened epididymis and testis is relatively clear; however, after several hours, the testis and epididymis become a single hard mass, the spermatic cord thickens due to edema, and secondary hydrocele develops several days later. Urethral discharge may be present.

Prostate palpation can detect acute or chronic prostatitis. Prostate massage should be avoided during the acute phase.

complication

Abscesses are relatively rare, but can occur during urethral instrumentation or prostate massage. They may drain spontaneously along the scrotum or require surgical drainage. Epididymal abscesses can extend and destroy the testis (epididymo-orchitis), but this is uncommon.