Unpleasant sensations in the urethra (pain, pain during urination) should always be alarming, because with untimely treatment, for example, there is a danger of developing chronic prostatitis, epididymitis, which cause infertility in men. Untimely detection of tumor diseases is even more dangerous.
Clarification of the pain syndrome (nature, localization, time of the onset of pain) helps to clarify the causes of discomfort during urination.
- The sudden appearance of sharp pain during urination can be caused by acute surgical pathology (passage of a stone, trauma) or an acute inflammatory process.
- Moderate pain, burning, a feeling of heaviness in the pubic region indicate a chronic process.
- Quite informative is the time of the onset of pain. For example, the appearance of pain before urination is caused by a stretching of the bladder and is associated with its inflammation (cystitis), a tumor, etc. Inflammation in the initial part of the urethra (with polyps in the urethra, passage of stones, acute urethritis) is evidenced by the pain syndrome that occurs at the beginning of urination . Pain that appears at the end of urination and gradually subsides, occurs when the bladder is emptied (the appearance of pain) and stops when it is full again (pain relief). This is usually associated with a tumor in the neck of the bladder, a stone or a foreign body in the bladder, and prostatitis.
- The localization of pain often indicates an affected organ: pain in the area of the urethra indicates lesions of the urethra, over the pubis - damage to the bladder, in the perineum - about the pathology of the prostate. Pain that radiates to the clitoris in women or to the head of the penis in men is characteristic of stones in the bladder. Lesions of the prostate are accompanied by pain radiating to the rectum. The spread of infection in the upper sections (bladder, kidneys) is accompanied by the appearance of pain in the lower back or side.
Note! The severity of the pathology does not depend on the severity of the pain syndrome. For example, with prostate cancer in the initial stages, there may not be any symptoms at all, and only much later do moderate pains and difficulties in passing urine appear.
Sometimes a discomfort and discomfort in the urethra occur after taking certain medications, sour, spicy or alcoholic beverages. In women, discomfort in the urethra can be associated with diseases of the uterus and appendages, with the pressure of an enlarged uterus during pregnancy.
A burning sensation in the urethra in men, accompanied by pain during urination, is a sign of urethritis. Urethritis is also characterized by the appearance of discharge from the urethra, most often in the morning. Depending on the pathogen that caused the development of urethritis, the discharge may be:
- grayish-yellow (gonorrhea urethritis);
- whitish or light (trichomonas urethritis);
- purulent (bacterial urethritis).
In the early days, the discomfort in the urethra is usually insignificant, but as the inflammatory process progresses, their intensity increases. Urethritis is dangerous in terms of the development of inflammation in the bladder and kidneys, as well as in neighboring organs. Therefore, symptoms such as pain, pain in the urethra should always be alarming and should serve as a reason for immediate medical attention.