Pain at the start of your urination is often a symptom of a urinary tract infection. Pain after your urination can be a sign of a problem with the bladder or prostate. In men, pain can remain in your penis before and after urination too. Symptoms in women can be internal or external.
Painful urination can be caused by several things. A common cause is a urinary tract infection (also called a UTI or bladder infection). Urination may hurt if your bladder is inflamed. Inflammation can happen even if you do not have an infection.
A number of conditions can cause painful urination (dysuria). In women, urinary tract infections are a common cause of painful urination. In men, urethritis and certain prostate conditions are frequent causes of painful urination.
While some UTIs may go away without antibiotic treatment, Dr. Pitis cautions against foregoing antibiotics. “While it's possible for the body to clear a mild infection on its own in some cases, it can be very risky not to treat a confirmed UTI with antibiotics,” says Dr.
There are several steps you can take to reduce the discomfort of painful urination, including drinking more water or taking an over-the-counter aid (such as Uristat® or AZO®) to treat painful urination. Other treatments need prescription medications.
“It's estimated 50 percent of UTIs can be treated by drinking a significant amount of fluid alone," says Felecia Fick, a Mayo Clinic urogynecology physician assistant who was not involved in the study. "The extra you're drinking is flushing out the bacteria that are present in the urinary tract."
Most of the time, UTIs go away pretty quickly—usually, symptoms stop within a couple of days, and the bacteria completely clear out after you've taken antibiotics for three to seven days, per AUA. However, there are some things you can do to help speed up the healing process.
Keep hydrated
By drinking enough water, you can ensure that your kidneys are passing enough urine to get rid of any foreign invaders that may be attached to the urinary tract. The burning sensation could be due to dehydration.
A burning feeling after peeing is not always due to an infection. Other possible causes include painful bladder syndrome, urethral stricture disease, prostatitis, and kidney disease. The cause of a urinary tract infection (UTI) is usually bacteria from the body, rather than an external cause of infection.
A healthy bladder works best if the body just relaxes so that the bladder muscles naturally contract to let the urine flow, rather than using the abdominal muscles to bear down as with a bowel movement. In men, the need to push urine may be a sign of bladder outlet obstruction, which is commonly due to BPH.
Contact your doctor or make an appointment if: Your painful urination persists. You have drainage or discharge from your penis or vagina. Your urine is foul-smelling or cloudy, or you see blood in your urine.
UTIs occur when the urinary tract becomes infected, usually by bacteria. In most cases, bacteria from the gut enter the urinary tract through the urethra. This may happen when wiping your bottom or having sex.
When the urine feels physically warm and it burns to urinate, this may mean someone has a UTI or an infection in the kidneys. Urine is acidic. This means that when it comes into contact with an injury, even a small one, a person may experience a hot, burning sensation.
Interstitial Cystitis (IC) or Bladder Pain Syndrome (BPS) or IC/BPS is an issue of long-term bladder pain. It may feel like a bladder or urinary tract infection, but it's not. It is a feeling of discomfort and pressure in the bladder area that lasts for six weeks or more with no infection or other clear cause.
The term dysuria is used to describe painful urination, which often signifies an infection of the lower urinary tract.
The most common UTI symptoms include: Frequent and strong urge to urinate. Burning sensation, or even pain, while urinating. Feeling as if you are unable to empty completely while urinating.
If your UTI goes untreated, it may progress into a more serious infection. “An untreated bladder infection can become a kidney or prostate infection. These infections are more serious, because they can travel through the blood stream causing sepsis. Sepsis makes people very ill and can even be critical,” Dr.
Urinary tract infection (UTI)
One of the most common causes of a strong urge to urinate with little urine produced is a UTI, or urinary tract infection. UTIs result when bacteria travel up your urethra to your bladder, and over 8 million Americans require medical attention for this common infection every year.
UTIs can be found by analyzing a urine sample. The urine is examined under a microscope for bacteria or white blood cells, which are signs of infection. Your health care provider may also take a urine culture. This test examines urine to detect and identify bacteria and yeast, which may be causing a UTI.