What is Painful Urination?
Dysuria or painful urination is when you feel pain, or a burning sensation while you pee (urinate). It can affect men and women of all ages, but is more common in women. Dysuria is often associated with urinary tract infections. The cause of dysuria can be treated with antibiotics, irritant avoidance or treatment.
Dysuria, or Painful Urination, Is It Common?
Both men and women can suffer from painful urination at any age. This is more common in women. Dysuria is often associated with urinary tract infections. UTIs are more common in women than in men. Dysuria is also a possibility in the following people:
- Women who are pregnant.
- Diabetes affects both men and women.
- Any type of bladder disease can be diagnosed in men and women.
What Are The Symptoms for Dysuria (Painful Urine)?
Although symptoms of painful urination may vary between men or women, both genders describe them as burning, stinging, or itching. The most common symptom is burning. You may feel pain either at the beginning or end of your urination. A common sign of a problem with the urinary tract is pain at the beginning of your urination.
A problem with your bladder or prostate can lead to pain after you urinate. Men can feel pain in their penis after and before urinating. Women can experience internal or external symptoms. Inflammation or irritation of sensitive skin can cause pain outside the vaginal region. An infection of the urinary tract can cause internal pain.
How is Painful Urination Diagnosed?
If you experience pain when you pee, consult your healthcare provider. Dysuria may be a sign of a medical condition that needs to be treated. Your healthcare provider will first review your medical history. This includes asking questions about past and current medical conditions such as diabetes or immunodeficiency disorder.
Your healthcare provider may ask you about your sexual history, to determine if the pain is because of STI. A test to check for STIs is also possible, particularly if there has been a discharge from the penis or from the vagina. A pregnancy test might be necessary if you are pregnant or have recently given birth.
The doctor will ask you about any prescriptions or over-the-counter medications that you are currently using and what “home remedies” you have been trying to treat the dysuria. Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and take a sample of your urine. Also they will test your urine will for foreign chemicals, white blood cells and red blood cells. Your provider will know if you have inflammation in the urinary tract based on the presence of white blood cells. A urine culture will reveal if you have a problem with your urinary tract and, if so what bacteria is causing it.
This information will allow your provider to choose the best antibiotic to treat the infection. Your healthcare provider may recommend additional tests for your prostate or bladder (in men) if there is no evidence of infection in your urine sample. For women, to check for infection, ythe doctor might also take a sample of the linings of your vagina and urethra.
What Causes Are Dysuria (Painful Urine)?
Many factors can cause you Dysuria. So it is important to know that doctors are not always able to identify the cause. Urination pain in women can result from:
- Bladder infection (cystitis).
- Vaginal infection.
- Urinary tract infection.
- Endometritis, and other causes that are not related to the urinary tract include diverticulosis or diverticulitis.
- Inflammation of bladder (urethritis), Your bladder is the tube that opens at your lower bladder and exits your body. An infection is often the cause of inflammation.
Also sexual intercourse, soaps and scented toilet paper, can cause inflammation.