Written By: Mita Majumdar | Updated : November 2, 2015 7:17 PM IST
The medical term for a sensation of pain, burning or discomfort while urinating is dysuria. This is a common problem and is the most prevalent symptom of urinary tract infection (UTI). Frequent urination, a sudden urgency or inability to pass urine smoothly could be some accompanying signs of dysuria. This condition is little biased towards women than men and younger women are even more prone. One reason cited by experts is that younger women are sexually more active. However, older men are more likely to contract dysuria because of an increased incidence of age-related prostate enlargement with accompanying inflammation and infection. Here are few reasons for painful urination that you should know about.
Dysuria and urinary tract infection are not the same
Causes of dysuria are mainly found in the pelvic region or urinary tract. Most often doctors equate dysuria with urinary tract infection (UTI). Escherichia coli, is the most common pathogen in urinary tract infection. Other pathogens, viz. Staphylococcus epidermidis, Proteus mirabilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus species, and Klebsiella species too are found infecting the urinary tract, albeit less frequently, and cause UTI. Here are six common signs that you suffer from UTI.
Sometimes, you may have problems urinating when the urethra is infected by organisms such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae or Chlamydia trachomatis, which causes dysuria. Other pathogens include Ureaplasma urealyticum, Mycoplasma genitalium, Trichomonas vaginalis, and herpes simplex virus [1]. Adenovirus, herpesvirus, mumps virus, and the parasite Schistosoma haematobium, can also cause dysuria, but that is rare.
Persistent infections of organisms such as Proteus, Klebsiella, or Enterobacter species can cause abnormalities in urinary tract structure and function. Such abnormalities include bladder diverticula, renal cysts, urethral strictures, benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), and neurogenic bladder (when the nerves associated with urination don t work). Although urinary tract infection is the most frequent cause of dysuria, there may be plenty other reasons why you may be experiencing pain and discomfort while passing urine. Know why holding your pee for too long is a bad idea.
What causes dysuria
Lack of fluid consumption: Not drinking enough water or liquids is one of the main reason behind dysuria. Considering the fact that water makes up for 75 percent of body weight in infants and 55 percent in adults, it cannot be stressed enough that water is essential for maintaining cellular equilibrium and proper functioning of the body organs. How much fluid one needs depends on age, gender, and energy requirement of a person. For example, a two-three year old child with energy requirement of 1000 1400 kcal, needs to consume 1300 ml of fluids daily. Similarly, an adult woman needs to consume 2.7 litres of fluid every day, and an adult man needs 3.7 litres [2]. However, increasing your fluid intake will only ease your discomfort during urination if your problem is because of hypo-hydrated state.
Pinworms: Sometimes, rarely in women, pinworms can infect the pelvic area or urinary tract. In one such case, doctors from Elpis Hospital, Volos, Greece, extracted a 4 mm living pinworm from the prostate gland region of a 65-year old man. The man would experience voiding difficulties such as urgency, frequency, nocturia, dysuria, mild low back pain or perineal discomfort [3]. However, another study from Turkey did not find significant correlation between pinworms with dysuria. Rather, they found high incidence of bedwetting and frequent need to urinate during night (nocturia) among primary school girls with pinworm infection [4]. This still says that worms can wreak havoc in your urinary tract.
Medications: Certain medicines can cause problems with urination. Antipsychotic drugs, antidepressant agents and anticholinergic respiratory agents are a few. [5]
Urethral syndrome: This is a syndrome that has a set of symptoms typically associated with lower urinary tract infection, including dysuria, but the tests reveal no clearly identifiable cause of dysuria. Here the pain during urination is ascribed to trauma, low levels of urinary pathogens, abnormal narrowing of the urethra or even irritation of urethra because of sanitary napkins, diaphragm or tampon use, or even injury to urethra because of sexual activity. Your doctor will give a diagnosis of urethral syndrome only after your urinalysis and culture are normal, but you have the symptoms of dysuria.
Other causes of dysuria
How dysuria is diagnosed
You need not worry if you have occasional episodes of brief discomfort when you urinate. However, you need to consult a doctor if you experience dysuria often, or the pain is severe, or the pain lasts for long.
Here is what to expect from your doctor:
During the preliminary tests your doctor will ask you about
This is followed by a physical exam. The examination includes
Depending on what your doctor suspects, you may need to do one or more of the following tests
Treatment of dysuria
Dysuria is treated with antibiotics depending on the cause of the condition. Treatment for yeast infections is through anti-fungal drugs or cream inserted into the vagina. If you have pelvic inflammation disease, you may need hospitalisation.
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