Painful discomfort during urination (concret: alguria – pain and burning during urination) represents a severe impairment of general well-being for those affected and often causes a great deal of suffering. Both women and men of different age groups suffer from these symptoms.
What is pain and burning during urination?
Burning and pain during urination exclusively involves the urinary tract and the urinary bladder itself. In medicine, burning and pain on urination are grouped under the technical term alguria. This term refers to pain and burning during urination both before and after emptying the bladder. Burning and pain during urination exclusively involves the urinary tract and the bladder itself. The draining urinary tract includes the urethra and ureter. The term algorie comes from the Greek language and is composed of algos meaning pain and ouron meaning urine.
Causes
The causes of burning and pain during urination are quite varied and sometimes rather atypical. As a rule, the pain or burning occurs mainly in women of younger age. Also people who are in a special health situation or suffer from various concomitant diseases have to struggle with pain and burning during urination. Burning during urination is sometimes observed in pregnant women. In addition, menopausal women and patients with metabolic diseases such as diabetes are affected by pain during urination. Organic diseases such as prostate disease or inflammation of the urinary organ system can also cause pain and burning during urination. Many patients who have bladder stones and suffer from infectious venereal diseases show pain and burning during urination as accompanying symptoms. Bacterial pathogens often appear as the cause in this context.
Diseases with this symptom
- Menopause
- Cystitis
- Syphilis
- Gonorrhea
- Diabetes mellitus
- Renal pelvic inflammation
- Bladder cancer
- Chlamydia
- Bladder stones
- Urethritis
- Prostatitis
- Genital herpes
Diagnosis and course
For the diagnostic clarification, which is sought in the case of pain and burning during urination, in addition to urine and blood tests, technical examination procedures such as an ultrasound of the bladder and the draining urinary tract are also considered. Laboratory tests are required to detect bacteria that cause inflammation. Not only blood samples, which include the determination of blood sedimentation, but also the taking of swabs from the genital area can provide an early diagnosis of pain and burning during urination. In addition to the ultrasound-based examination, a diagnosis of pain and burning during urination can also be made by means of a radiological examination. Palpatory examinations of the rectum, in which the specialist performs a manual palpation of certain areas of the intestine, serve as a helpful and predictive diagnostic tool for pain and burning during urination. To rule out diseases of the prostate gland that lead to discomfort during urination, the determination of the so-called prostate-specific antigen is performed.
Complications
Complications and burning during urination can have various causes. Especially in women, it is often an inflammation of the urinary bladder. If this condition is not treated, the inflammation can reach the kidneys and cause kidney inflammation, which in the worst case can even lead to kidney failure. Therefore, treatment of urinary bladder infection with antibiotics is inevitable and should be carried out as soon as possible at the first appearance of symptoms. The treatment is fast and effective and saves the patient from damage to the kidneys. In addition, it is important for the patient to drink plenty of fluids, preferably water or tea, during urinary bladder infections. In a man, on the other hand, complications during urination may indicate an inflammation of the urethra or an altered prostate. The exact reason for these complications must be determined by a urologist.Urethritis must also be treated with antibiotics, otherwise the inflammation can spread to the bladder and kidneys. An altered prostate is a benign or malignant enlargement of the prostate gland, which often accompanies the increasing age of the patient. A malignant enlargement results from cancer and must be treated surgically or by other procedures. Benign enlargement can be treated with medication.
When should you see a doctor?
Pain and burning during urination usually have a clear cause: urinary tract infections. They occur more often in women than in men; nevertheless, burning pain when urinating is reason to see a doctor immediately. The doctor will take a swab and examine it for germs that indicate a urinary tract infection. Treatment with antibiotics usually brings rapid improvement, but cannot be started without a definite diagnosis. Another possible explanation for pain and burning during urination are various venereal diseases that can occur in women and men. These sometimes cause further symptoms, so that most of those affected soon voluntarily visit a doctor. In these cases, too, a swab is taken and then examined for germs. As with urinary tract infections, antibiotic treatment can provide rapid relief of symptoms. Most importantly, it can prevent worse subsequent damage. Some germs that cause pain and burning when urinating increase the risk of developing secondary diseases such as cervical cancer if left untreated. The earlier they are detected and treated, the more effectively this risk can be minimized. Since burning pain during urination is often accompanied by an increased urge to urinate, the affected patient should also ask at the time of the doctor’s visit what can relieve these symptoms until drug treatment is effective.
Treatment and therapy
Therapeutic options for relieving pain during urination are extensive and, in normal cases, effective. In principle, the determination of the individually appropriate form of therapy for pain and burning during urination is always carried out under consideration of the respective symptoms. If a causal relationship between pain and burning during urination and bacterial pathogens has been identified, the doctor prescribes special antibiotic drugs. These stop the growth of germs and help to remedy the symptoms. As part of supporting conservative therapy, patients should drink plenty of fluids. This helps to ensure that frequent urination rapidly flushes the germs out of the draining urinary tract and the urinary bladder in order to treat pain during urination. Painkillers can be helpful to suppress the symptoms during therapy. If bladder stones are the cause of burning during urination, an endoscopic procedure is recommended to remove the bladder stones. Endoscopy is usually combined with extracorporeal shock wave therapy, which can reduce the size of the stones by breaking them up. If these interventions are not effective, bladder stones can be surgically removed. If pain and burning during urination are the result of another condition, that condition must be treated first.
Outlook and prognosis
Pain due to inflammation of the bladder or the draining urinary tract resolves completely with successful treatment of the underlying disease. Most common are inflammation of the bladder and, especially in women, inflammation of the urethra. In mild cases, drinking plenty of fluids and keeping warm is sufficient for the condition to subside after a few days. In moderate and severe cases, treatment is with antibiotics. In men, prostate infections are regularly responsible for pain during urination. Antibiotics are usually used here as well. Frequently, burning pain during urination is caused by a sexually transmitted disease. Syphilis, which is caused by the bacterium Treponema pallidum, often causes ulcers at the vaginal entrance or on the penis that hurt a lot when they come into contact with urine. Syphilis is treated with antibiotics. The chances of recovery are very high. As soon as the disease has subsided, the symptoms also disappear.Gonorrhea (gonorrhea) is caused by bacteria that rise into the urethra and can cause extreme pain during urination. Gonorrhea is also curable; symptoms disappear after successful treatment of the underlying disease. Birth injuries, especially perineal tears, can also cause severe pain during urination. Birth injuries usually heal completely, but the healing process can take several weeks and can hardly be accelerated by medication. The same applies to small injuries in the intimate area that occurred during sexual intercourse or sports.
Prevention
To prevent pain and burning during urination, all measures should be taken to avoid inflammation caused by germs or by hypothermia. Warm clothing, appropriate intimate hygiene, and the use of condoms during sexual intercourse are useful in this regard. In addition, regular cancer screenings of the prostate and bowel help prevent pain and burning during urination.
Here’s what you can do yourself
Pain and burning during urination is usually the result of a urinary tract infection or cystitis. Various home remedies and measures relieve the discomfort. To get rid of an infection quickly, you should first drink and urinate as much as possible. Diuretic remedies such as nettle tea or a drink with bicarbonate and water are recommended. An alternative remedy is goldenrod, which is taken either as a tincture or extract and inhibits inflammation in the urinary tract. Cranberry juice, which protects the mucous membrane of the urinary tract and flushes out bacteria, has also proven effective. In case of alkaline urine, bearwort or another medicinal herb should be consumed. For example, horseradish, |celery and other foods with antibacterial or diuretic properties help against the burning sensation. Coffee, alcohol and citrus juices should be avoided. Acute urinary discomfort can be relieved with the help of a hot water bottle, moist compresses or a sitz bath. What also helps is a lot of sweating and the application of hot-moist compresses to the bare lower abdomen. A rising foot bath according to Kneipp inhibits inflammation and helps to flush out bacteria quickly. If symptoms do not subside after a few days, a physician should be consulted.