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Constant irritation / urge to pee
I'm a 30yo male and suffering the last 3 years from constant irritation in my penis.
3 years ago, I woke up one day with a strong itch in my penis, like a normal itch that you want to scratch, but it was on the inside and scratching didn't help. I hadn't done anything irregular and hadn't had sex. It eased off and came back for a week or two, at which point inflammation appeared. The head was red and sticky and extremely tender so that touching it was very sore. This lasted for a few days and disappeared, but the itch remained.
By the time I was able to see a doctor, the inflammation had disappeared but the itch remained. Based on my description the doc believed it was balanitis or a thrush. I was given instructions to change my washing detergent and shower gel, be more vigilant in cleaning my penis with water, and was given a series of ointments and antifungal and steroid creams that I tried. None of this really helped, but the symptoms had a tendancy to come and go and it was hard to tell if something did or didn't work, but trying all the different creams for many weeks each never helped.
Over time the symptoms seemed to morph. It was so gradual that it's hard for me to describe, but what started out feeling like an itch I wanted to scratch, started feeling much more like an urge to pee instead. Over the course of the next year the frequency of the symptoms continued to get worse - they went from being present maybe a couple of days per week, to being present most days, to being present every day. And they moved more strongly towards feeling like peeing all the time, rather than just feeling itchy.
Over this period I had many tests and treatments tried - my urine and blood was checked for glucose, I was tested for STDs and had my prostate examined, all normal. I tried courses of fluconazole for thrush, metronidazole for trichomoniasis, and ofloxacin for a UTI, but none helped.
So after about a year I was finally sent to a urologist. I had an ultrasound and uroflowmetry which didn't show anything, and the first diagnosis the urologist came up with based on my description was bacterial prostatitis. I was given anti-inflammatories and beta blockers for about 3 months, but saw no improvement. The urologist then moved me onto a series of different anticholinergenics like solefanicin and oxybutynin, which I took over the course of about a year, to no effect.
I switchted to a new urologist who had a cystoscopy performed. They found no inflammation and they took a biopsy which he said ruled out Interstitial Cystisis. I then had urodynamic tests run and he said the results proved that I didn't need anticholinergenics, but did find an extremely low bladder capacity of 148. The clinician performing the test said this could have been a result of me going to the toilet so much more frequently and training my bladder, rather than the cause.
The urologist prescribed me 5mg of tadalafil per day after these results, saying that the drug is known to have a side effect of easing bladder problems, in addition to aiding in erectile dysfunction, which I have been suffering alongside the problem (and has in itself become a massive issue in my relationship with my girlfriend, but is not the biggest cause of suffering to me). That drug hasn't helped after 3 months and I will be seeing the urologist again soon, but I don't know what other options there will be.
To describe how I feel currently, I would say the "irritation" is near constant. I wake up every day with my penis feeling quite sore and a strong urge to pee, which is always the first thing I do and relieves the pain. It doesn't tend to wake me up during the night but I never get more than around 7 hours sleep, I seem to be incapable of ever sleeping in as that seems to be the limit of how long I can go before it wakes me up. Over the rest of the day it never gets painful, I'd describe it more as an itch or irritation, but it is strong enough to be totally debilitating.
When I do pee, it feels like relief, but the feeling of needing to go doesn't go away. I never feel finished. Sometimes I'll stand over the toilet for several minutes, continuing to squeeze out dribbles and drops, eventually there's nothing more to come but I still feel like there's something in there that I want to push out.
Over the course of a day I pee very often, but I don't think the frequency is really what's important. I am capable of holding it for 2 or 3 hours if I need to, that's not the problem so much, the problem is that the feeling is constantly there and never ever goes away, even when I do pee. In reality I try to limit myself to around once per hour, but it's not uncommon for me to hold it longer if I can't get to a bathroom, or to go multiple times in a matter of minutes if I'm in and around the bathroom, when getting ready in the morning for example.
To me it feels very much like the irritation is coming from the inside of the penis, like there's something in there that I want to push out, and then that manifests itself as peeing. I can go all day without drinking anything, still peeing frequently with a dribble each time, and clearly having a pretty much empty bladder, but the feeling remains. One thing that I've noticed is that if I am quite bloated and have a strong need to do a number 2, the urge to pee does feel lessened, but once I go it comes back.
And it doesn't feel the same every day. Some days are worse than others. I've tried food diaries etc and haven't found any link to when it feels worse or better. Some days it feels less like an urge to pee and more like a localised itch - sometimes I find I can "scratch the itch" somewhat by pulling my foreskin down and squeezing the head, not so much that it makes the itch go away but it can feel better. Sometimes I find that the skin around my testicles feels really itchy too.
The irritation always feels worse when I move around. That's the biggest problem to me. Something as simple as going for a walk feels like hell, so I don't do it unless it's unavoidable. Doing housework and walking around the kitchen when cooking feels like hell. Beyond that I basically don't do anything physical anymore. I've no more social life because this problem just puts me off wanting to do anything. My work day involves sitting at a desk, it hurts my concentration but I get through it, and then at the end of the day I just go home and sit on a couch all evening because doing anything else makes me feel like crap.
Because of this my sex life with my girlfriend has become non-existant. When we try to do anything the irritation just feels worse - I'm not convinced it gets worse physically but it makes me think of that area more and notice the irritation more. When we cuddle in bed I find myself pulling my groin away and just holding her upper body because it feels like crap and it doesn't get erect and I have this feeling like it's holding the pee in and if I'm not careful it might dribble out, all of which puts me off. The taladafil helped it go hard but didn't stop it feeling like crap so wasn't a big help overall. It does get erect at times, and I am able to masturbate, so I feel the problem here is the irritation being so off putting more than anything else, but I don't know if I can overcome that.
This thing has caused such a total and complete transformation of every aspect of my life for the worse, and I feel completely helpless that the doctors and urologists can't seem to find a hint of a cause.
Are there any other possibilities I can explore? Of some of the things that have been tried and ruled out, Diabetes made sense, a UTI made sense, Thrush made sense. Pure bladder problems don't make sense to me because the symptoms can so often feel very localised to the penis.
3 years ago, I woke up one day with a strong itch in my penis, like a normal itch that you want to scratch, but it was on the inside and scratching didn't help. I hadn't done anything irregular and hadn't had sex. It eased off and came back for a week or two, at which point inflammation appeared. The head was red and sticky and extremely tender so that touching it was very sore. This lasted for a few days and disappeared, but the itch remained.
By the time I was able to see a doctor, the inflammation had disappeared but the itch remained. Based on my description the doc believed it was balanitis or a thrush. I was given instructions to change my washing detergent and shower gel, be more vigilant in cleaning my penis with water, and was given a series of ointments and antifungal and steroid creams that I tried. None of this really helped, but the symptoms had a tendancy to come and go and it was hard to tell if something did or didn't work, but trying all the different creams for many weeks each never helped.
Over time the symptoms seemed to morph. It was so gradual that it's hard for me to describe, but what started out feeling like an itch I wanted to scratch, started feeling much more like an urge to pee instead. Over the course of the next year the frequency of the symptoms continued to get worse - they went from being present maybe a couple of days per week, to being present most days, to being present every day. And they moved more strongly towards feeling like peeing all the time, rather than just feeling itchy.
Over this period I had many tests and treatments tried - my urine and blood was checked for glucose, I was tested for STDs and had my prostate examined, all normal. I tried courses of fluconazole for thrush, metronidazole for trichomoniasis, and ofloxacin for a UTI, but none helped.
So after about a year I was finally sent to a urologist. I had an ultrasound and uroflowmetry which didn't show anything, and the first diagnosis the urologist came up with based on my description was bacterial prostatitis. I was given anti-inflammatories and beta blockers for about 3 months, but saw no improvement. The urologist then moved me onto a series of different anticholinergenics like solefanicin and oxybutynin, which I took over the course of about a year, to no effect.
I switchted to a new urologist who had a cystoscopy performed. They found no inflammation and they took a biopsy which he said ruled out Interstitial Cystisis. I then had urodynamic tests run and he said the results proved that I didn't need anticholinergenics, but did find an extremely low bladder capacity of 148. The clinician performing the test said this could have been a result of me going to the toilet so much more frequently and training my bladder, rather than the cause.
The urologist prescribed me 5mg of tadalafil per day after these results, saying that the drug is known to have a side effect of easing bladder problems, in addition to aiding in erectile dysfunction, which I have been suffering alongside the problem (and has in itself become a massive issue in my relationship with my girlfriend, but is not the biggest cause of suffering to me). That drug hasn't helped after 3 months and I will be seeing the urologist again soon, but I don't know what other options there will be.
To describe how I feel currently, I would say the "irritation" is near constant. I wake up every day with my penis feeling quite sore and a strong urge to pee, which is always the first thing I do and relieves the pain. It doesn't tend to wake me up during the night but I never get more than around 7 hours sleep, I seem to be incapable of ever sleeping in as that seems to be the limit of how long I can go before it wakes me up. Over the rest of the day it never gets painful, I'd describe it more as an itch or irritation, but it is strong enough to be totally debilitating.
When I do pee, it feels like relief, but the feeling of needing to go doesn't go away. I never feel finished. Sometimes I'll stand over the toilet for several minutes, continuing to squeeze out dribbles and drops, eventually there's nothing more to come but I still feel like there's something in there that I want to push out.
Over the course of a day I pee very often, but I don't think the frequency is really what's important. I am capable of holding it for 2 or 3 hours if I need to, that's not the problem so much, the problem is that the feeling is constantly there and never ever goes away, even when I do pee. In reality I try to limit myself to around once per hour, but it's not uncommon for me to hold it longer if I can't get to a bathroom, or to go multiple times in a matter of minutes if I'm in and around the bathroom, when getting ready in the morning for example.
To me it feels very much like the irritation is coming from the inside of the penis, like there's something in there that I want to push out, and then that manifests itself as peeing. I can go all day without drinking anything, still peeing frequently with a dribble each time, and clearly having a pretty much empty bladder, but the feeling remains. One thing that I've noticed is that if I am quite bloated and have a strong need to do a number 2, the urge to pee does feel lessened, but once I go it comes back.
And it doesn't feel the same every day. Some days are worse than others. I've tried food diaries etc and haven't found any link to when it feels worse or better. Some days it feels less like an urge to pee and more like a localised itch - sometimes I find I can "scratch the itch" somewhat by pulling my foreskin down and squeezing the head, not so much that it makes the itch go away but it can feel better. Sometimes I find that the skin around my testicles feels really itchy too.
The irritation always feels worse when I move around. That's the biggest problem to me. Something as simple as going for a walk feels like hell, so I don't do it unless it's unavoidable. Doing housework and walking around the kitchen when cooking feels like hell. Beyond that I basically don't do anything physical anymore. I've no more social life because this problem just puts me off wanting to do anything. My work day involves sitting at a desk, it hurts my concentration but I get through it, and then at the end of the day I just go home and sit on a couch all evening because doing anything else makes me feel like crap.
Because of this my sex life with my girlfriend has become non-existant. When we try to do anything the irritation just feels worse - I'm not convinced it gets worse physically but it makes me think of that area more and notice the irritation more. When we cuddle in bed I find myself pulling my groin away and just holding her upper body because it feels like crap and it doesn't get erect and I have this feeling like it's holding the pee in and if I'm not careful it might dribble out, all of which puts me off. The taladafil helped it go hard but didn't stop it feeling like crap so wasn't a big help overall. It does get erect at times, and I am able to masturbate, so I feel the problem here is the irritation being so off putting more than anything else, but I don't know if I can overcome that.
This thing has caused such a total and complete transformation of every aspect of my life for the worse, and I feel completely helpless that the doctors and urologists can't seem to find a hint of a cause.
Are there any other possibilities I can explore? Of some of the things that have been tried and ruled out, Diabetes made sense, a UTI made sense, Thrush made sense. Pure bladder problems don't make sense to me because the symptoms can so often feel very localised to the penis.
coste247, did you ever find out what was causing this? Did you ever get any relief from these symptoms? This all sounds really terrible, I’m sure it’s been extremely frustrating. Please let us know if you ever got to the bottom of this - it could help other people w/ similar issues...
have you ever found out what the problem was. i have very similar problem, even though the urge goes away after i dont pee for 2 or so hours. it almost seems like everytime i pee something gets irritated in my penis urethra. the more i tried to pee the more intense the feeling gets. i wake up in the morning feeling normal, but once i pee it all starts. also, when i get erection the itchiness seem o go away, once erection is gone, it comes back.
2 Comments
How long has it been going on? Tested for a UTI?
2 months so far, UTI tested negative, PSA, post void test, blood test all fine/normal.
Hi, I had pretty much the same problem a few years ago and was told I had Type II diabetes. If I were you, I'd get tested again. I lost a lot of weight and started doing regular exercise and the problem gradually went.
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