You have the urge to urinate, but you’re dreading going to the bathroom because you know there’s pain in store for you. If this sounds familiar, the best practice is to seek our help — not only to relieve your pain, but also to prevent bigger problems from developing.
Painful urination is a common reason for people to visit the three Michael Bazel, M.D. urgent care centers in the greater Los Angeles area. In most cases, our team of experienced healthcare providers can quickly resolve your problem and make urinating quick, easy, and painless again.
Following, we explore the primary culprits behind painful urination and how we treat them.
Urinary tract infections
Far and away, the most common reason our patients experience painful urination is urinary tract infections (UTIs).
Each year in the United States, these common infections drive about eight million visits to health care facilities, and most of the visitors are women. In fact, women have a lifetime prevalence for UTIs of about 50-60%.
The reason women are more prone to UTIs is largely due to anatomy — a woman’s urethra is very short and located near the anus, allowing for cross-contamination. Once bacteria get inside the urinary tract, they only need to make a very short trip to the bladder, where they can set up shop and infection ensues.
One of the first signs of a UTI, in either sex, is pain during urination, which is medically known as dysuria. This pain is often described as burning, and it can make urination extremely uncomfortable.
The good news is that we can eliminate your infection with a quick course of antibiotics. Since it’s an infection, seeing us sooner rather than later is important because infections can spread — in this case to your kidneys — and make matters much more problematic.
Kidney stones
Another potential culprit behind painful urination is kidney stones, which affect about 11% of men and 6% of women. Kidney stones are hardened deposits in your urinary tract that can lead to no small amount of discomfort if they block the flow of urine.
The pain associated with kidney stones can occur during urination, but it can also be constant and quite severe. If we find that you have kidney stones, we can get you to the right specialist for treatment.
Other causes of painful urination
While UTIs and kidney stones top the list of causes of painful urination, there are others, such as:
- Sexually transmitted infections
- Pelvic inflammatory disease
- Prostatitis — inflammation in the prostate
- Cystitis — inflammation in the bladder
- Epididymitis — inflammation in the tubes that move sperm
What each of these conditions has in common is that early intervention can provide you with much-needed pain relief, and we can prevent these issues from progressing unchecked.
For expert diagnosis and treatment of your painful urination, please visit one of our locations in Panorama City, Bell, or Valley Village, California. You can also call to schedule an appointment or request one online anytime.
