New here--very bummed and looking for insights

[Silas1066]

Six years ago (when I was 32), I began urinating more than usual (and I've always urinated a lot) and I had some pain in the tip of the penis. I was waking up several times a night. I went to my GP and he did a urinalysis, DRE, and blood test for diabetes. Everything came back negative. He put me on Flomax and I began taking supplements, quit caffeine and alcohol, and symptoms subsided after a couple of months.

Problem is, I still have "flare ups."

For the last few weeks, I've been urinating a lot (flow isn't really weak--maybe "medium" at best), dripping after urination (usually 2-3 drops), and I've have a weird feeling in the urethra--like urine is trapped in there or something. On a good day I urinate 5-7 times. On a bad day I go 10+. I had similar symptoms in August, but those subsided.

This is really strange--can anyone here relate? Does this sound like prostatitis? I'm pretty young for BPH.

I have lousy insurance, so I am hesitant to go running to the urologist for thousands of dollars in tests.

[webslave]

Caffeine and alcohol is a start. What about chocolate and tomatoes?

[Silas1066]

Haven't eliminated tomatoes--eat them frequently. I don't eat very much chocolate.

[webslave]

The IC diet recommends avoiding coffees, regular & green teas, soda & diet soda, fruit juices, vitamin C (ascorbic acid) and vitamin B6, artificial sugars, chocolate.

[bb]

For the last few weeks, I've been urinating a lot (flow isn't really weak--maybe "medium" at best), dripping after urination (usually 2-3 drops), and I've have a weird feeling in the urethra--like urine is trapped in there or something. On a good day I urinate 5-7 times. On a bad day I go 10+. I had similar symptoms in August, but those subsided.

Sounds very similar to my symptoms. I'm (hopefully) winding down on my latest flare up, which started at the end of October. I still have never determined the cause, though like many here I deal with a lot of stress (just had a new baby, which might have contributed this time around), I workout regularly, and I have a job where I sit on my butt all day. Personally, I think the latter is a big contributor for me.

Anyhow, I've found that the dribbling (or amount dribbled :) ) seems to go hand in hand with that "urine is trapped" feeling. The stronger the feeling, the more I'll eventually dribble. In fact, I think a lot of the feeling is really urine being trapped somewhere along the urethra. What I found is that when I have that feeling, the tip of my penis is also very sensitive to touch. So just contact from underwear makes it worse. As a result, I attempt to spend 5 or 10 minutes after urinating "pants-less" (tough to do in public, I know....you get funny looks :) ) to try and give the nerves a chance to calm down. That seems to help. When things are really annoying I've gone so far as to wear a cup because that prevents any material from rubbing on me. That also seems to help.

For me, the frequency feeling really was the "trapped urine" feeling. At first I kept going frequently, and I think this only made things worse. Finally I decided that I wasn't going to go when I KNEW I didn't really need to. It took awhile, but eventually the frequency/urgency aspect of it went away for me (or else I just got used to it). Also, drink a lot of water to reduce the acidity of your urnine, that may help reduce irritation. Of course, the fun part of that is that drinking a lot of water means you need to urinate more often, so it's a balancing act.

Finally, I've been doing a lot of the stretches recommended on this board and in A Headache in the Pelvis. They certainly don't hurt, and they may help. They're definitely worth trying.

All in all this is a pain in the butt, but it will get better.

[carld]

According to my Uro...after urination, it's common to have urine in the urethra that will come out the next time you pee. We use the PC muscle to eject most of the remaining urine...But I don't like that sensation of still having urine in my urethra because I believe men w/ CP/CPPS have more sensitive nerves to feel it in there...So I gently press the perineum to expell the rest of the urine and really relax the pelvis...Very helpful.

Best, Carl...

[JoVoChicago]

This one was something I'd been wondering about.
Those final last squirts - where you have to flex to get rid of them - do we just not do that because we're irritating our symptoms?
When I don't do it I feel like I have burning urine stored in my urethra - when I do do it - I can feel that the tensing sensation has irritated other areas.
Who does what?
Thanks...
Joseph

[bb]

This one was something I'd been wondering about.
Those final last squirts - where you have to flex to get rid of them - do we just not do that because we're irritating our symptoms?
When I don't do it I feel like I have burning urine stored in my urethra - when I do do it - I can feel that the tensing sensation has irritated other areas.
Who does what?
Thanks...
Joseph

For me, that feeling of urine stored in the urethra initially kept me flexing/pushing....noting would come out, but it made my symptoms MUCH worse. Eventually I learned to not do that. I might do one or two "pushes", but then I stop regardless of whether it still feels like there is urine trapped because I know there really isn't. Then I have to deal with the discomfort, but the discomfort is much worse if I keep trying.

[boulder]

Instead of using your pelvic floor muscles to expel any urine that might be left in your urethra, try pressing upwards on your perineum with your hand. I'm not a doctor or a PT, and this isn't medical advice, but it works for me and some other guys with chronic prostatitis / chronic pelvic pain syndrome I've talked to- Hope it works for you too!

[boulder]

This is worth a try too: viewtopic.php?f=37&t=6102&p=31389&#p31389