What does a urethral stricture feel like?
Posted , 3 users are following.
So what does a urethral stricture feel like anyway? I'm not talking about the symptoms (incomplete bladder emptying, decreased urine stream, spraying of urine, etc...) I want to know what the actual sensations are, like is it a stinging? A weird feeling in the urethra? A pressure feeling? Constriction feeling? Pain?
I've been finding it hard to find any experiences of what a stricture feels like online or here on PatientInfo. Please your knowledge on this would help me out a lot on the matter.
Thank you!
0 likes, 9 replies
R2595 schuyler13221
Edited
I had a urethral stricture about 2-3 cm in length near the tip of my penis and while it brought a lot of really awful urinary issues, I can say it doesn't feel like anything. Were it not for the symptoms, I wouldn't know I had it.
schuyler13221 R2595
Posted
what were your symptoms? were you urinating a lot? i have to pee at least every hour, sometimes every 15-30 mins...
R2595 schuyler13221
Posted
Frequent urination, sometimes to the point where I'd finish, go back to my room, and then immediately have to go again. Peeing was very slow/light in terms of flow and I often needed to push to totally finish urinating. It took a really long time often to finish peeing, probably around an average of 15-20 minutes, sometimes longer, up to 60 minutes. My absolute longest bathroom time was 90 minutes, but that only happened two times.
If your only symptom is frequent urination then you might be seeing the beginnings of a urethral stricture. Frequent urination can also be indicative of prostate issues such as cancer, but if you're young it probably isn't that. If you're getting close to 50 the odds get higher obviously.
schuyler13221 R2595
Posted
really? so even after having a RUG and cystoscopy done that were normal i could still be possibly having a urethral stricture forming because of the frequent urination? why is that?
R2595 schuyler13221
Posted
My personal opinion is that, if you had a retrograde urethrogram and a cystoscopy and they didn't detect anything, you probably don't have a urethral stricture and it's probably something else. It could be a bladder issue issue or a different kind of urethral issue (e.g. maybe they're too weak and you're peeing too much, or they're too strong/tight and you aren't completely voiding when you pee). It could also be a prostate issue, or it could be something else I don't know. But it probably isn't a stricture.
schuyler13221 R2595
Posted
my only symptom really is frequent urination... all the tests were normal but i just thought maybe if i had a very small stricture it wasnt able to be detected... not sure how urethral strictures work. the only thing that i think may have caused this is me being catheterized and that might have done something to my urinary tract... its really frustrating because everything i do is interrupted with me going to the bathroom. ive taken different kinds of OAB meds all of which did nothing... it seems like some kind of mystery condition
R2595 schuyler13221
Posted
If a stricture is just beginning and can't be detected via tests I would assume it probably wouldn't be able to cause symptoms, it would probably just take marginally longer to void but it probably wouldn't cause you to pee more often. That's my intuitive guess. My recommendation is just keep seeing your physician and keep track of what you've already done and what the results are.
schuyler13221 R2595
Posted
yeah, i assume the frequent urination from strictures would be caused by the restriction of urine flow upon voiding, causing incomplete bladder emptying. however after i urinate i feel like my bladder is empty, i just end up going to the toilet not long after having already gone. ive since seen 3 different urologists and currently seeing a urologist at UCI for this annoyance of mine and have an appointment with another urologist who specializes in voiding dysfunction and strictures. i hope i dont have a stricture though as what ive read they can be quite the hassle in terms of management and procedures. i hope this is just something that will go away but its been going on since June of this year, so i dont know. im scared honestly...
IS6458 schuyler13221
Posted
Hi. I had problem regarding urethral stricture (5mm in bulbar) which was diagnosed medically in 2018 (when my urine flow dropped under 3ml/sec or almost nil). However I believe I had this problem since very long time (sometime since my childhood) since in all my adult life I never experienced painless urine flow like it started after first urethrotomy (total 3) or my eventual urethroplasty this year.
From my experience I had following symptoms other than low urine flow:
I understand above symptoms can be bit confusing as they seem normal UTI issues. Anyway other than above, I experienced no particular sensation specific to stricture, as mentioned in question.
I hope your case is not that bad. I would suggest to go for urethroplasty after first urethrotomy in case of recurrence. I had three urethrotomy procedures and they didn't help much.
Best wishes for your health and safety.