Pain when urinating

[MamaHappy]

Hi- My 5 year old son has been complaining of pain in his penis (uncirced) when urinating. He says it's a burning type of pain inside. I don't see any redness or swelling, but it's concerning to me. I'm thinking of calling his dr. Any ideas on what it could be? Thanks!

[eepster]

It could be separation, a yeast infection or a UTI (of course it could be other things but these are the likely culprits.)

Since he is saying it hurts inside as opposed to at the tip, I'm leaning towards UTI even though it is the least common. He doesn't really need to see the Dr, and the Dr certainly doesn't need to mess with his penis or foreskin. You just need a sterile sample container to send the lab.

If you do get an office visit with the Dr, be very vigilant about not letting him try to retract. If he wants to do a culture, only let him swab the out side not retracting. If your DS is retractable, he can retract himself if he wants to, but don't let the Dr do it since he might push it too far and hurt your DS.

[MamaHappy]

Thanks!

[glongley]

What does he/you mean by "inside"? Do you mean underneath the foreskin, or up in the bladder area, or what? Separation of the foreskin can lead to some slightly raw areas on the surface of the glans or inner foreskin which would burn with urination. I would think this would be the most common cause of pain with urination in the absence of any other symptoms - and should be transitory, no more than a day or two, till the newly exposed tissue heals up.

Have a look at this sticky in the Resources section, on interpreting some of the issues that may come up with an intact penis:
http://www.mothering.com/discussions....php?t=764732?

Gillian

[Drummer's Wife]

My oldest DS had a similar experience recently - painful urination and even a bit of blood when he peed one time (freaked me out!!). Anyhow, my first thought was UTI b/c he said burning, but it ended up being due to his forskin separating and the burning was the urine stinging at the opening. His pain lasted a couple days while his penis healed, so to speak. I was worried about everything from a kidney infection to cancer (b/c of the blood drops in urine), and much relieved that it wasn't anything that awful.

He is the oldest of 3 intact DS's, and luckily my DH is also intact and seemed to know what was going on. As a precaution, we had him drink a ton of cranberry juice that first day - which can't hurt just in case a UTI is a possibility - but I agree that if you do end up taking him to the doc to be clear so that they don't retract him (further if it's already starting), and that they know proper intact care. My same DS had to be cath'd as a baby for surgery, and then later on as a toddler had stitches on his penis after a freak injury - anyhow, it's important that the med staff are familiar with forskins. We had a good pediatric urologist who didn't mess with his while he was in the hospital. Yet, there are plenty of docs that will try to retract (this happened with my 2nd DS) even when you are standing right there.

Hope he feels better soon and the pain goes away.

[MamaHappy]

Oh, sorry... by "inside" I meant inside the foreskin area.

I'm wondering if it is just starting to separate... I really don't know. Thanks for the advice.

[eepster]

Originally Posted by MamaHappy

Oh, sorry... by "inside" I meant inside the foreskin area.

I thought you meant deep inside. Since it's just inside the foreskin, it is probably just separation.