Men’s sexual health hasn't always gotten the attention it should. With the approval of Viagra® (sildenafil) in 1998, however, much of men's sexual health went from "taboo" to mainstream. Viagra (and to a lesser extent, erectile dysfunction), became a household name.
Still, sexual health is a sensitive subject for most guys.
Most of the public attention that men's sexual health does get tends to be around sexual dysfunctions, but there's considerably more to sexual health.
One scenario that men frequently wonder about is difficulty urinating after sex. Is this a cause for concern? Trouble urinating can be a sign of potential issues for both sexual health and proper urinary system function.
Below is a closer look at what causes difficulty urinating, why it can be difficult urinating after sex, as well as what you should do about it.
What Is the Urinary System?
The urinary system is is responsible for maintaining fluid balance, electrolyte balance, and removing nitrogenous waste from your body.
Most of us take the ability to pee at the drop of a hat as a given for most of our lives, but when things go wrong. . . you know.
The urinary system consists of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.
Below is a closer look at these components and how they work together to allow you to pee fully, empty your bladder, and maintain optimal fluid balance.
Kidneys
The kidneys are the first stop in the urinary system. These are blood filters that remove excess liquid from your blood and send waste through to your urine
You have two kidneys located just below the rib cage on either side of your spine. The kidneys consist of capillaries, an outer cortex, medulla, and renal pelvis.
Blood capillaries pass through a region known as the glomerulus inside the kidney, which is semi-permeable to blood. It allows fluid, urea, and salts to pass through the membrane while ensuring that other components of blood are retained and sent back to the blood circulatory system, such as red and white blood cells.
The fluid filtered from the blood is then collected by the renal pelvis, which acts as a funnel to the ureters.
Ureters
With the waste and excess fluid removed from your blood, it's time for this waste to start traveling out of the body.
This journey begins with the renal pelvis, part of the kidneys. The renal pelvis funnels the fluid to long tubes known as ureters that connect the kidneys to the bladder.
The ureters act as a simple tube, but they also contain smooth muscles that push urine from the kidney to the bladder and reduce the chances of backflow.
The ureter tubes are generally eight to ten inches in length and six to eight millimeters in diameter. While these tubes are small, they are incredibly important for maintaining kidney health and urinary function.
Bladder
Every couple of seconds, urine is deposited into the bladder from the kidneys via the ureters.
The bladder is a pouch with a number of folds and muscles. As the volume of urine in the bladder increases, it causes the bladder to stretch, which then signals the urge to urinate in your brain.
The bladder can be thought of as the holding tank for your urine, where small amounts of urine are held until the bladder fills.
When you urinate, bladder muscles help push out the urine and ensure complete elimination.
Urethra
The last step before urine leaves your body is the urethra. The urethra is the tube that connects the bladder to the outside.
It's a tubular organ with multiple sphincters and structures through which it passes.
Two sphincter muscles help you control when you urinate and close off the flow of urine when complete. They also help to prevent you from urinating when you don't want to (called bladder control) and while sexually aroused.
How Are Sex and Difficulty Urinating Related?
Many men understand that difficulty urinating can be a sign of an underlying problem (often with the prostate), but this is typically a separate issue from difficulty urinating after sex.
During sexual arousal, the penis becomes engorged. At the same time, the urinary sphincter at the base of the bladder closes, blocking urine from being able to enter the urethra. This automatic response ensures that you don’t urinate during sex and that semen doesn’t mix with urine.
The very process of getting an erection intentionally by design makes it hard to pee.
The closure of the sphincter during sexual arousal is why many men find it difficult to urinate immediately after sex or while they are still sexually aroused. This is a normal phenomenon that happens to sexually healthy men and should not to be of huge concern if it goes away after your erection leaves.
While difficulty urinating immediately after sex tends not to be indicative of an issue, if it persists even after your erection is gone, it may indicate a potential problem with the urinary system.
What Are Potential Causes of a Difficulty Urinating?
Total bladder control plays an important role in men's wellbeing and health.
Painful urination, weak urine stream, an overactive bladder, urinary dribbling, urinary hesitancy, urinary incontinence, urinary retention, and difficulty completely voiding the bladder of urine can indicate several health conditions.
If you experience any one of these symptoms, you should reach out to a health care professional in the field of urology.
A urologist will be able to diagnose and treat the underlying issue. But what could be happening to cause trouble urinating?
Enlarged Prostate
The prostate gland is a structure that helps to produce and propel semen out of the penis, and it plays an important role in ensuring that urine does not flow during sex.
But the prostate can become enlarged, which can affect you sexually and cause difficulty urinating.
The most common cause of an enlarged prostate is benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH typically occurs as a result of aging, but there are a number of factors that can increase the likelihood of BPH, including genetics, diabetes, and lifestyle factors.
Another potential cause of an enlarged prostate is prostate cancer. Prostate cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer in men. According to the American Cancer Society, it's estimated that one in eight men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime. While typically more prevalent in older men, prostate cancer could be the reason behind an enlarged prostate and difficulty urinating.
Infection
Another potential cause of difficulty urinating is an infection. Urinary tract infections (UTI) occur when bacteria make their way into the urethra and infect the urinary system. UTIs tend to be fairly uncommon in men due to a longer urethral tube than in women.
Still, factors such as the use of catheters, diabetes, kidney stones, or an enlarged prostate can increase the chances of developing a UTI.
A UTI tends to be managed through medication like antibiotics, but if left on its own, it can lead to more serious infections like a bladder infection, kidney infection, or prostatitis.
Urinating following sex is actually important to preventing UTIs. Bacteria can enter the urethra during sex, so peeing after you have sex is a good way to reduce the risk of infection and a UTI. This tends to be more important to women, who are more prone to UTIs given the length of the urethra.
The Takeaway
A difficult time urinating immediately after sex isn’t necessarily something you should worry about, as this is naturally caused by the erection and arousal process.
If difficulty urinating persists long after having sex, especially after your erection has subsided, you may want to seek medical consultation to rule out potential problems like urinary tract infections or prostate conditions.
Sources
Anatomy of the Urinary System | Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Key Statistics for Prostate Cancer | American Cancer Society
Prostatitis: Types, Symptoms, Causes, Diagnosis & Treatment | Cleveland Clinic
