Urethritis?

    
      Re: Urethritis?
    


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Posted by HFHS M.D. -MS on February 25, 1998 at 07:19:02:

In Reply to: Urethritis? posted by Dave on February 25, 1998 at 07:12:18:

: It has now been 5 weeks since the mentioned sexual contact. The slight discomfort in the tip of my penis has not gone away. There still is no discharge, pain during urination or any other symptoms. I contacted the Planned Parenthood clinic last week and spoke  to the same nurse.She said that if I am not showing any symptoms by now it is not gonorrhea/chlamydia so it would be a waste of my time to get examaned by her again and that I am probably just stressing out about this. She then told me she can recommend a urologist if I want.
  My questions are the following:
  1) Is she right about it not being some kind of urethritis if I have no other symptoms by now?
  2) Can I even be tested for urethretis if I don't have any discharge? What type of test?
  3) Can this discomfort be caused by stress? (I am under alot of stress presently, and I am worried about giving something to my partner)
  4) What else can cause this type of discomfort?
  Thanks in advance,
  Dave
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Dear Dave:
Urethritis in the literal sense, is the inflammation of the urethra. Unless you have a neurological condition which keeps you from feeling the end of your penis you do not have urethritis.  Can you still carry a sexually transmitted disease ? The answer is yes . That is what I meant when I said you can be an asymptomatic carrier in my last response.  
Testing for STDs (Sexually Transmitted Disease) is fairly simple in the male. A sterile q tip is pushed up your urethra and the returned fluid on the q tip is cultured in the lab for a few days.   Figuring from the stress you describe you will not rest easy until you have negative test results in your hands.   The differential diagnosis of discomfort at the tips of the penis is a urinary tract infection, prostatitis, urethral warts, possibly a passed kidney stone, local trauma. But remember when you hear hoof beats don