Penile dribbling

I found this excellent article the other day.  I think it is worthwhile reading for all men who are experiencing slight dribbling after finishing a pee. I think these two doctors [Kevin Pranikoff and Richard Macchia - see references below] have provided an excellent summary. After all, you can't stop the aging process so you will experience this sooner or later if you are over 50 years of age and certainly if you have ticked over 60.

Unfortunately, some men do dribble a little - a little urine, that is. But they shouldn't worry. If it's not more than a few drops, it usually isn't a sign of a serious health problem. And it's often easy to correct. [While it's not a problem - wearing a shield such as the ATTENDS model - avoids these dribbles being uncomfortable and possibly smelly]

Before we proceed, let's define what dribbling isn't. We're not talking about incontinence, the outright inability to control your bladder. By dribbling, we mean that little extra urine that almost inevitably seems to trickle out after you have deliberately tried to stop the flow or those little wet spots you unexpectedly feel in your underwear.

A couple of built-in obstacles interfere with the flow of urine from the bladder through the urethra and out of the body. In men, urine has a tendency to pool in the bulbus urethra, the widest part of the urethra near the base of the penis.

Poor form can compound the natural obstacles, men constrict the flow of urine when they expose their penises over the top of their pants or underwear instead of through their fly.

But even with exquisite urinary etiquette, if you have lax pelvic floor muscles, you'll be at a disadvantage in trying to internally clamp off the urethra and halt the flow of urine. If the muscle weakening is minor, you'll probably dribble a bit. Should the weakening continue and urinary control become more difficult and less successful, you may be on your way to developing a form of incontinence.

'If the cause is weak muscles, dribbling is sort of an intermediary step between full control and incontinence,'

Aging is a prime cause of muscular weakening. Men have a slight advantage in this regard thanks to prostates. The prostate gland, which surrounds the urethra below the bladder like a doughnut, grows as a man ages. If the enlargement is otherwise benign and not great enough to cause a significant obstruction, the prostate squeezes on the urethra only lightly, compensating for any loss in pelvic muscle tone that could lead to leaking.

All men should know that an inflammation of the gland, called prostatitis, can produce a discharge that could be mistaken for dribbling, It'll also cause a tingling sensation upon urination and a frequent need to go to the bathroom. The bacterial infection that results in prostatitis can hit men at any age, but younger men are especially prone to the problem.

Symptom Relief

Ending wet spots could be as simple as learning better bathroom form or strengthening the muscles in your pelvis, say urologists.

Try these tips before seeing your doctor.

1. Nudge out what's left. 'Men should learn to milk their urethra,' First, urinate through your fly, not over the top of your pants or that constrictive elastic band around the top of your shorts. When finished, with one hand apply some gentle pressure behind the scrotum to coax out any remaining urine from the bulbus urethra.

2. Give it a squeeze. Kegel exercises can help you strengthen the muscles in the pelvis and gain better control, even if you do have an enlarged prostate. And they're simple to do. The muscles you want to strengthen are the ones you use to start and stop the flow of urine. Squeeze and slowly release those muscles several times. Urologists recommend that you practise this action until you can contract those muscles 50 times in a row several times a day.

3. My addition to this article. Do the above, but also:

a) Use a cubicle in public toilets so you have some privacy to 'nudge the last drips out' and use a small piece of toilet tissue to wipe the end of your penis.

b) Buy a box of shields - see the ATTENDS 1 product - so you can have additional security and comfort that if a small amount does discharge, it will be absorbed and deodorized by the shield.

The dryfellas. 

info@dryfella.co.nz

Source(s):

Kevin Pranikoff, M.D., associate professor of urology at the State University of New York at Buffalo.

Richard J. Macchia, M.D., professor and chairman of the Department of Urology at the State University of New York Health Science Center at Brooklyn.