Painful urination or dysuria is commonly associated with an inflammatory condition of the lower urinary tract. Inflammation of other pelvic organs may also result in pain during urination. The pain is commonly referred to the tip of the urethral opening though it may also be felt over the bladder region which lies just above the pubic bone. The pain may be acute and sharp or dull and diffuse.

Another interesting feature of this pain is its relation to the urination. Pain that occurs at the beginning of urination is often due to urethral inflammation whereas pain at the end of urination is often but not always related to bladder problems. This pain is usually accompanied with increased urinary frequency and urgency.

Symptoms of painful urination:
Painful urination or dysuria is basically a painful condition that is associated with urination. Usually there is no pain, but only happens while passing urine. This pain can range from a dull ache and heaviness, to a stinging or burning sensation. This makes passage of urine very difficult. The pain usually is felt around the urinary outlet.

Treatment of Painful Urination (Dysuria):
For infective conditions such as urinary tract infections, antibiotics are usually prescribed by the treating physician; with an increase in fluid intake recommended as well i.e. the patient is asked to drink excessive amounts of water to wash out any infective organism or the colonies.

The antibiotics used for this purpose are those which are excreted in large amounts by the kidneys, so that after filtration from the blood they can accumulate in the renal tract and kill the pathogenic or disease causing organism. Commonantibiotics in this regard include ciprofloxacin, levofloxacin, nitrofurantoin and sulfamethoxazole with trimethoprim. The selection of the most suitable antibiotic is done after a culture of urine sample.

In old days when the field of medicine was in its premature phase, physicians used to treat urinary tract infections by modifying the pH of urine i.e. by modification of the environment of bacteria or any pathogen causing the infection. Most of the bacteria survive at a specific level of acidity or basicity. First they used to make the urine more basic or less acidic so as to kill organisms capable of surviving in acidic environments, and then they used to make urine acidic so as to kill those organisms that grow in a basic environment. How did they achieve this? It is very simple. The kidneys regulate the environment of the body by excreting excess acids and bases in urine. If the diet is more acidic, the kidneys excretes this excess acid and vice versa. In modern day this technique is also used, and is effective in killing some microorganisms.