Does urination after sex prevent infections?
What you need to know:
- Both the woman’s and man’s urethrae are closed off during sex and remain closed immediately after sex, making it difficult to pass urine.
I am 38 years old. Until recently, I would easily pass urine after sex to prevent gonorrhoea, which is very hard nowadays. Am I getting too old or is there a problem? Esther
Dear Esther,
Gonorrhoea is a sexually transmitted infection that in women mostly infects the vagina, uterus, fallopian tubes and ovaries before spreading to other parts of the body, including joints.
Urinating after sex is unlikely to prevent gonorrhoea germs from infecting these areas which are outside of the urinary tract where passed urine does a flushing job.
Gonorrhoea germs usually infect the urinary system from infected vaginal discharge and, therefore, passing urine immediately after sex still is unlikely to deter gonococcal urinary tract infection.
Even if during sex some gonococcal germs stray into the urinary system and urinating after sex flushes them out, this is unlikely to deter the infection which may later spread from vaginal fluids. It is advisable that couples pass urine immediately after sex toflush out germs which may have inadvertently entered the urinary system through the urethra, risking a urinary tract infection. Flushing is only possible if one has a strong urinary stream.
With an erection and sex, the bladder is closed off to avoid urination during sex. Urine is acidic and entering the vaginal canal may lead to sperm damage.
This is why a man produces precum before ejaculation so that it washes his urethra of all urine remnants.
Both the woman’s and man’s urethrae are closed off during sex and remain closed immediately after sex, making it difficult to pass urine. Also, couples when aroused, go and pass urine before sex so that after sex (which may have taken a few minutes) they may have no urine to pass, however, much they may try to do so.
It is advised that one does not pass urine before sex if he/she has to have urine in the bladder to pass after sex. Also, it is advised that one takes enough fluids to stay well hydrated and be able to pass urine often, including after sex.
