Sharp pain in groin and penis started two weeks after catheter removal

I am now home from Mayo Rochester, cystoscopy and exam revealed what they believe to be Lichen Sclerosus. Rare apparently for men and especially for me. I do have some scar tissue in the urethra but not overly restrictive to flow. They sent me home with a treatment regimen of intra urethral ( self catheter) application of a steroid ointment,
Clobetasol .05 percent. I’m on week two and have no relief yet. The entire treatment course slowly titrates down from every day to once a week of 10 weeks approximately.

Wow! New to this post. I had RP June 21, 2023, went home the same day with a catheter attached, and had an appointment to have the catheter removed a week later. All went well could pee like a horse, then a couple of days later could not pee. Went to the hospital in excruciating pain as the bladder was full, finally got in and saw a on staff doctor. He prepped to insert new catheter, and I swear, when inserting the numbing agent he pushed that plunger with all the force he could, on top of the bladder pain for not being able to pee and the pain associated with filling the urethra with what was supposed to be gel to ease the pain of inserting a new catheter, it hurt like hell. Long and short of the new catheter was in smaller than the original, and two days later back to the hospital to have it removed as I could not pee and it was leaking between the catheter and the urethra. This time a lady doctor and her assistant removed the catheter, and inserted the correct size with no pain at all, I was impressed! I think was a week or week and a half later went to the Urologist and had it removed. Could pee like a horse now all was good. That was two weeks ago. Gradually the stream weakened and and it is almost like the pre-surgery was, but still able to start relatively quick. Now to the rest of the story. I have some pain/discomfort in the penis, like most people in this thread, burning at the urethra opening and feeling like someone stomped on the penis, feels bruised, but does not look bruised, and it is not inflamed or discolored nor swollen. I began to get worried but think it is all part of the normal healing that I need to go through, after reading this thread, with everything that has happened. I see my doctor next week for my PSA test results and hopefully it will be non-detectable. In my case 41% of the Prostrate was affected and the cancer started going up the neck of the bladder, but the surgeon said they got it all. Well that is my story, hope it helps someone else. Steve0.

@steve0, I thought I'd check in. How is the recovery going? How did your appointment go?

I have had the pain since my catheter was removed . In the groin and around into my butt. It has been one year. My urologist say it is muscle. I have tried acupuncture with no help. My pain will come and go

Also would appreciate any suggestion

The urologist may be on the right track. I am currently going to physical therapy for the pelvic floor.
They are telling me I have a lot of tension in my pelvic floor muscles. A bio feedback test shows this andI saw this on a screen. It is due to recovery from prostatectomy and strengthening the pelvic floor with Kegels to prevent incontinence.
It’s too early to tell but I am doing stretches now to relieve and relax that tension. The therapy was suggested by my new urologist after 2 1/2 years of searching for answers and going down quite a few expensive rabbit holes. My pain is more in the distal urethra however so…
For you it may be worth a try based on what you report here. I hope this may help you.

My Mayo update is that I did the 10 week treatment prescribed clobetasol and it did hep reduce inflamation some but I don’t think it is LS ( lichen schlerosis) nor does my new urologist here at home. I am now doing physical therapy with pelvic floor specialists to try to relieve tension in my pelvic floor muscles in hopes to eliminate distal urethral pain more.
Up stream urethra is considerably better. I still get a “pinch” at onset of urination occasionally and I still have some underlying urethral irritation however it’s better than a year ago.
Wow, a slow but hopefully full recovery . We shall see. 2 painful cystoscopies, self torture clobetasol catheterization, and questionable stricture diagnosis . I can still void my bladder completely.
It’s been a curious interesting journey to present since a 10/1/21 prostatectomy for Gleason 7 (3 plus 4)
Pc diagnosis after 3 years on active surveillance and 3 biopsies, 2 MRI ‘s.
ED is another consequence but this painful result has taken obvious priority.

I'm here because husband having pain since catheter inserted after surgery
to "scrape" his prostate & bladder of cancer. Pain began immediately--expected
it seems---once catheter inserted (after surgery)--6 days ago. Tomorrow, I take him
to have it removed..at least that's our understanding of what is to happen. BTW:
the urologist/surgeon is very unpleasant ! --He has reputation for being king in the realm of urology/Sutter system, AND a reputation for being an a-hole.

When I went through surgery I also had pain in my groin. My understanding was that they probably hit a bone and it was many many months before the pain began to subsided. I'm not sure if this is the same situation but I hope this helps. My surgeon was chief of urology at Rochester Mayo Minnesota.

Hello, @myersja, @colleenyoung, I'm so sorry that I never saw or replied to you way back from 6/11/23. Well here we are on 5/8/25 and I'm replying. Please see my story below on an old post. Towards the bottom, it indicates what was finally discovered regarding my pain and very weak stream when urinating. It was finally discovered that I had a meatal stenosis; since I had the surgery to stretch it out, the pain and weak stream were thankfully corrected.
As an update on how I am now, my PSA is slowly rising it is now at 0.08 when it used to be undetectable; it's been rising very slowly by one increment every three months. Radiation oncologist is watching and having my go every three months for a new PSA test; I'll likely need a PSMA scan when it reaches a higher level and likely will need radiation and ADT therapy. I fell fine but just take it day by day. I do still have some incontinence/leakage but it's very minimal; mostly when lifting heavier things, sneezing , or being bent over a while and then getting up. I don't generally have to wear pads; I will wear one as a precaution if I'm going to a long event. Unfortunately, I still have bad ED.
I hope your pain while urinating finally went away or the doctor found something to correct it. I hope your PSA is undetectable and you are doing well.
If you are able, please let me know how you are doing. Again, I'm so sorry for the reply years later.
Thank you, Henry

bfg1 | @bfg1 | Jan 8, 2023
In reply to @cirrussantafe - (hide)
@cirrussantafe
I'm a 52 year old hispanic; I was diagnosed in June of 2022 with prostate cancer, there were no previous cases of prostate cancer in my immediate family. I went to the ER one day for some abdominal pain, the doctor did an MRI of abdomen/pelvic area and found that I had an umbilical hernia but noticed on the MRI that my prostate was slightly enlarged which tends to occur as we age anyway; she said she'd order a PSA test as I hadn't had one before that I was aware of. The PSA came back high at 29; I then saw my primary doctor who did a digital rectal exam and was able to feel what she thought may be a nodule, she referred me to a urologist. The urologist also felt the same nodule and scheduled me for an ultrasound needle biopsy in which 9 of the 14 samples taken came back as cancerous, the highest Gleason scored being 4+4=8. I had not been exhibiting any signs/symptoms of prostate cancer that I was aware of. Due to my fairly young age and aggressiveness of my cancer, the urologist recommended and discussed w/me a Radical Prostatectomy; she also referred me to Mayo Clinic for a 2nd opinion as well as to a radiation oncologist and medical oncologist for their opinions. The radiation oncologist recommended radiation and hormone therapy, the medical oncologist said both RP and radiation/hormone therapy were viable options. All doctors explained to me pretty thoroughly I believe, the side effects and pros and cons of all; it was a lot of overwhelming information as you all know. In the meantime, the urologist scheduled me for an CT scan of abdomen and a bone scan. I asked the radiation oncologist about a PSMA scan and he said that it was actually newly available in Santa Fe, NM where I live; after a bit of back and forth with my insurance, I was approved for a PSMA scan. The CT, bone scan and PSMA all came back fine. In my consult with Mayo, in which they had all my records, the two Urologist's I spoke to via zoom also recommended a RP. After much research online, many questions to doctors and many sleepless nights, I finally decided on a Da Vinci robotic radical prostatectomy which my urologist/surgeon would perform; I also asked for an MRI of prostate before the surgery at the recommendation of the Mayo Clinic urologist to see if any spread outside the prostate was indicated; the MRI came back fine. I had a RP on Aug. 18, 2022 which went well; yes, recovery was painful and catheter was awful and I did get a MRSA UTI which took 3 rounds of antibiotics while I had the catheter and more antibiotics after the catheter was removed. After the surgery, the 7 lymph nodes removed came back negative for cancer as well as all the margins of the prostate. The Gleason score went from a 4+4=8 to 4+3=7. I did have trouble urinating after the catheter was removed in which the stream was weak and quite thin, felt like I was urinating through a pinhole. From my research I told my urologist that I felt I had developed a stricture, I was sent to PT for pelvic exercises, etc. to help with urinary incontinence and to see if my urinating issue would improve. The physical therapy did seem to be improving the urinary incontinence; however, I was still having issues urinating and one morning, I couldn't pee and panicked. I had to manipulate the end of the penis which allowed urine to come out slowly. (during the time of trouble urinating, the stream would also sometimes shoot in different directions.). My urologist scheduled me for a cystoscopy which is done in the urologist office; however, the urologist was unable to insert the scope into the urethra, she tried stretching urethra with metal devices as well as a wire device but no luck. ugh! She said she thought it may indeed be a stricture and scheduled me for surgery a few days later as she'd have to put me under to do a cystoscopy and MRI of the urethra. After the surgery, she found that I actually had developed a meatal stenosis which was causing the urinating problems. (meatal stenosis likely caused by the catheter). The stenosis was stretched out and so far I've been able to urinate fine; if it returns, the urologist said she can do another surgery which should correct it. I had my PSA test in November, 3 months after the surgery which thankfully came back as undetectable. I'll have another PSA test now in Feb. which I'm hoping and praying will also be undetectable. I'm still having some urinary incontinence 5 months after surgery but it's improved a lot. I use maybe one pad/day and I've been able to go without a pad some days as well. I believe the physical therapy and continuing the stretching of pelvic area muscles and the Kegel exercises have helped me. I also do walking daily and am hoping to get back to playing tennis. I unfortunately still have erectile dysfunction and at 52 years old, yes, it sucks but I'm dealing with it and am hoping for improvement. I've not yet tried pills, injections or penis pump but will be discussing with urologist. Sorry for such a long rant and maybe too much information but the more information we have, the better I believe. When I was first diagnosed I felt so lost and would have been grateful for any information from people that had dealt with prostate cancer already. I wish everyone well with their journey through this awful cancer.

Jump to this post