Painful urination: How long does it last after radiation (RT)?

It peaked for me a year after RT (20 sessions of SBRT) and continued to be acute for about 6 months. It's still with me almost 3 years later, but it doesn't interfere with my life much any more.

My case is unusual, though. For most people, any side effects fade in a few weeks or months.

Thanks for the quick response. I'll be hopeful that mine doesn't last as long but who knows.

Here are some related discussions:
- Radiation causing constant urge to urinate and burning https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/radiation-causing-constant-urge-to-urinate-and-burning/
- Painful urination every 10 to 15 minutes at night during SBRT https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/painful-urination-every-10-to15-minutes-at-night-during-sbrt/
- Radiation for prostate cancer: Difficult urinating after sleeping https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/difficult-urinating-after-sleeping/

@bobv48, has the painful urination improved? How are you doing now? What tips might you share?

I'm now a little over 5 weeks past the conclusion of a 28-session EBRT regimen. Around the middle of my course of treatment, I started having urgency and frequency issues, along with some discomfort, especially when trying to get started urinating. I'm happy to report that these side effects have mostly disappeared now - there are ups and downs, but I feel like I'm mostly back to where I was before the start of treatments. I'm up once or twice a night to pee, and I'm okay with that.

Something that I found helpful while the side effects were more severe was, when I was trying to start urinating, I would "massage" my penis with sort of a reverse "milking" motion (I know that sounds a little weird, and you may not want to do it in a public restroom). It seemed to help me get the urine flowing, and it also seemed to reduce the burning/discomfort. No idea whether there is any scientific basis for this working - but if it works, it works!

I am 6 days into Proton radiation and the burning urination and rectum irritation are rough. AZO has helped some but and hesitant to take FlowMax with the light head feeling and potential of falling as still working on a shoulder replacement

Getting the water right in the morning has been a challenge as either my water is too low or too high

Today took almost 2 hours to get everything right before treatment.

Feels good to share but each day wonder how am I going to through this 23 session to go!

I had 5 radiation treatments in September 2025. I still have a burning sensation in April 2026.

Radiation in Oct 2025 (20 sessions IMRT) shut down what little urine flow I had going in. Tried tamsulosin and alfuzosin but both caused blood pressure crash. The good news...I don't have painful urination. The bad news...I don't have any urination without using a catheter and do so 5-6 times a day. The unexpected news...I'm so used to self-catheterization that it's just part of life now and no big deal at all.

I finished Brachytherapy and radiation after 15 sessions June 24. I've had severe burning sensation and urgency when urinating since then. I have tried all medications and presently I'm going through 30-35 sessions of HBOT and hopefully that might help.

daphx,

I had 5 sessions of radiation in October of 2024, the burning urination lasted about a month. I tried flomax but that made my 'bottom' hurt like heck so I stopped using it after a couple of days. I just had my PSA checked and it's .45 and the only side effect is the urgency is more severe and the frequency has been enhanced a lot. Good luck, have you told your medical team your issues?

I had 28 sessions of radiation. After that ended, I had about 3 weeks of constant burning,
all the time, not just while urinating! After 3 weeks it finally calmed down, but the extreme
spasms continued for months. I was on Flomax and AZO. Good luck to you. Some guys have
this for a long time, while others it goes away. Regarding the Eligard, I finished that almost two
years ago, AND still have hot flashes.