URETHRAL SPONGE: could it be the lumpy-bumpy?! Mystery solved?

[Guest guest]

Hi all:

So, how many of us have heard of the " urethral sponge " ? I wouldn't

recommend washing your dishes with it, but those of you with a suspected

" lumpy bumpy " (see my slightly erotic posts from last week) might want to

check yours out!

I just got back from seeing my amazing, wonderful, goddess PT (she spent

over an hour with me and spent at least 20 minutes poring over illustrations

out of books, explaining things to me) and she is very certain (after

examining me) that what I am feeling is not the hymen, or the remnants, but

rather my urethra and my urethral sponge (and it does feel like a toughened

sponge). I am going to have this confirmed by other docs I am scheduled to

see. But the following is my humble understanding as of this moment

....written using highly specialized, very elite, medical terminology -

translated by a real person (that's me).

It seems some of us have our urethra (where the pee comes out) quite a bit

closer to the " introitus " (the opening where the penis or other things go

in) than others. This means that the " other parts " that go along with the

urethra, such as the urethral sponge, are going to be " closer " to the

introitus area, too. The sponge is on the inside right where the

lumpy-bumpy is! And for me and (and others..) our lumpy-bumpy pain is

much worse as the finger (or Q-tip) moves towards the opening, which kind of

makes sense, because that is where the sponge tissue gets closer to the

actual urethra.

As far as the hymen goes, I think that those of you who said you feel a

ridge may be feeling the hymenal remnants (just a guess, what do I know?).

This feels much different than a ridge. More like an organ. My PT

definitely didn't think it was my hymen. (She said she is currently seeing

a patient that she does suspects has some hymen pain....and she has never

had sex, either...I told my PT to ask her if she wants my number!)

What is the sponge thing for? I am not sure, but it looks to be a

protecting kind of thingy that probably protects the urethral tube thingies

that carry the urine. Not sure, didn't ask that obvious question! Anyway,

we all have one, but they are all slightly different sizes, shapes .... and

in different places. Women who have their urethral stuff closer to the sexy

parts are more likely to get urinary infections because of the mixing of the

germies and such.

Interestingly (or not) I don't have any pain or burning on urination and

don't have a history of infections (of course, I have never really had sex).

My urethral sponge is just really ouchy!!! And in the way of a penis. Now,

when I had surgery, she only worked on the " outer " tissues that were and

still are painful (around Hart's line etc.) and didn't even touch the

urethral stuff...or mention it, even though I am sure I mentioned this pain!

In fact, I have " mentioned " this @%#^%$ pain to at least five doctors (one

was a urologist!) and they all said the lump was " normal tissue " - thanks

for being so informative, docs. (Okay, that's my bashing of doctors rant.)

It is only in the last week that I have finally figured out the name of the

tissue that causes me so much pain. I think my POC pain is in large part

from this sponge (including my DAILY pain w/o contact) and the other part of

my pain is the more outer tissue. Since the docs seemed to focus on the

outer stuff, so did I.

Now, what to do? I have no idea. I got my biofeedback home trainer thing

from my PT today, but that is dealing with muscle and blood flow and tension

stuff. The confusing thing about my case is that the tissue " down there " is

basically " healthy " (I don't think I have yeast, no urinary infections or

other infections...) BUT IT HURTS LIKE %^#^$!

Well, I will carry on....

Thanks to everyone who responded to my lumpy-bumpy post, it really helped

me. Sorry this was so long.

Carolyn