Does sperm come out with urine?

Since the male urethra has both urination and ejaculation functions, will urine be discharged together with semen? In fact, it is extremely rare to see cases of urination during ejaculation during sexual intercourse in clinical practice.

Urinating is controlled by the brain

Under normal circumstances, when the bladder is full of urine, if conditions permit, the command to "urinate" is issued from the cerebral cortex. Through the reflex of the sacral spinal cord, the bladder sphincter will relax and the urine can be discharged from the body.

When conditions do not allow, such as during sleep, although people always dream of going to the toilet due to holding urine, they do not urinate. It seems that although people are asleep, the brain does not issue a "urinate" command according to the information of the bladder being full.

Urine does not come out in one lump during ejaculation

When a man is sexually excited, the bladder sphincter at the beginning of the urethra and the membranous urethral sphincter outside it are both in a state of contraction. In this way, a small closed space is formed between the two, where sperm driven by the rhythmic contraction of the smooth muscles of the epididymis and vas deferens mix with secretions from the prostate and seminal vesicles.

When the accumulated semen increases to a certain amount, or when the penis is stimulated to a sufficient intensity and orgasm occurs, ejaculation occurs, the membranous urethral sphincter relaxes, and the accumulated semen is ejected through the urethra. During ejaculation, the bladder sphincter inside will never relax, so urine will not be discharged together, and of course semen will not enter the bladder.

It is speculated that the cerebral cortex will also play a certain role in controlling the bladder sphincter in this case, that is, the brain can recognize that this is a state of "conditions not allowing urination". Therefore, urination will not occur at the same time as ejaculation.

"Retrograde ejaculation"

However, such complex anatomical structures and physiological functions can sometimes go wrong. If the contraction rhythm of the vas deferens is disrupted during ejaculation, or the bladder sphincter does not contract at the same time, semen can be discharged into the bladder instead of being discharged from the urethra. This is called retrograde ejaculation.

Retrograde ejaculation causes infertility

Retrograde ejaculation is often one of the causes of infertility. For men, even if it is retrograde ejaculation, there will be pleasure in ejaculation, so most of the time they will not be aware of it. It is often discovered when going to the hospital for infertility treatment, or when the woman points it out. This situation is more common when you do not ejaculate during sexual intercourse or repeatedly hold back and delay ejaculation during sexual intercourse.

This practice, which goes against the laws of nature, will cause the bladder sphincter that controls urination to relax. Once this "retrograde ejaculation" occurs, it will be difficult to restore normal ejaculation.

Causes of Retrograde Ejaculation

In addition to functional reasons, retrograde ejaculation is mainly caused by organic diseases that cause the bladder neck sphincter to have dysfunctional contraction and cannot close tightly during ejaculation. Such causes include urethral stenosis, hypertrophy of the spermatic cap, bladder neck dysfunction caused by juvenile diabetes, and surgical damage to the sphincter. Taking drugs such as guanethidine and reserpine can also cause retrograde ejaculation.