All that you describe sounds pretty normal, at least some of the time for many men. First, cloudy urine almost always is the result of variations in diet and fluid intake. By far the most common explanation is the occurrence of microscopic phosphate crystals. You can test this by adding a few drops of acid (e.g. vinegar) to 1-2 ounces of urine. If the cloudiness is due to phosphates, the urine will immediately turn clear.

Second, assuming the "sludge" and the white material in the urethral opening were associated with defecation, almost certainly this was simply the effect of pressure and straining, and stool passing over the prostate gland and seminal vesicles, squeezing out semen or pre-ejaculate fluid. Some men experience this quite frequently, often seeing not just "sludge" in urine, but overt dripping of fluid from the penis. Generally this indicates no health problem at all, assuming no other symptoms like urethral discharge not associated with defecation, colored stains in underwear, pain or discomfort during urination.

If you have recently been at risk for STD, such as unprotected sex with new or otherwise high risk partners, it would make sense to have standard STD testing just to be safe. But from the information available so far, I'm pretty sure nothing is wrong.

I hope this information is helpful. Let me know if anything isn't clear.

HHH, MD

Thanks for your reply. What I'm describing in the second instance was in fact immediately post defecation. I have experienced similar things before but it looked different, and the cloudy urine threw me off. As I said my last encounter was about 8 weeks ago so from what I understand that would be a long time to just start developing symptoms of an STI. And no other staining, discomfort, pain, discharge. The other time earlier in the week that I had cloudy urine it was first thing in the AM, prior to defecation, but I also know the first urine in the morning can be cloudier than usual, and it didn't continue throughout the day..

Thanks.

Both your "worry wart"m comment and the overall tone of your forum questions suggests you are overly concerned about STIs. I'm not suggesting a cavalier attitude toward risk, and advise routine condom use for non-monogamous vaginal or anal sex, as well as a common sense approach to partner selection. (It's not all that hard to judge partners at higher or lower risk themselves. Avoid the higher group.) If you get typical symptoms, of course get checked promptly (see a doctor, no self testing through online labs). But the sorts of things you describe here, and as I recall in prior threads, are not typical for STDs. Without typical symptoms, consider just having routine testing (gonorrhea, chlamydia, HIV, syphilis) once a year -- and otherwise more or less forget about it. These are common sense approaches successfully followed by most sexualy active singles.