I see the urologist tomorrow so I’m doing all I can at this point. But 2 weeks ago I went to clinic for what felt like a UTI, with all the usual UTI symptoms. The doctor told me I have blood in my urine but no infection and this needs to be checked out. I told him this same thing happened a couple of years ago, and the urologist brushed me off and said I was probably “just one of those women who will always have blood in her urine” due to a history of kidney and bladder infections and recurrent reflux in one kidney.
Clinic doctor was very concerned and very adamant that I need to be diagnosed and told me more than once that he felt my former urologist was wrong. I made the appt with urology and am all set to go.
Meanwhile, I’m still having constant bladder pain. I’ve lost two weeks of work at my caregiving job and almost didn’t make it through delivering papers this morning. I feel like hell, I sleep or lie down almost all day long, and this morning I had trouble remembering my dog’s name.
Hematuria has several possible causes and none of them look like your typical friendly “take this course of antibiotics and all is well” type problem.
I’m the Strong One in almost all my relationships, but this girl is scared.
I have interstitial cystitis, and take Detrol. I used to get very painful UTIs and bladder infections. I still occasionally get UTIs, but they aren’t painful, like they used to be, and they aren’t as frequent.
I know you are imagining bladder or kidney cancer, but there are a lot of things thins could be that are relatively benign. I can’t believe you didn’t get an antibiotic, though. You should call the doctor, and let them know you are sleepy and confused. I’ll bet they give you an antibiotic.
Also, “occult” blood is less of a concern than visible blood. Interstitial cystitis gives me chronic occult blood in my urine. I get antibiotics for infections based mostly on symptoms, and not tests for blood or white blood cells, because those aren’t always reliable for me.
Now, if you have visible blood, you probably should go to the emergency room…
I’m sorry, I forgot. He did give me Cipro and a prescription for…the same thing you can buy OTC for bladder pain. I don’t feel any better except that the pain meds help a little, I think.
He mentioned interstitial cystitis, too, and I do think that’s a definite possibility. I don’t know anyone who has it so don’t have anyone to really consult about it. No visible blood, either, so I guess that’s good.
I am just tired from the chronic pain and burning, I think. It’s wearing me out. I’m usually busy and on the go all the time and things tend to fall apart when I slow down. Luckily the kids are old enough to help with the housework…
Was there any discussion of kidney stones?
Not really…I don’t have the type of pain that I had when I had kidney stones, although I suppose it’s possible to have them anyway. I think the clinic doctor (it was a walk-in urgent care clinic) was probably more focused on getting me to the urologist…he didn’t make any diagnosis beyond hematuria.
That sounds pretty scary - please keep us updated. Sending good thoughts your way.
Oh man. I feel for you!
Last year I had blood in my urine twice, within a couple months of each other. I felt fine otherwise, but you know, blood! My wife is a Nurse Practitioner. When I told her I had blood in my urine and asked what it could be from, she listed like eight different kinds of cancer. She’s super reassuring. So that didn’t induce panic at all.
The first time it was a lot of blood. Second time, just a little pinkness. I went to the doctor both times. After the second time, they decided to up their game. They stuck me in tubes and scanned me, took urine samples about a thousand times, shoved cameras up my junk, biopsied some stuff, and made me go to a bunch of other appointments, only to declare that they can’t find anything wrong with me. It took me months to stop thinking that I was dying horribly.
I haven’t had any blood since, but holy crap is it scary. I hope everything works out well for you.
Forgot to add…one of my friends just had some issues too. Turns out her IUD decided to go exploring inside her. She had to have it taken out.
After I said the kids are helping with housework…Weeping Princess came home from her last day of school with a broken toe and The Scientist (that’s my new name for him) is sick. I swear the villagers are going to burn our cottage or something.
Thanks for the input and good wishes. I’ll keep things updated.
Make sure they check you out for yeast/fungal infections. It seems docs typically just check for bacterial infections, and they are the most common, but you can get other sorts. My spouse went through a time period with all sorts of UTI symptoms but after several courses of antibiotics there were no bacteria in his urine and the doc just couldn’t figure it out.
Then he started peeing something that looked like borscht.
Off to the urologist, all sorts of scary thoughts - it was a fungal infection, and all those antibiotics were killing off the competition so it got really nasty. Got proper medication and it cleared up quickly, never recurred.
Just sayin’ - you can have some really scary symptoms that turn out to be a problem that is easily fixed these days.
I’m sorry for your troubles, papergirl. I’ve found that just sitting in a warm bath can relieve the back pain and the burning but if your doc has warned against baths, for whatever reason, maybe a heating pad, set on low?
Hope everything works out for you.
Thank you all. I feel better just having input and knowing someone hears me. I’m a single mom and don’t get to lean on many people. I still feel rough but not so scared now. Updates to follow…
Some cyber people are remarkable. I’ve been through some horrible times with the help of my internet community. 
I hope you get diagnosis asap because the stress of not knowing just adds to the problem.
Okay, back from urology. I like my doctor very much…he listened to the whole story and told me that he is going “all out” and is going to figure out what’s going on. I’ll be going in for a CT scan of my kidneys and bladder and also a cysto and bloodwork. If needed he will schedule more tests after that.
I did have an infection so he gave me a new antibiotic and a new painkiller. The painkiller is $115 and not covered by insurance, though, so I am going to give the antibiotic a day to see if that helps with the pain.
So…not much info but at least I feel like I’m going to figure something out.
How painful is a cysto these days? It was 25 years ago that I had one and I felt like I was peeing broken glass for two days. Not looking forward to that.
I had one a few years ago. It wasn’t fun, but it wasn’t particularly painful, and I certainly didn’t feel like I was peeing broken glass afterward. I felt a bit raw when it was over, not surprising since the urologist had to dilate my urethra (I had a stricture) to get the scope in.
Gracious. Well - that’s a start, anyway. Is there no generic available for the painkiller?
Don’t antibiotics typically take three or four days to kick in? One day isn’t enough to judge the efficacy.
Usually I feel much better within the first few doses. I’ll continue it regardless, I’ m just hoping it will alleviate the pain soon. If not zI’ll see about the expensive painkiller and by that point will probably not complain a bit.
Times of bad health are difficult of course. I’ve had real bad problems with depression the past and while not physical I can relate to the dread and worry and doubt. Sometimes the best thing to help is just to hold on until enough time passes and you are better again. Good luck.
Pain is debilitating, a total life suck. Chronic pain? My hat is off to those living with it.