Specifically, what could cause blood in urine (not visibly bloody, but detected on urinalysis) and no other symptoms (that I know of)
I’m pretty confidant that the list is very long so here is my attempt to corral it a bit.
No physical injury to the genitals
No abdominal pains or other symptoms
Health generally good, no lingering illness or other symptoms like a cough or the like
No unusual aches or pains anywhere else in the body
Basically a generally clean bill of health.
One other indicator is tattoos are present, from an artist and shop that was (at the time) trusted to be clean and sanitary at the time 10-12 years ago (instruments autoclaved, items that could be disposable one time use items were handled and used as such etc.)
A follow up with the family doc is in the plans (just found this out this late afternoon at my DOT physical) to find out, but would like some idea of possible things to expect but again, not looking for specific diagnosis just general info
I assume this is you, right?
My first guess would be a stone somewhere in your UT or some kind of UTI that just hasn’t given you any symptoms yet. But both of those can go from ‘I feel fine’ to ‘I’m in so much pain I can’t drive’ in a matter of minutes, so be on the lookout.
Those are just the quick things that I’ve, personally, dealt with. But if you google ‘blood in urine without pain’ you should be able to come up with some other ideas (mostly less pleasant).
Sometimes it’s nothing. About five years ago, a routine urinalysis showed blood in my urine. My PCP sent me to a urologist, who did more testing. Those tests showed no blood in the urine. But even if they had, the urologist said that sometimes people have blood in their urine for no particular reason, and that it may be hereditary. She said it’s worth monitoring, but not necessarily a cause for concern.
But anyway, in your case, it could be from a urinary tact infection or a kidney infection.
Were red blood cells seen on microscopic urine examination? Or was the urine positive for ‘hemoglobin’ on a chemical dipstick test? If the latter, it may not be blood, but myglobin, which comes from muscle tissue that’s inflamed. Different issues arise if that’s the case.
What were the rest of the urine results? Nitrite +? How about Leukocytes, were they present? Casts seen? Epithelial cells?
Too many possibilities for reasonable speculation on my part.
it was a matter of a few minutes from pee in a cup to the nurse sticking her head in the door and mentioning it to the doctor, so Im gonna say it was a dipstrip test and nothing as definitive as microscopic examination. Like I said, I’m not looking for definitive, just some possibilities that are better than cancer (which is the possibility the doc mentioned). I would love it if it was something caused say by drinking too much coffee for extended periods or not enough plain water or something like that that is easily and safely remedied with a simple change of behavior (say get more and better sleep, drink less coffee and more plain water for instance). Cancer really freaks me out, for some reason more than high blood pressure and hypertension (runs in the family where cancer does not) all she said was blood in the urine, nothing more. And again, I am going to see my doc for a follow up on this.
If you really want to get a better feel before your follow up (or worry yourself more), you could call the office and ask them to send/email/fax your results to you. I’ve requested copies of my records and no one has so much as batted an eye. They just say ‘sure, do you have a fax number or do you want me to mail them?’. (Slightly different scenario, but still, I’m sure you can call and ask).
Also, if the office uses MyChart (or a similar system) you can set up an account and view them online.
Please chill. The majority of reasons are completely harmless and can include such things as the test strips being too old and harmless kidney cysts. See your doctor and get a better check that is more than just a dipstick before you panic.
I worked as a Lab Tech for awhile and agree with what **Qadgop **(a physician, btw) is getting at, fully. IME, it was fairly common for folks who exercised at a more-than-‘casual’ extent to show hematuria on the dipstick but not seen under the micro. Just one possibility to think of, fwiw.
Fwiw, when I entered US Army waaaaay back when, the recruiter told me to not exercise/do vigorous stuff for around two days before my entry-physical due to this exact thing. I ran each day 5-10 miles (give or take) and he said it was his experience that I would show ‘positive hematuria’ though from entirely normal reasons. He did not want me to undergo further tests if they were preventable, in essence.
Another thing is having a very mild/undetectable level of urinary tract infection - no big deal, easily fixed usually) but can show hematuria. Without the microscope, you can’t tell if there are bacteria or whatever else would help point to cause.
For now, just relax - most Docs take hematuria (by itself on a low-level screening dipstick) as more than a low possibility of serious stuff than a valid probability of bad things, by far, IME. Its possible to have hematuria just from sleeping on a hard surface, say when camping or whatever. I saw a lot of non-issue hematuria when one clinic I worked at did physicals each week for many Bosnian refugees within days of their arrival in the States. They all got the full UA, dipstick and micro. The majority of them had positive hematuria, but from their plight/flight (sleeping on floors and such), not physiological reasons, per se.
It ain’t unusual, I promise. Here’s a Google-link to exercise-induced hematuria that might be of interest for you, OP.
Happened to me. My doc wanted me to have a scope to check it out but since I am prone to kidney stones I let it ride. About a month later I was in agony with a stone.
As others have said, it’s most likely to be due to exercise, or a sub-clinical UTI. Could also be from a kidney infection – again sub-clinical, because in my experience, you have one, you know. I’ve read that other viruses can also cause blood in urine.
Don’t freak out and assume it’s cancer; that’s way down on the list of issues.
If you haven’t had sex in quite a while and were trying to make up for lost time (so to speak), you may have over done it and this could produce blood.
Im not freaking out about cancer, cancer just freaks me out. (did that even makes sense outside my own head?)
I did not know that strenuous activity could cause a positive on a dipstrip test, and considering my job, mover, this is a quite likely cause, hm kidney stones, could be, I guess, hmm the mychart or getting my own copy of the records, actually, they gave me a copy of all the results (have to look at them and see if the blood/urine is mentioned) if not, eh, I always get a copy of everything when I go to my personal doc for my own records anyway (amazing sometimes how nice it is to have your own medical records on hand)
I’ve never heard of exercise causing blood in the urine, but it’s not too hard to believe considering that excessive exercise can cause some between-period bleeding (“spotting”) in women.
I ran into the exactly the same thing as the OP about 8-10 months ago. In my case, I had performed some heavy outdoor activities (digging dirt) and started haveing very dark urine, followed by high fever. I went to the doctor and they did some tests and said the dark urine was due to blood. I ended up going to an urologist who wanted to look in my bladder (yep, there is only one way to get a camera up there) and after a very agonizing procedure, he said everything looked fine and I was OK. I mentioned my fever was somewhat concerning (> 103F in a 50 YO male) and the best explanation I got was I probably had a UI infection (cured by CIPRO) that was just coincidental with the exercise that resulted in the blood in urine result.
To set the OP at ease, none of the tests (and there were many) revealed in any cancer. I was told that this was the first thing suspected so that it could be the first thing eliminated (no pun intended).
This I know from 3 or 4 nights here and there, inadvertently spent heaving over the toilet while trying to get sips of water to stay down because I allowed myself to get too dehydrated.
INAD means I’m not a doctor. Q: Why aren’t you seeing one?
Seriously: Make The Appointment and GO! Or save time & go to one of those “open 24 hour” centers.
We are not licensed to practice medicine, we won’t practice medicine & you shouldn’t be shopping for medical advice on the internet. Go…!