Intermittent visible blood in urine for years, but imaging always comes back normal?
Hi everyone. I’m a 32-year-old woman and I’ve been experiencing intermittent gross hematuria for the past 4 years. It happens maybe 1 time in a year.
This recent episode lasted about 3 days. The blood appeared only at certain times of the day, not every time I urinated. Sometimes it was pink/orange urine, sometimes small bright red clots or particles.
I went to the ER, but unfortunately the urine samples I gave there didn’t contain blood at the time. Eventually I managed to collect a sample during an episode and the urinalysis showed:
RBC: 522/hpf
WBC: 378/hpf
Hemoglobin: 3+
Leukocyte esterase: 3+
Protein: 2+
Nitrite: negative
I don’t really have significant pain. Occasionally I get very mild discomfort in my kidney area, abdomen, lower back, or thighs. I also had nausea.
Another thing I noticed is that near the end of urination I sometimes feel a burning/tickling sensation in the urethra. If I strain/push a little, cloudy or sediment-like urine sometimes comes out afterward.
The ER doctor referred me to urology, but because it’s the weekend I haven’t been able to go yet.
Over the past few years I’ve already had CT scans, ultrasound, urine cultures, and other tests done by a urologist, and everything came back normal.
Doctors usually say “maybe infection” because of the leukocytes, but cultures/imaging never clearly show anything. Nitrites are also negative. I personally suspect kidney sand/small stones/crystals that maybe don’t show up on imaging, but doctors seem unsure.
Has anyone experienced something similar with recurrent visible blood in urine but normal imaging?
İm on cipro now