Tissue and blood in urine - is this a UTI or something else?

earthmamafaeriedancer · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 3

Hi. Im hoping someone can help me out with what ive been experiencing.
About amonth ago, i woke with strong UTI feelings - urgency, pain, and pain in my lower abdomen. I also noticed blood and then i realized that i had been having pinkish urine for about a week or two prior to the onset of the UTI feelings. I started with herbals with my OMD (im a lay herbalist and dont use antibiotics or drs unless absolutely necessary) - UTIS are often easily treatable with herbs. They relieved a lot and then i noticed it still seemed to linger and would come back if i didnt flood myself with water. Waking up 2x to urinate at night and in morning dark yellow urine. I went to the doctor yesterday, as 4 weeks and a vareity of different herbals havent kicked it out yet..........in an in office dipstick test they found no bacteria, but blood........so they are doing a culture, which i havec yet to get the results back from. I noticed yesterday what looked like pieces of tissue in my urine. This is not from vagina, but absolutely from urine. They are smallish, some maybe about 1/4 inch long and slightly stringy witha bunch of small specks. They are white colored. I have been having this for a few days, but hadnt looked at urine in a clear glass to see how much this was. I did research last night and all i can find is renal necrosis. Im only having some low abdomen pain occasinoally, and increased frequencey of urine. It almost feels like my bladder wont hold a lot of urine nbefore i get the urgency feelings.
I am wondering if this is a lingering UTI or if it is something else. I have called back the dr to tell them about tissue findings and am waiting to hear back. Im thinking the tissue from renal necrosis would not be white, but cant find this info anywhere to confirm or deny this. I woudl also think i would be feeling pretty sick or at least have bad back pain........
I have no back pain, no fever - just the lingering uti stuff and blood in urine (not really visable anymore). Could this tissue also be mucus? and is mucus present with a UTI like this? As you can tell, im fairly woriried. I know i have to wait a few days for the culture to come back, but these latest findings have me unsettled.

Any thoughts or comments are very much appreciated.

Thanks much<
Peace,
Jen

hear4health · Posted: 10/28/06 - 04:32 Post subject: nephrotic syndrome

You seem very well read in the health department and have had several episodes similar (though not as distressing) like this before so i will be frank. it sounds like you have glomuerular disease, which is a generic name for any disease that affects the glomeri in the nephron parenchyma (the main cortex in the kidney). Glomeri are the tiny filters that filter the blood in your kidneys, since your dipstick didnt show any nitrogen (which is almost always found in bacterial infections) your culture probably will not show anything either. It sounds like the stringy material in your urine is actually puss, which is not a very good sign, but a positive one in the fact that the infection is passing through your urine. It sounds like you had an encapsulated abcess in your kidney which you popped with herbs (do not worry this happens with antibiotic treatment too), the stuff in your urine are the dead bacteria. YOU SHOULD SEEK MEDICAL ATTENTION: get a culture and sensitivity done, call about results usually after 72 hours. Also if you have had any blood tests recently look for an elevation in your serum creatnine (usually <7.0 d/L). Take your blood pressure a couple of times at a pharmacy or grocery store, if it is elevated above your normal (for two or more readings at different times of day), this is not a good sign.

I am 26 and have had the same symptoms and am trying to get a diagnoses on my blood pressure that went from low normal to 160/120 (which is very very high for my age) within a matter of months. When I showed up at a clinic with a blood pressure of 180/150 I was sent to a hospital where they treated a kidney infection due to an e.coli resitant to the norms that it is treated with (cipro, bactrim, gentimycin, penicillian, and doxycycline). An Ultrasound and several there after have shown my left kidney scarred and shriviled(which is supposed to be from the recurrent, undertreated, and or self treated infecitons since i was twelve). At first i was told this was End Stage Renal Disease but then would later be told that my prognosis is good, after 2+ years of HEAVY research into why?, I can only hope that i can help someone who is facing this confusing disease, in such a f***ed system.

the term from what you describe is called "necrosis" here in the states. please email me if you have any ?'s or if you need to vent about it or whatever, i really do not mean to scare you, but, i can very much relate to this anxiety. please please please ask anything.

earthmamafaeriedancer · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 3

Thank you very much for writing. I have considered this as a possibility, but as you say, working in a f**ked up system, it is hard to often get answers or anyone to take you seriously, even when you tend to be well versed in health matters. I did get the results from my culture, and it was all normal - normal level of white blood cells, no crystals, and nothing grew in the culture, but there was blood found. The diagnosis I was given is interstitial cystitis, and given my history with dealing with what i thought were UTI's (might have been or might be IC), and my history of autoimmune diseases as well as those that run in my family (my mothers side has about 7 different AI diseases), this sounds like a relevant diagnosis. Of course, I did not have the scope done, and do not intend to at this point. I was told to come in the next time i have a "flare" and feel the symptoms and to have a culture done. If, at that time, all appears normal except the presence of blood, then I will be offered the scope again. I am also looking back at other symptoms I have been having for about a year that are very likely something termed as pelvic floor dysfunction.............a catch all name, but nonetheless, other related things fall into this category.............

Interestingly, I just started on a IC diet. I keep detailed food journals and upon looking back, I noticed several foods that I began eating about 3 to 4 days prior to the onset of symptoms that i do not normally eat and i continued to eat these, some almost daily, for the entire m onth of the symptoms. I have just been diagnosed with celiacs disease, and have many food allergies, so am limited in my diet, and was going with foods iI thought to be safe for me. Upon the IC diagnosis, I started reading a lot about this and found that it is often aggitated by high acid forming foods. I was a bit surprised to see that the winter squash, honey, fish, and rice cakes I had been eating frequently, were very high acid forming. I cut these all out this past week and my symptoms have dramatically reduced. That and added Urinary tract herbs that are antiseptic, soothing, and mild diuretics. given all of this and my response to the IC diet, i do think this is likely waht it is, but also do not rule out other things.

Interesting what you mentioned adn I will look m ore into this. My BP is actuallly quite low. It is 98/70, but used to be a little bit highere, but still in the normal range. This lowered BP came after going on a gluten free diet for 2 months. M y pulse is also more steady and in a normal range now of 76. It used to always be in the 90s when i was still consuming gluten. Interesting the havoc something undiagnosed like that can do on your body.

When looking into your suggestion further, I noticed that the only symptom sometimes is blood in urine. does high BP usually follow too? How about fevers, low back pain, etc?
My thought on the tissue that I noticed was also that it is the mucus lining form the bladder, which can be common in IC folks.

im curious what you think of this.
Im also curious what your treatment has been and howo you are doing now? How long since your diagnosis, and are you better?
Did they treat with more antibiotics, etc? Were you very ill? did you notice the symptoms wax and wane or were they more constant?

Thanks soo much for writing. you are the only response i have gotten and i appreciate you taking the time.

Peace,
Jen

earthmamafaeriedancer · Newbie Joined: 18 Oct 2006 Posts: 3

I also wanted to add to this that in July I did have a CT scan and nothing was detected on my kidneys, but there was a nodule on my adrenal gland. I also have these on my thyroid, but thryoid is normal and no antibodies found anymore in blood tests. (I did, years, ago, have Hashimotos, but i used herbals, diet changes, and life changes, and it is all normal and has been for 6 years).
I am looking at the glomular disease and am not soo sure that this sounds as likely as the IC, but again, I cannot be positive, as I have not had extensive tests done. No where in the glomular disease area do I see the same UTI symptoms of urgencey, frequency, burning, as I do with the IC. Nor do I see that flare ups of these can be set off with sexual activity, as with the IC.
Im curious to ask if anyone with gloumular disease has experienced such symptoms.

Thanks,
Jen

Guest · Guest

I just finished treating myself for a UTI which I believe moved up to my Kidneys because of the back pain I had. I began to notice tissue in my urine. I thought maybe I had Kidney Stones because I was passing tissue; small clumps of it and bigger clumps along with blood. Renal papillary necrosis is what I think it might be but I am still not sure. I have been treating my UTI with herbs but now that I have seen blood and tissue I am concerned. I am following a vegan diet right now. Right before I got the UTI I was following a strict low carb diet-spare the lecture right now because I realize how stupid it was to do it in the first place. After two weeks on this diet I broke down and had some of my kids Halloween candy. I have five children and I splurged that day. That night symptoms of a UTI began. I think I am going to have to find a local Dr. here to run some test. If you have anything to add or any information at all about the Renal papillary necrosis please post.

Loquacious · Newbie Joined: 26 Mar 2007 Posts: 1

Hi - I've got the same symptoms but with back pain. What was your diagnosis?

tklearman · Newbie Joined: 05 Feb 2008 Posts: 1

Tissue and blood in urine - is this a UTI or something else?

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