I am a 43yr old British White Male in generally good health. There is no family history of any specific cancers.
It started 6 weeks ago when all of a sudden i needed to pee a lot, i visited my GP who took a sample and did a dip stick test both negative). A week later with the symptoms not getting any better i returned to my gp who carried out another urine sample and this time traces of blood appeared (not visible). They sent another sample off to get tested and again came back negative, they also gave me medication for a suspected uti (nothing changed). In the meantime i visited my sexual health clinic where again found no infection (blood still in urine - not visible).
I am starting to worry that its more sinister and would like some advice from an expert.I have now been booked in for a Cystoscopy on Monday. What would you thoughts be and am i worrying more than i should be?
Hey dear. I just went through the same symptoms so I thought I should share. Overactive bladder and microscopic blood. I worried and stress for 3 weeks as I went through urinalysis blood test cystoscopy and CT scan. Did tons of research which most said it was very unlikely to get urological cancer due to microscopic hematuria. With all this said and done it all testing came back normal of course I still have non visible blood. Urologist said it's fine. Hope this helps u somewhat.
Thank you. Its eased my fears a little. Also i know with my age that something sinister is unlikely. However its the not knowing that makes things worse!! Thanks again for your reply.
You will be fine. I felt the same. Keep us posted.
I have done my own research thru the internet and feel that the testing for UTIs is supposed to be very unreliable so if I were you I would ask for a more in depth test at the Doctor's, and if you have no joy there look at CUTIC and Prof Malone-Lees research, and definitely ask your GP to send you to a urologist for second opinions. Hope this helps. It's all in the testing as far as I can see.
Went through exactly the same thing. Microscopic blood in urine. Worried myself ill for 3 weeks!!!
After ultrasound, intravenous urogram and cystoscope - all tests came back NORMAL. I still have microscopic blood in urine and may never find the cause.
Hope this can ease your worry.
Thanks for your reply.
Its reassuring to hear other members have been through the same thing i am.
I am very anxious but have been told by my GP that its probably nothing serious, I have also contacted online consultants who again have said it needs investigating but the chance of it being something serious is very minimal. One consultant mentioned the symptoms do not even warrant a thought of it being cancer (visible blood, pain and weight loss is the symptoms you generally will have). My age is also a factor. Do you mind me asking how old you are?
Did the consultant say what the probable cause was for the symptoms or is it quite common to have these without a diagnosis?
Thanks again
I am 44. I still didn't get a cause but I have been told that some people get it, live with it and sometimes goes away. In my case I had an infection prior to having blood in my urine. However the infection was cured from antibiotics months ago and I still had blood. At this point I will just keep checking every once in a while to see if it goes away. I will say that the amount of blood seen as decreases since my last urinalysis. It's kind of confusing because I never really got a cause but I am not bothered too much since its nothing serious. Not sure if I helped.
I am 46 and still in the process of trying to find out with my GP.
I have done a lot of research and something that has been mentioned to me is "nutcracker syndrome". You get microscopic blood in urine and left and right sided flank pain (which I have). "he nutcracker syndrome results from compression of the left renal vein between the aorta and the superior mesenteric artery". It is not very well known disease in the UK so unsure if I will ever get to the bottom of it.
Do you have dates for your tests yet? What did your GP say they were requesting?
Hi
I also had a uti last August, blood in urine and treated with antibiotics (symptoms went and never went back until they returned in March) obv no infection found this time.
The cystoscopy will be my first procedure (apart from urine tests) on Monday. I don't understand why they don't go straight to the ct scan or ultrasound which would pick up the same ..... unless I'm wrong with that!?
I think the tests you get vary from where you live. I live in the North East and my GP put me through a 2 week cancer screening for kidney and bladder (hence the EXTREME anxiety) and I first had ultrasound and intravenous urogram on 5 April (no results given on the day) and cystoscope on 9 April where Consultant discussed all the results.
Thankfully everything was ok and I was discharged.
When further researched into it most bladder cancers are where people are actually peeing blood you can see and blood clots.
Please try not to worry (easier said than done I know) and let me know how you get on. The cystoscope is very quick and you do get the results straight away.
Hi
Mine is also a 2 week urgent referral (apparently because I've had numerous samples taken over a 6wk period I fall into that category).
Yes I've been told bladder cancer comes with sinister symptoms. Unfortunately we all think worst case scenario.
I'm glad I will receive my results on Monday, it's funny how you had the ultrasound first and cystoscopy second. Looks like mine we be the other way round.
Thanks for your input
I guess the bottom line is the chances of anything sinister is very minimal.
I get so involved in research I've actually worked out that i have 54'054-1 chance of developing bladder cancer at my age. I base this on 37 males between the age of 40-44 were diagnosed in 2015, approx 2m males in that age group. On a serious point this is how rare this cancer is in 'our' age group. Even less chance if you're a female.
Jpell you sound like me a few weeks ago. I was looking at this diagram that showed the age and chances of getting cancer from microscopic hematuria and it was like .35 percent chance between the ages of 40 and 44. I of course always think the worst thought I was in that bracket. To say the least I'm sure you are fine. Most cases they say are those who show visible blood.
It's funny how irrational we are. With no pain, weight loss, family history and a non smoker decreases that percentage even more. Some days you have to trust what the medical experts tell you!!
Was that .35% for bladder cancer or did that cover all urological cancers? Just interseted in stats 😉
It’s crazy what we put ourselves through isn’t it Maria 🙄. If only we had listened to others, we would have not made ourselves so ill.
I will always try and reassure others going through finding microscopic blood in urine through routine urine test.
McMillan Cancer Research (I was also on so many forums/research) actually sent me a link to listen to where a Urologist was interviewed and he said that a lot of their cases are now coming from GPs doing routine urine tests. The urologist said in 99% of these cases nothing is ever found!!
It covered all urogical cancer and with all the other factors as you mentioned still put me in fear and anxiety. It was just a crazy experience but a lot was learned from it.
Yes sharon if only we listened. I also did online chatting with urologist. There was nothing I didn't do when it came to finding about cancer. I even thought they might have found another type of cancer with CT scan. So researched all the cancers of the abdominal area. I drove myself crazy day and night. So yes now I am going to try to reassure others that it is unlikely the case. I hope u get that pelvic pain taken care of. I cant imagine how frustrating it is to keep having it and not getting a diagnosis. I just contacted my GP about something I noticed on my blood test. It appears that I may be anemic. Here's my next issue.