Diagnosed kidney infection but HA saying ovarian/bladder cancer

[silver_shoes]

My HA is terrible at the moment as I am currently unwell and don't know what to do with myself :(


On Tuesday eve last week I was diagnosed with a UTI at the urgent care centre. I'd been feeling generally off-colour and extremely tired for around 10 days in the lead up to this, and then eventually came the classic UTI symptoms of needing to wee more frequently, pain when weeing, and some lower back pain, an uncomfortable feeling in my pelvic area, as well as feeling nauseous, but no actual vomiting. (Before anyone wonders, no, I'm definitely not pregnant!)


The doctor who I saw at urgent care did a urine dipstick test which came back positive, and he prescribed me a course of Nitrofurantoin, to be taken twice a day for a week. He told me that I should commence the antibiotics that night, but to take another urine sample in to my own GP surgery that following morning so that it could be sent off to the lab for bacterial analysis to see if I was on the appropriate antibiotics. I did this, and then phoned the surgery a few days later and was told that the sample had come back as "negative and no further action needed". I thought well it's still early days I need to give the tablets chance to work but thought it was a little odd that the lab sample was negative but I was still symptomatic!

However as the week progressed I began to feel more unwell and noticed that the pain was spreading further up my left hand side and I was feeling like I might have a slight fever too, this led to me going back to the urgent care centre on Saturday afternoon (eg a few days ago) and they did another urine dipstick which they said had yet again tested positive, this time they specified that it had tested positive for blood in the sample (not visible to me). They told me that it had now progressed to an infection in my kidneys :( and that I was to stop the Nitrofurantoin and changed me to Keflex (Cefalexin) but if I got any worse then I would have to go to hospital, part of the reason for this is that I am allergic to all Penicillin-based antibiotics and so their options for any other oral antibiotics were slightly limited, and it might be that the hospital would treat me with IV antibiotics.


I went home and tried to relax but felt myself deteriorating further so late on Saturday night my husband and I went to A&E, we were there all night, my observations were all fine, however I do think I've had a low-grade fever on and off. They did blood tests and said that my white cell count was slightly raised, which it would be if I had an infection, but fortunately all the other bloods -including kidney function - came back normal. The A&E doctor said that the diagnosis of a kidney infection was right, however that I may also have a kidney stone which is trying to pass down my urinary system hence the flank/side pain and the presence of microscopic blood in my urine. However they obviously couldn't say for definite whether a stone is present, but there's definitely an infection there.. Personally -although I'm no doctor - I have my doubts about the presence of a stone because I have been told that the pain they cause is supposed to be excruciating, and I cannot describe my pain as excruciating - it's annoying and achey but not THAT bad... what has been more worrying to me is how unwell I have felt in myself, the overwhelming tiredness, which the A&E doc said I would get with the infection esepcially as I've probably had it for a while before seeking treatment, and the need to urinate very frequently -though I am increasing my water intake to try and flush it through, on the doctors advice. Before the bloods came back, the A&E doc had said that if they came back showing a decrease in my kidney function then they might have kept me in hospital and carried out a scan to check for the definite presence of a stone/s, however the fact that my bloods were normal apart from the white cell count, and my other obs were fine, meant that she didn't feel I need to be kept in.


Problem is now my HA is through the roof. I've been on the new antibiotics since Saturday night so i've now had 2 full days of them, I have still got a way to go on them, I will finish them this weekend, and I'm not feeling quite as unwell as I was, but oh my goodness the amount I am weeing is crazy, I guess its the tablets starting to do their job and my body is trying to flush through the infection. I've been seeing bits of white stuff floating in my wee which has really worried me and I am annoyed with myself as that has been happening on and off for a few weeks and I totally forgot to mention it when I was in A&e so I am thinking OMG what if that was a crucial symptoms of some awful illness and they have missed it? Everything I am reading about kidney infections does fit the picture of how I am feeling, the extreme tiredness, the nausea (though thankfully the nausea hasn't been as bad today), the NHS site says that kidney infections can leave you feeling wiped out for a few weeks. I have also read that the bits of white tissue like substance floating in wee is not anything too awful, actually my mum told me she has had that in the past too.




But the thought of the microscopic blood is terrifying me... it's linked to both bladder and kidney cancer. I'm thinking I could have either of those, and the overwhelming tiredness isn't helping as that can be a cancer symptom too. But surely its reassuring that most of my bloods came back normal. I am just so scared. My HA stems from a background of having been misdiagnosed by doctors for other things in the past (years ago I was told I had a viral illness when my gallbladder was packing up and a few years back I was told I had a viral illness when in fact I ended up needing to see an ENT surgeon and having treatment for something unrelated), so I have a really hard time in trusting doctors, I really do :(

Realistically... the tiredness could be my body fighting the infection, especially as it wasn't immediately that I got treated for it, so it's really having to fight it off. The blood in my urine is likely the UTI that progressed to the infection... and it's great that my kidney function came back normal BUT... what if they have missed something?? what if they should have kept me in hospital and carried out a scan, because they might have seen bladder or maybe even ovarian cancer? that is something Ihave read causes similar symptoms and the tiredness... help... Idont know what to do xxx

[Andromeda]

I can't offer much reassurance as I'm currently going through exactly the same thing, but I completely relate to your fears.

This infection has completely wiped me out too. Which doesn't help with the anxiety!

I think the last paragraph you've written trying to rationalise everything is the most important. You know why you're feeling this way and getting certain symptoms. So trust that if it was anything untoward, it would have shown in the tests you've had done.

Hope you feel better soon xx

[swajj]

What explanation were you given after the second sample came back negative? The one that was sent for urinalysis. That by the way would have included a culture to determine what bacteria was present. Did A & E do a urinalysis and a culture?

[silver_shoes]

Agh. I made the mistake of googling further about extreme tiredness and raised WBC and now I think I have lymphoma/leukaemia......

[Fishmanpa]

You have a diagnosed kidney infection (.) PERIOD! End of subject. Finito! Take your meds, OTC pain relief if needed, drink plenty of fluids and rest. You'll feel better in a few days :)

Positive thoughts

[Bigboyuk]

Hi silver_shoes Ok are you still on your antibiotics? (Complete the course Iam sure you knew that!) Now respectfully what are you doing to treat your HA? Cause when one worry is sorted out another one will fill it's gap and so on, It's no use having a go at other members who are trying to help you. Often HA threads can get a bit out of hand if swajj was being rude or disrespectful I am pretty sure Admin/ Or a mod would have pointed this out in the thread. ATB

[julieta79]

For everyone who is reading this, I would like to help.


At least 10% of all women show Microscopic blood in urine. It is not risk factor for ovarian or bladder cancer.


I spent 4 months in panic about this. I had raised White blood in urine, and microscopic blood in urine.
I was really worried of bladder cancer, but after long array of tests, I started to worry about ovarian cancer. I met the best experts in the country for both.
1. Women under 50 non smokers with microscopic blood in urine have 0% chance of bladder or kidney cancer
2. Ovarian cancer does not cause urine changes, and it is usually an abrupt onset of 2-3 weeks of bloating, and stomach growing like pregnant and very hard.
3. Blood in urine is usually from small kindey stone trying to pass (16% of populaiton has that), kidney or UTi infections, or urethral syndrome (irritation of bladder that goes away in few months)







Here is interview with prominent doctor:


How did you develop the Hematuria Risk Index (HRI)?

Dr. Loo: The HRI is a simple translation of the multivariable model developed for common factors we evaluated in patients who were referred to urology and underwent full evaluation for AMH.
The two factors with the highest odds ratios (age 50 or older and history of gross hematuria) were assigned four points each, and the remaining three factors (male gender, smoking history, and degree of microhematuria [more than 25 RBCs/HPF]) were each assigned one point.
We used two independent groups of patients from different urologists and geographic regions to test the model. Natural breaks in the scores were identified, which broke the cohort into three risk groups: low risk (0–0.3%), moderate risk (1.1–2.5%), and high risk (10.71–1.6%).


Have you made any adjustments to the HRI since the February 2013 publication of your study?

Dr. Loo: The Hematuria Risk Index serves an illustrative purpose in depicting relative risk of common clinical parameters in patients with AMH. It needs to be validated further and likely may be further refined. Our data collection is ongoing and we hope to report additional findings in the coming year.
We [at Kaiser Permanente] have, however, revised our own clinical recommendations to reduce radiation exposure to our low-risk patients with AMH. And patients with almost no risk of any urinary malignancy (asymptomatic nonsmoking women younger than age 50) are spared workup altogether. For any other patient with AMH who is age 35 or older, we recommend cytoscopy and renal ultrasound. Patients with gross hematuria are recommended cytoscopy and CT scan.