Ambierain
06-08-23, 23:32
Hi everyone. It's been about 8 years since I've had an episode of health anxiety like this, I've tried so hard to fight it off but I am finding myself really struggling. I feel as though I've done everything right with my Doctor's, but there's just something off.
12 days ago I had an anxious moment involving urine that triggered my anxiety. From that moment on I started getting the feeling I needed to pee constantly. I wrote it off as anxiety, but when I woke the next day it was still there. Called the Dr, said UTI or Urethritis. I did a urine culture but after reading about male UTIs I wanted it sorted asap. I went for a trip to A&E where they did a urinalysis with a dipstick. Dr called me through and said everything is completely normal, and if this has come back normal it's extremely unlikely that your urine culture will come back with any abnormalities. I was so excited, my theory that it was all anxiety was confirmed in my head and I walked out super happy. 2 hours later my Urine culture comes through and a message from my Dr saying my urine culture was borderline and that I have pus cells in my urine (very slight raise in RBC as well). I had to go to the sti clinic for about 5 tests, none of which will be positive as I haven't had sex in months and only had two sexual partners in 12 years!
So on the Friday I'd had enough waiting and rang the Dr back and said I need to see someone immediately about my test results. Luckily they got me in and this male doctor sat down and spoke with me. He said to me the RBC was not concerning in the least as it was such a minimal rise, and that my pus cells weren't massively raised. By the end he just said to me "you are young, fit and in the prime of your life. I am reassured there is nothing wrong with you and you need to go home and forget about this." This helped my anxiety for a bit as I tried to put my trust in him, but everything I've read and researched says that the presence of pus cells should be investigated (especially in men) as it could be injury to the kidneys and other things. My symptoms definitely got better, but it just feels like now maybe I never had a UTI or urethritis, but the presence of pus cells is indicating something that the Dr doesn't want to investigate. How can I have pus cells but nothing wrong with me? It seems absurd and I am stuck between wanting to trust him but being scared that if I do it will be a big mistake down the line.
I know it's a lot I've wrote, but does anyone have any advice? Any similar stories? I feel lost and alone on this and I can feel myself slipping. I don't want to Google anything so I figured coming here might be better.
TLDR: Male, suspected UTI/urethritis due to frequent need to urinate. Urinalysis through Dip stick showed no abnomalities but urine culture showed pus cells and very slight RBC rise. 3rd doctor I saw said he was reassured I had no infection and that I need to put this whole thing behind me now and move on. This reassurance completely got rid of my original symptoms (anxiety induced), but the presence of pus cells must surely indicate I have some kind of infection somewhere. Advice/similar stories?
Thank you all.
12 days ago I had an anxious moment involving urine that triggered my anxiety. From that moment on I started getting the feeling I needed to pee constantly. I wrote it off as anxiety, but when I woke the next day it was still there. Called the Dr, said UTI or Urethritis. I did a urine culture but after reading about male UTIs I wanted it sorted asap. I went for a trip to A&E where they did a urinalysis with a dipstick. Dr called me through and said everything is completely normal, and if this has come back normal it's extremely unlikely that your urine culture will come back with any abnormalities. I was so excited, my theory that it was all anxiety was confirmed in my head and I walked out super happy. 2 hours later my Urine culture comes through and a message from my Dr saying my urine culture was borderline and that I have pus cells in my urine (very slight raise in RBC as well). I had to go to the sti clinic for about 5 tests, none of which will be positive as I haven't had sex in months and only had two sexual partners in 12 years!
So on the Friday I'd had enough waiting and rang the Dr back and said I need to see someone immediately about my test results. Luckily they got me in and this male doctor sat down and spoke with me. He said to me the RBC was not concerning in the least as it was such a minimal rise, and that my pus cells weren't massively raised. By the end he just said to me "you are young, fit and in the prime of your life. I am reassured there is nothing wrong with you and you need to go home and forget about this." This helped my anxiety for a bit as I tried to put my trust in him, but everything I've read and researched says that the presence of pus cells should be investigated (especially in men) as it could be injury to the kidneys and other things. My symptoms definitely got better, but it just feels like now maybe I never had a UTI or urethritis, but the presence of pus cells is indicating something that the Dr doesn't want to investigate. How can I have pus cells but nothing wrong with me? It seems absurd and I am stuck between wanting to trust him but being scared that if I do it will be a big mistake down the line.
I know it's a lot I've wrote, but does anyone have any advice? Any similar stories? I feel lost and alone on this and I can feel myself slipping. I don't want to Google anything so I figured coming here might be better.
TLDR: Male, suspected UTI/urethritis due to frequent need to urinate. Urinalysis through Dip stick showed no abnomalities but urine culture showed pus cells and very slight RBC rise. 3rd doctor I saw said he was reassured I had no infection and that I need to put this whole thing behind me now and move on. This reassurance completely got rid of my original symptoms (anxiety induced), but the presence of pus cells must surely indicate I have some kind of infection somewhere. Advice/similar stories?
Thank you all.