I Found Blood In My Urine, What Should I Do?

22nd, Feb 2022

Finding blood in your urine can be an unnerving experience. But what should you do if this is the case? Dr Roger Brown, Lead Private GP at Kingsbridge North West tells us exactly what you should do, and how the problems that cause the bleeding are actually an early sign of something more which is why it is so important to present any issues to your doctor, big or small. Find out more below.

What do I do if I pass blood in my urine?

It is never normal to pass blood in the urine. This is a warning sign of something being wrong. It can have it’s origin in the bladder, the kidneys, the prostate (in men clearly, but rare, thankfully) or even the external genitalia (your private parts)

It may be a sign of something sinister, but it is usually not caused by cancer. Cancer is a possibility so please don’t ignore this sign if it presents.

Any blood in the urine, (even a little blood), can go a long way and look bad. Thankfully the problems that cause bleeding show up early so it is always an early sign. That is why it is really important to present to your doctor if this happens. Early treatment of anything is always better.

The blood can be produced by:

• an infection
• by inflammation
• by a stone in the renal (kidney) tract
• by warts, polyps or ulcers in the bladder
• cancer

Infections and inflammation and kidney stones all cause pain, so it is a reasonable conclusion to suggest that painless bleeding into the water would be more worrying and be more likely to have a sinister origin.

The pain that you may have, associated with blood in the water, can be:

• in the loin
• the lower abdomen/pelvis
• discomfort of various kinds when passing urine (burning, stinging or tingling)

So, if you have noticed that you have passed ANY blood in the urine (and are not a woman who is menstruating), please arrange to see your doctor (and be prepared to have a urine sample analysed).

Your doctor should take a careful history, examine you and arrange  for your urine to be analysed. If there is evidence of blood and no signs of infection, some more tests may be indicated.

Usually the next test will be an Ultrasound examination which is painless and non-invasive and 85% accurate in diagnosing bladder cancer and at least 85% accurate in diagnosing kidney cancers.

Some people will require an examination of the bladder with a camera (a Cystoscopy) and others still may require more detailed scans. The good news is that bladder and kidney cancers do present early.

So, if this is the reason for the blood, something can be done, whatever the cause of the bleeding

Please don’t ignore the warnings.

If you have found blood in your urine, or you are worried about any issue at all, please do not hesitate to get in touch! To book a Private GP appointment with Dr Roger Brown, please call 028 7772 3502

© Roger Brown Feb 2022