I'm terrified of these urinary issues I'm having - what could this be?!

You could have a UTI. Tests are not reliable. Treatment is available based on symptoms even if you test negative. Go to your pharmacist, they can give you a 3 day course of nitrafurantoin without prescription.

You could have thrush. Thrush can irritate the vagina and make it painful to wee. It can be very stubborn. In the past I’ve had thrush that didn’t respond to the pill you swallow and I needed the pessary that you insert. I’ve also had thrush that needed an oral pill, two pessaries and a tube of cream to get rid of it. Sometimes one brand of thrush medication doesn’t work but another does. In the past I’ve taken Canesten and it’s failed to work, then I took an unbranded one and it worked.

You could have bacterial vaginosis. The treatment that works for me is the Balance Activ gel that you squirt in for 7 nights.

If you’ve had sex you could have a STD. Get tested.

What you’re describing sounds more like thrush. When you have a UTI the pain is up inside the bladder and it hurts more when you have a wee. You said there’s no pain when you’re weeing so it doesn’t sound like a UTI. It sounds like thrush which is irritating the urethra and causing constant pain and a painful feeling of needing a wee.

I had similar a while ago. No discharge, just burning and severe pain that made me feel like I needed a wee. I tested negative for everything. I hit it with a quadruple whammy of antibiotics, oral thrush pill, pessary and Balance Activ gel. One of them worked.

You can order meds online yourself if your GP isn't being helpful: https://www.healthexpress.co.uk/cystitis

Rubbish. I've had 50+ UTIs and never had a temperature.

i don’t know how to put it politely but have you had an sti test? Chlamydia has some similar symptoms

I had very similar symptoms and it turned out to be histamine intolerence. I cut down on high histamine foods and the symptoms completely stopped. I had been eating lots of fermented foods which seemed to be the primary cause.

Please don't scare yourself reading horror stories about interstitial cystitus. You have a simple UTI and it needs treating with antibiotics. I believe you can get them from pharmacies now.

Lots of urinary tract infections present with leukocytes (e.g ‘just a few white blood cells’) and not leukocytes plus nitrates. This Can happen even when it is a nitrate producing bacteria causing the UTI as it takes a number of hours for bacteria to produce nitrates. Also, dipstick tests are not very accurate (and some medical staff just aren’t very good at doing dipsticks). It probably is a UTI.

Did you speak to a proper Dr, not just a nurse?

I had trouble with kidney and urethra pain for 2 years. I was blocked from seeing a Dr by the practice nurse who consistently told me ‘it can’t be a UTI because it’s only white blood cells’ 🙄 It took seeing an actual Dr, who agreed to send the sample off to the lab, to get a diagnosis. I actually not only had an ecoli infection in my kidney but it had caused damage!

It will be a UTI. The testing they use is only 50% accurate. This was told to me by a gynae urologist after I had UTI symptoms for months and the GP kept fobbing me off. After 2 weeks of antibiotics the pain and symptoms I'd had for 6 months disappeared.

He wrote a letter to my GP saying that if I presented with UTI symptoms I should be treated for a UTI. Unfortunately a lot of GPs don't seem to be aware of how inaccurate the tests are.

I would go back to your GP and insist on being treated for a UTI.

Interstitial cystitis has similar symptoms as UTI but without infection so tests cooke back clear. I had this and kept getting usual test from male doctor who didn't even consider it.

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/interstitial-cystitis/

Could this be relevant?