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

[lockost]

For nearly two weeks, I've had weird (what seemed like) UTI symptoms. I've never had a UTI before (early 20s).
This week these symptoms have gotten worse. UTI tests (all 3) have come back clear, 'just a few white blood cells, no infection'.

I feel like I need a wee 24/7. Pain in my abdomen. Pain in my back.
When I do go for a wee, it's usually a weak stream and not a lot.
I keep getting shooting pains in my urethra.
Feeling nauseous.
Feeling like I'm leaking urine when I'm walking.
(No pain when I'm actually weeing).

Getting the doctors to help with the 'all clear' tests is difficult. I've tried painkillers (don't make a difference), cystopurin, a thrush tablet (as advised by pharmacist).

I've got horrendous health anxiety so I've had panic attacks about this and that makes me worried that I could be psychologically making these symptoms worse by fixating on them.

Can anyone help if they have similar experience? I'm spending so much time crying because I just desperately want to feel normal again!

Hopeful bump

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

Could this be relevant?

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.

I did see the sites about IC.
I think I was being hopeful that it isn't that as it seems to be a permanent, life-long condition and this is the first urinary symptom I've ever had and the idea of it being lifelong after a week of symptoms terrified me!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

@Icannoteven a nurse originally. Then a doctor who said they were clear, that 'a few white blood cells' were not an indication of infection and that if I've had symptoms for 2 weeks without getting a temperature then it can't be an infection (as it would have spread to kidneys by now)

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

@autumn1610 I did about 6 months ago!

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

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.

A friend of mine is a retired nurse. She is incredible at helping with medical issues. I was having problems with urinary infections and she advised me to take these.

Obviously, not sure if they'll help you in the same way, but I always follow her advice and she's consistently right.

It has to be this actual product.

You could try bicarb and water - look it up online, and put a hot water bottle in the area

Hope you feel better soon. It's an awful pain.

I was feeling so poorly for months, tired, weak, headaches and lightheaded. No temperature and no other symptoms to suggest a UTI. GP kept saying it was viral and after 3 months I finally got them to do a blood test. This showed very high infection markers. I was asked to attend for a breast examination and a chest xray, off my own back I took a urine sample in with me. The nurse dipped the sample and it was clear, no infection but I asked her to send it off to the lab anyway. 4 days later i get a call "no wonder you've been feeling so poorly, you've got a nasty UTI! 4 months later and 4 courses of antibiotics I have finally got rid of the infection that "wasn't there"! Keep pushing for treatment for a UTI and or lab culture test!

As someone said upthread, I'd go to a pharmacist and get antibiotics for cystitis - you just have to describe your symptoms and if you have already had a course of the cystopurin, they will prob be OK to give you them. Good luck and try not to worry.

@abouttoturn50 I should've been clearer, they've both dipstick and lab culture tests for UTI and both show just 'a few white blood cells'. Nothing grown in the lab culture!

@lockost oh I see. 🙈I'm pretty sure NHS guidelines say that a woman should be treated with antibiotics for a UTI based on symptoms regardless of test results. As others have said, get yourself some antibiotics via the pharmacy. Boots do an online pharmacy consultation and can prescribe via that. Hope you get sorted soon, I know all to well how things like this fuel health anxiety 😟

Interstitial cystitis is rubbish- it doesn’t exist. You have a UTI, the tests are useless. Diagnosis is on symptoms. If you have UTI symptoms, you have a UTI and need antibiotics until the symptoms are gone.

It was recommended to me to take a supplement called D Mannose (which is the sugar found in cranberries) to prevent reoccurrence of UTIs. There's a lot of info online of how it works etc and it is actually recommended by urologists

amzn.eu/d/29nHm5N

@abouttoturn50 to use every day?

My DM had this. Have you had a full blood count OP? Any other readings?

@RickyGervaislovesdogs no bloods done yet, it hasn't been offered!

OP the antibiotic nitrafurantoin won’t hurt you. It’s so mild it’s available over the counter without a prescription. Worst case scenario it’s not a UTI and it won’t help. It’s worth a try.

But what you’re describing does sound like thrush rather than UTI. When you have a UTI it hurts a LOT more when you wee. The pain is right up in the bladder. Thats not what you’re describing. You’re saying the pain is more external, around the urethra. Thrush can make you feel pain like you need to wee. It doesn’t always have a discharge. It doesn’t always show up on a swab. It doesn’t always respond to your first attempt to medicate it.

You clearly have SOMETHING so it’s just a case of trying different meds until something works. Try thrush cream and put it directly on the opening of the urethra. Try the pessary that you put inside. Try the Balance Activ gel.