To think the nurse is wrong and it’s not a normal urine sample?!

[Gggapp]

Nurse did a dipstick into a urine sample while at the GP surgery. She said it showed white blood cells so would be sent off for testing.

She said this is probably normal?! Surely white blood cells equal infection?

Do you have any symptoms, why did you need a urine test done?

Because half the time they don't know what they are doing!

The presence of nitrites is far more indicative of a UTI than white blood cells

Just crazy to want to take antibiotics 'just in case'. Not only because of antibiotic resistance, which is a huge problem, but also because they wipe out your gut biome which takes about 6 months to recover.

Just came on to say what @Whoahnelly said!

Which half?

The urethra is just above the vagina entrance and it's very easy for a urine sample to pick up the normal vaginal organisms when a woman pees

Try the Boots online form. I have a feeling you don't have to give GP details, but can't do that more than once.

A pharmacy won’t hand out antibiotics to someone with no symptoms. Do you actually have symptoms ? What are you finding so stressful about all of this.

OP must have symptoms or they wouldn’t be seeing a nurse.

This.
Don’t get antibiotics prescribed ‘just in case’.

Curious that OP won’t say whether she actually has symptoms, and if so what they are…

Really. There are a lot of people who seek health interventions without proper symptoms.

As a long term chronic UTIer I will pass on what my consultant said - this consultant btw was considered the most knowledgeable voice about UTIs - it's all he did.

He said if you have UTI symptoms you have a UTI.

Dipsticks are inaccurate

Standard NHS MSU lab tests are inaccurate - he's correct the research says they miss 75% of UTIs.

The only way of accurately assessing for infection is looking at a fresh sample under a microscope.

White cells in urine can indeed be normal, with a microscope sample you can accurately count numbers which gives a better indication of whether there is an infection or contamination.

a usual 3 day course of antibiotics is not long enough and can cause more long term problems than it solves

If you get persistent UTIs it's very likely it's the same UTI which has never been fully treated.

He firmly believed that antibiotic resistance was not as much of an issue as what the average gp/nurse will have you believe and people have believed a lie based on nhs budgets

He was an NHS consultant/professor btw and I do think he really knew his stuff.

The only thing (as a healthcare professional) I don’t agree with here is that antibiotic resistance absolutely is a big problem.

You would be surprised why people ask to get tested.

THIS!

i have been gaslight by countless medical professionals telling me I don’t have a uti as the culture came back clear. Despite having symptoms and white blood cells in my urine. Cultures and dipsticks are not always accurate .

if it looks like a duck , quacks like a duck etc - it’s a duck .

you are NOT unhinged as another poster has suggested - you are taking care of your health and questioning things that don’t add up.

medics sadly do tend to disregard / playdown women’s health issues - and it’s important to advocate for yourself .

utis can be very serious - it sounds like it’s not that bad yet - but they can quickly escalate so I would seek a second opinion if your are still concerned .

Not necessarily, the op hasn’t said why she was at the appointment. Sometimes a nurse will do a urinalysis as a standard screening. We used to do them on everyone attending the hospital I worked at even people attending for procedures who weren’t ill.

I wouldn’t really call a nurse sending a sample off to the lab for testing being “gaslit” The op hasn’t even said what her symptoms are.

I also believe antibiotic resistance is a problem. As a child in the 50s antibiotics worked like magic but now people seem to frequently need more than one course or a course of one type not working and having to try a second.

I know memories can change over 70 years but I do think there is a difference.

If someone has urinary symptoms and the culture shows 'casts, no growth' (ie 'skin' of the bacteria are present but nothing grew) it can be a sign of tuberculosis. By which I mean, I agreed persisting symptoms need investigation, but the cause may not be straightforward so going straight to the antibiotic route without fully investigating the cause, including a very comprehensive history (including symptom diaries) can lead to mistreatment and a waste of antibiotics, potentially leading to antibiotic resistance.
In my example: tuberculosis needs a very different course of antibiotics than standard UTI treatments. This is why effective diagnosis is crucial.

Exactly. They don’t hand them out like smarties. I get UTI’ s where my only symptom is lower back pain, I tried the pharmacist but they just said go to your GP.
What are your symptoms Op? If you don’t have any or they are very minor I don’t see the problem, don’t you just carry on ? Depends why you were dipped in the first place?

-white Cells don’t always mean infection.
-vaginal discharge contains white cells as normal so it doesn’t mean a vaginal infection either

• bacteria are normal flora in vagina
• bacteria can be present in urines and represent colonisation only.
• as you get older more colonisation is expected so dipsticking isn’t a good positive predictive marker.

many actual infections self cure without antibiotics.

this is just some on the context that is considered when you are sending a sample.

That would be a national laboratory scandal / labs losing accreditation and massive improvement plans in place- none of which is happening. There are national working groups which correlate latest research etc and this figure has never been raised. There would be massive incident investigations in hospitals if 75% of infections were missed, with people becoming septic in droves. Again not happening, never seen it in 10years of work in this service. Be really interested to see that report if you can share the link? Are we talking routine patients or patients with chronic UTIs?

looking at urine under a microscope will not diagnose an infection. You can see bacteria but it doesn’t mean anything without context. You couldn’t identify a particular species with that method. You’d need o grow them and perform biochemical tests which is what happens in labs anyway.

laboratories have certain groups of patients who get cultures completed regardless of cell count to capture people who’s immune system may not be functioning as expected.

additional tests can be done with correct specific clinical details and discussions between the infection specialist/ consultant microbiologist and the urology consultants etc.

in my experience patients aren’t taught to take samples correctly and generally there is little to poor clinical detail provided to allow interpretation of results.

As has been said a couple of times, your normal vaginal discharge contains white blood cells.

What. Are. Your. Symptoms?