UTI but lab keeps saying sample is clear

[Shonla]

I have all the symptoms of a UTI. When my urine is dipped it shows positive for leukocytes and nitrites, which indicates an infection. I get prescribed nitrafurantoin, which eases my symptoms but never quite knocks it on the head. So my sample gets sent away to the lab, and the result comes back saying it’s clear.

How am I supposed to get the correct antibiotic when the lab keeps saying it’s clear? The doctor is adamant that my sample can’t possibly be clear with that dipstick result, but the lab keeps saying it is.

Thanks. It sounds like that poster was able to get antibiotics despite testing clear. My problem is that the nurse is shit (all the time not just with this) and is droning on about how “it isn’t a UTI because if it was then it would be cured by 3 days of nitrafurantoin”. She’s refusing to give me any further antibiotics. And it’s not possible to get a GP appointment here unless you book 2 weeks in advance. I did manage to speak to a GP on the phone but she just backed up the nurse in refusing to treat me.

I checked the results and it says “urine culture not performed as white cell count is 0/uL and there are no bacteria present. So it sounds like they haven’t even tested my sample?

How can there be 0 white cells when the reason the sample was sent off in the first place was because the dip test indicated high white cells!

That's so frustrating and quite odd. Can you dip another at home after seeing. You can buy the test strips that way you have some more "proof" . Id send it via econsult and attach the photo with a list of symptoms. That way there's evidence on their system. Might help?

Hi @Shonla, UTI veteran here! NHS lab tests are notoriously unreliable, and if you have an infection that's partially treated, it'll likely come back mixed growth or negative. I handed a sample in recently and it showed mixed growth. Any decent urologist will tell you this means there is likely something there, but they're not sure exactly what it is. A GP, however, will most likely say contamination, and that's that (not GPs' fault, they just aren't trained well enough in this area). A negative result with nitrites is also baffling. This happened to me once, and my GP (who is excellent) said this was really confusing, and insisted on doing another sample once the interim antibiotics had worn off. Sure enough, there was an infection there. Definitely hand in another sample, and if that comes back clear from the lab, I'd investigate private options if possible. Sadly I can't due to finances, but if that wasn't an issue I would 100% be paying, as NHS UTI care is terrible.

They’ve dipped it again today and said it’s clear. They also said they won’t prescribe any antibiotics without a positive test. What am I supposed to do? 😭

You may need to consider moving to a better GP.

I'm lucky in my GP. They prescribed AB for UTI based on my description of symptoms. They did ask me to hand in sample, which I did, but didn't wait for result before prescribing. Sample confirmed UTI.

I was unlucky and AB didn't entirely clear it. They've now prescribed week's course of different AB. They didn't ask for further sample, because (again) they relied on my description of symptoms. They'll want to see me if this doesn't clear it.

Look for a better GP, if you can, and good luck