UTI symptoms but nothing detected on exams

[Ninabd]

Hi all , I need some reassurance and see if anyone else has gone through this.

I’m 5 weeks pregnant and I’ve been having what I think are UTI symptoms for a couple of days now. Peeing every 30 min and feeling of heaviness, shooting pain after I pee. I went to my GP on Thursday and they found no trace of infection in the urine exam, but did find ketones in my urine. They did blood checks at the hospital, and they said I don’t have diabetes as all my sugar levels are normal.

but after this they just sent me home! They said the ketones are a metabolic condition because of the pregnancy. But now I’ve been feeling a lot worse. I called 111 and they gave me antibiotics (took first pill this morning) I just don’t want understand if this is UTI why they haven’t found anything in the blood/urine tests, or what else could this be? I’m worried that they could be missing something.

has anyone had any similar experience ?

Dipstick tests are notoriously unreliable. Hope the antibiotics work quickly

D mannose supplements can be helpful as a preventative when this one has cleared.

Can you ask your Dr to send another urine sample off to a lab? As PP has said dipsticks can be a bit unreliable and a lab test may give more indication of what's going on.

If you don't feel like what is happening is right, or that the antibiotics aren't working, trust your gut and push for further investigation. Also plenty of fluid daily to help flush out your system.

Have you got your booking appt soon? Midwives, I find personally, can be a lot more sympathetic with these sorts of things too. Hope you get it sorted soon x

Thank you so much for your answers ! I took the first pill of antibiotics this morning, and I already feel so much better. Still have the sense of heaviness in my bladder but I’m not peeing like crazy anymore. I hope it continues to improve ! I will definitely ask for further checks if it doesn’t. As I’m so early in the pregnancy, I haven’t seen a midwife yet. It’s good to know they tend to more sympathetic 🙏

Dipsticks, as mentioned, are unreliable. As a GP, I only do them if there is some uncertainty surrounding the diagnosis. If a patient has classic UTI symptoms, I just treat on this basis. This is in keeping with current guidance.

I'm glad it's getting better. It does sound like a UTI. However if you find that the symptoms worsen despite treatment please speak to a doctor/111. Ectopic pregnancy is a differential for UTI and if you are presenting with persistent urinary symptoms and haven't had a scan yet, it's definitely something that needs to be considered.